This story is so sad - with memories and of love - loss - loneliness- grief - regret. ... and special friendships. It’s tragic and beautiful—

Sarah Winman had me in the palm of her hands at the very start of her novel..and held me there until the end. The writing is wonderful -original- artful - lucid - simple and emotionally powerful.

Ellis and Michael became best friends as kids. Their friendship was sacred - their bond strong - and then when they were grown guys - Ellis married Annie. Ellis, Michael, and Annie share an extraordinary bond - they became a unit. Then Michael moves to London.
While he’s away - (5 years), - Ellis and Annie fall into being an ordinary couple —exactly what they didn’t want to be.
Then Michael returns.
I don’t want to spoil the story or experience....just say this book is marvelous!

I immediately bought Sarah’s other two books: “When God Was A Rabbit”, and “A Year of Marvellous Ways”. I want to read anything Winman writes! She is a great new discovery for me.....and I look forward to read her work again.

A small sample except:
“It was the first of many memories he had, of how Michael sought Dora’s attention in those early days, how he clung to her every word as if they were handholds up a cliff face. He said he had to sit in front on account of car sickness, and he spent the entire journey complementing Dora on her driving and her style, steering the conversation back to the ‘sunflowers’ and the south, back to color and light. He had been able to change gears for her. Ellis firmly believed he would have”.

Thank You Penguin Group Putnam, Netgalley, and Sarah Winman

I love this book. Beautiful/hard/heartbreaking/uplifting/unforgettable. This book is one that will be talked about and remembered for a very long time.

“And I wonder what the sound of a heart breaking might be. And I think it might be quiet, unperceptively so, and not dramatic at all. Like the sound of an exhausted swallow falling gently to earth.”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

This is what life feels like for Ellis. He has lost his wife 5 years ago and mourns her terribly. In his mind he recreates all the good times and simplest of times he’s had with her. Traveling the places they have been and retracing their steps. So much hurt and love encapsulated in his mind and heart.

Complicated it seems, or not….because his wife knew of “him”. Annie too liked Micheal, Ellis’s childhood friend….the one he had his first physical encounters with. The one that never leaves his mind and always tugs at his heart yet moves away and disappears after he marries Annie.

“This had always been the worst time when the quiet emptiness could leave him gasping for breath. She was there, his wife, a peripheral shadow moving across a doorway, or in the reflection of a window, and he had to stop looking for her. And the whiskey helped – helped him walk past her when the fire was doused. But occasionally she followed him up the stairs and that’s why he began to take the bottle with him, because she stood in the corner of their bedroom and watched him undress, and when he was on the verge of sleep, she leant over him and asked him things like, Remember when we first met?”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

Ellis is in search of the lost years. Sure he has seen many things and places and met many people. He’s enjoyed the finest and most exquisite things of life and contrary to that finds himself in the total opposite abyss at times. Numb. Alone. Reclused.

“I haven't cried. But sometimes I feel as if my veins are leaking, as if my body is overwhelmed, as if I'm drowning from the inside.”
― Sarah Winman, Tin Man

Will Ellis ever find out about Michael’s whereabouts? Will he seek him out again?



***



The plot in this book does not follow a straight line. Nor does it spell it out for the reader where exactly the narrative takes place at times. It jumps timelines and leaves gaps to fill or bridge by the reader’s imagination. Even though things are implied, one has to do a double take to not miss anything. It reads like the thoughts in someone else’s head. You just get snippets to create the whole picture.

Although it reads fluidly and delves insightfully into the emotional world and relationships of Ellis…and the love triangle...my difficulty lies in the gaps and time jumps to figure out. This way of reading is not my fortay.

There are some amazing passages that I highlighted where the prose was most exquisite and I loved. I am not sure if this is Sarah Winman’s usual writing style, but I would like to try another one of her novels. This was unlike other books I have read in the past and I am curious what other readers thought of it.

This was a short, charming read that I devoured in less than a day. A little bit "Call Me By Your Name" and a little bit "Brokeback Mountain." It started slow and was not what I thought it would be, which was a story about a working class man, lonely and alone. Instead, it turned out to be a sweet, sad story of friendship, interrupted and enhanced by love -- between friends, lovers, the family we have and the one we choose. Recommended.

This is one of those wonderful books that all you need is peace and quiet and I used that to my advantage to sit down and read this book in one day.

This is also a beautiful story of two friends from childhood who explore each other's sexuality without all the talk about it. I didn't realize the content until I was fully engrossed into this wonderfully written story and was sad that it had to end and so fast. I enjoyed Sarah Winman's book and look forward to picking up another one.

Thank you Net Gallery for this opportunity for review this well written, engrossing read. I wish it wasn't so short and sad.


Cherie'
#netgallery #sarahwinman #penguingroupputnam

All in all I found the style confusing. Half of the book by one person, second half by the other. This wasn't as much the problem as the narrators both spoke of past and present without much change in tense and voice, so I felt I had to double back to suss out if Michael was writing/ journaling about a prior event or talking about his current life. Were Ellis' memories or present ponderings. And when all was said and done, I wasn't that interested in their memories or their present ruminations.

Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me. I really thought I'd love it and I'm disappointed that I did not. Although the writing was impressive, beautiful really, I just didn't like the story itself. I struggled to get on with the plot. I felt for Elias - his character, his loneliness, it was very well done. But beyond feeling for a character, I really didn't like much else.

An absolutely beautiful book. Ellis's story is both heartbreaking and real. It is so much more than a love story; it is a story about family and love and loss and friendship and what-could-have-beens and redemption and forgiveness. One of the best I've read in a while, and one that will stick with you well after you've finished the last page.

I absolutely loved When God Was A Rabbit and wanted to feel the same way about this book, but I didn't. I didn't hate the book, it just wasn't for me. It all began with a painting of sunflowers. I loved the first chapter, but after that it seemed like a totally different book. I didn't love the characters. It's definitely a love story, just a very sad love story. I thought there would be more to the ending.

Give the book a try because you may end up loving it. I am looking forward to reading more books by the author.

Thanks to NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and the author, Sarah Winman, for a free electronic ARC of this novel.

Thanks to Netgalley and GP Putnam’s Sons for the ARC of this novel. This was a soft, quiet story with some heart-breaking moments. In fact, quite a few heart-breaking moments. I couldn’t help but compare it to A Little Life, in fact, that might be a more apt title for this book. The writing was beautiful, very evocative.

This beautiful little novel about love and longing, friendship and kindness, grief and survival will rip your heart out and yet it is nearly impossible to put down. The main characters, and even the bit players, will stay with you long after the last page is turned. One of the best books of the year for me and a treasure to be pressed into other readers' hands. Highly recommended.

It was well written and I read it through to the end, however I felt like I never really got to know the characters all that well. Also may have been swayed by my husband of 49 1/2 years celebrating this new year by suddenly leaving me for his boyfriend, a friend of the family

Wow, just wow. I just finished this book and it was absolutely the most beautiful piece of fiction I have read in a very long time. I don't know what to say about the book that wouldn't trivialize the love story so I am just going to say, please read this book. You will not regret it and it will remain with you for a long time.

Sweet and tender story of three people spiraling in a love triangle. The story hops around in time to tell the tale and centers on a painting that is meaningful to the group. A beautifully written story.