Tin Man by Sarah Winman

 

Tin Man

by Sarah Winman

In 1950 Dora Judd wins a painting reproduction of Van Gogh's Sunflowers, which becomes a symbol in Tin Man for hope, acceptance, and possibility. Van Gogh himself is a symbol; one of loss, longing, love, and creativity.

Dora exists in an unhappy marriage. Her husband is angry and abusive to both her and their son Ellis. Sunflowers becomes an escape for Dora, where she can place all of her hope.

The story centers mainly on Ellis Judd and Michael, who meet when they are twelve and Michael, whose father has recently died, comes to Oxford to live with his Aunt Mabel. Ellis works in Mabel's shop and the boys become inseparable. Their attraction is at once innocent and all-consuming. Their relationship is encouraged by Mable and Dora. Michael takes a particular shine to Dora, and makes every effort to charm her. A precocious child, Michael knows about art and Van Gogh and they discuss the meaning of Sunflowers and Van Gogh's life. Dora says to the boys, "Men and boys should be capable of beautiful things." When Dora becomes ill and dies, Ellis's father notes that fifteen-year-old Ellis (whom he has seen being close with Michael) is getting soft and that he will be taken out of school to apprentice at the Car Plant. Ellis spends the next three months living with Mabel and Michael, where the two boys become sexual, sharing a bed and every waking moment.

When they get older Ellis meets Annie and they become an item, much to Michael's heartbreak. Eventually they marry, but three of them create a significant bond, where they exist as a unit. Michael can not let anyone else into his life as long as they are together. The bond between them is strong, yet limiting for Michael. When Mabel dies, he disappears, eventually falling for a young man named G. He lives a life of cruising and sex with strangers, on the lookout for that connection he had with Ellis, but never truly finding it. Still, he loves G. in his way. The two of them contract the AIDS virus (this is the 1980s, now) and G. succumbs to the disease. Michael returns to France, where he and Ellis visited when they were 19 and where they attempted to stay. Ellis couldn't commit to it, always feeling the shame his father planted in him when he was young. Michael's time in France traces the steps of Van Gogh, and he gets a job there living near a field of sunflowers. Michael yearn for a reconnection with Ellis and Annie and decides to return to Oxford.

While he was gone, Ellis missed him. Annie knew from the start that Ellis and Michael had something special beyond friendship and she held them together as adults. Without her, they would likely have separated to live out their lives, Ellis in shame and loneliness, and Michael in search of freedom to be himself with someone who could love him.

Annie dies in a car accident. It is traumatic for Ellis, who has lost so many people (as has Michael). He imagines talking to her, he thinks about the happy times the three of them had together, but now he lives a life of solitude. He imagines Annie telling him to look for Michael. Ellis goes to France to retrace Michael's steps after Michael has passed. He discovers the field of sunflowers and knows he will be okay. He loved Michael and Annie and would never let them go, but he can move on into the sunlight. He can be the person he always wanted to be.

Tin Man was beautifully written. It is sympathetic and full of longing, loss, and love. The prose is concise, but full of meaning. The atmosphere is tangible, the characters fully realized. I give Tin Man 5 stars.