The Tin Man #yaya_reads @absltmom #the tin man #sarahwinman #gbputnamssons #sunflowers #vincentvangogh

“Van Gogh’s paintings of sunflowers have altered mankind’s perspective of art and life. These paintings captivate the mind and leave you astounded in their simplistic beauty. The flowing wilted steams and the burst of lovely yellow draws ones attention around the painting, without disrupting the balance of the piece.”

 

One supposes that the cover of this book is yellow for a     reason. Four beautifully written stars

What a strange but alluring book! It is a story of two boys who are friends and then they are more than that. The boys Ellis and Michael are twelve at the onset of the story discovering life, bicycling, swimming, trying to escape their fathers who are imperious, and finding that friendship leads them to something else.

The story then jumps to years later to the time when Ellis is married to Anne. In the meantime the author makes us wonder what happened to Michael. Why did these boys grown to men disconnect?

There is a beautiful connection to sunflowers particularly the reproduction. of Van Gogh’s work. Yellow is often the symbol of friendship, life, love and happiness and truly this book was about all of those things and yet it was much more. The flowers turn their face to the sun and while reading this book, particularly in Michael’s section, I had to think that the sun was exactly what Michael was seeking. Van Gogh’s tortured life the unrequited love he once felt is also reflected in Michael’s life.

The only drawback to this beautifully written novel was while the author seemed to let us really get to know Michael, I felt that Ellis remained a stranger. However, this book is one of beauty, one that touches the reader with the soul of its characters, one that was short yet ever so poignant.

“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
― C.G. Jung