User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
I guess I should straight off the bat tell you what happened when I finished reading "The Humans." And yes, I know this is supposed to be a review about "How to Stop Time." Bear with me. So, I finished "The Humans" and I a)wept b) started it again immediately c) spent the next two years giving it to everyone on my gift list and basically insisting everyone read it. My ace in the hole has always been this - "If the road gets rocky (and everyone's road gets rocky sometimes) I can re-read "The Humans" and I'll feel that feeling again, that I'm not alone, that there is hope, that there is goodness."
Okay, enough about "The Humans" and I write this as an unabashedly huge fan of the way Matt Haig puts words on paper. Let me tell you about "How to Stop Time." Wait. No. You know, I read a lot of reviews here on "Goodreads" and think wow, bingo, right on, so well done! I really admire reviewers who are able to articulate what often just feels like a jumble in my own mind over a reaction to a book.
You don't need me to tell you what this novel is about, that blurb is up top there, right by the book. See? Yeah. It's about that.
One of my friends went to the London Book Fair and scored an advance copy. Because she's one of the people I encouraged (forced/insisted/wrangled int0) reading "The Humans" and she also fell in love with the book, she came to my work and dropped off the newest novel last week. In. My. Hands. I'm serious. I could see it in her eyes, I could see it, I barely could function for the rest of my shift and I wrapped it up so it would not get anything on it at all. She said, "You know how you loved "The Humans," right?" I nodded. She said, "Well, he was just clearing his throat. Wait until you go into this one." Can you imagine? Can you? Try. Think kind of shaky, breath a bit rapid and shallow, scared and excited, all at the same time.
I (get this) PUT IT ASIDE for six days. There must be an award somewhere for this. Get it for me. I deserve it. I wanted a day where I had no work to go to and so I waited. That day was yesterday. I got up and ate the oatmeal pretty quickly. I made the tea. I sat in my chair. Aside from tea breaks (during which I drank the tea fast and ran back to my chair - picture the menopausal sweaty woman in track pants and polar fleece because it's still SNOWING here these days) - and I read and I read and I read.
I nodded so much I looked like one of those little plastic dogs you have seen if you are of a certain age that used to be in the back of cars, those nodding plastic dogs. Did their eyes light up? Maybe some did. The posh ones. So I nodded and I nodded and I nodded. And I wept. And I laughed. And I finished the last page.
You know, there's lot of clever authors. There are. Good with words. Big brains. Able to both craft and execute a complex plot line. They're out there. I've read their books. Many of them. Books have been my sustenance for a very long time (but now also fishing and billiards of late).
This is what I think. Matt Haig's huge heart (and it may well be the biggest one I've encountered) is equally matched by his huge mind. He cares so deeply. He cares about us, we humans. He cares because we suffer. He cares because we try, we try. And fall down and try again. He has such a far-reaching compassion for humanity that I sit here and think to myself, how can I ever begin to tell you, reader people? How can I tell you? The world is a much softer place for me because of these two novels. My friend was right, the one who loaned me this novel. You'll see, you'll see how this one came into being, how his mind works. It seems so simple really to ponder what he says... what if we were kind? What if we were brave? What if we really let ourselves care?
I sent an email to my friend (she asked for one word of what I thought, I'm taking her to dinner in April so we can discuss it properly)...
"I wept.
I felt like he wrote it just for me.
I am sure many people will feel that, yes?"
She said:
"Yes, they will.
You summed it up perfectly. "
If you're still reading this, thank you, I know it's long. Okay, you know the drill, run, run, run to the bookstore. Run.
Pam/Fishgirl
Rating: really liked it
This is my second book by Matt Haig and, to be honest, it's probably going to be my last. Everything from his writing style to his characters to his (lack of) plot doesn't seem to be working for me.
How to Stop Time is about Tom Hazard who looks like your average forty-something guy but actually has a rare condition that makes him age slower than the average human. So he's around five-hundred years old. Wow, sounds interesting! Right? Except that's kinda it. There's very little story or forward momentum beyond that.
Tom spends the whole book wallowing in self-pity over having been alive so long and having to abide by the rules of the Albatross Society - a group for people like him. He constantly churns out cliches about how everything changes but nothing changes, which is said over and over again in different ways. He's so whiny and self-absorbed.
And if you think it's going to be all sweet and romantic like The Time Traveler's Wife because the blurb is all about how he can't fall in love and how this is a "a love story across the ages"-- this is misleading.
It's not romantic at all. He spends most of the book grieving for his dead wife and maybe I’m a terrible terrible person for asking this, but is it really realistic that Tom’s grief still seems so fresh after more than 300 years?!
Maybe I am just heartless.
There's also a really bad flow of narration. The time-jumps in the middle of scenes made it difficult to settle into the rhythm of any time period. And a lot of these feel pointless. It’s like “time period of the week” or, in this case, the chapter. Tom zips all over the place, having a lot of quirky random adventures and meeting everyone from Shakespeare to Omai to F. Scott Fitzgerald but there is actually VERY LITTLE STORY.
It seemed like a random bunch of name-dropping and historical event-dropping. Because of course this guy was present at almost every major historical event across the globe in his several hundred years of life AND met almost every famous person you've ever heard of. I'm exaggerating. But why would he have met all these people just because he was alive at the same time? I’m alive right now in 2018, but that doesn’t mean I hang out with Beyonce and the 14th Dalai Lama.
I could not suspend that much disbelief.
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Rating: really liked it
Review coming up in about 400 years
Rating: really liked it
Library Audiobook......
Something must be wrong with me......This is the novel everyone is raving about?
I’m doing it again......Throwing in the towel....NOT GOING TO FINISH....
It’s NOT that anything is morally wrong with this book —- there are even some wise messages and heartfelt moments — but mostly I was kinda bored.
I would never call this ‘fiction nonsense’ ( cough cough)- like the last book I didn’t finished where I was pounded over the head by a guy, ( not really - haha - but a little), for writing a review- having only read 41%. —- its just that this book wasn’t quite the right fit for me.
Usually I’m not a fan of time travels anyway- ( 11/23/63 was a one time exception- I was sure of it) - but then I read Diane Chamberlain’s new book, “The Dream Daughter”, and thought she crafted a fascinating novel where I was authentically stimulated by the challenge she presented. I had to suspense belief - but there was ‘plenty’ that ‘was’ believable. I was addictively curious to the last page.
So....I figured, 3rd time must be a charm - I’d try again with this popular and mostly favorable by readers - time-travel’ book.
41% seems to be my breaking point - I just wanted to move on. I was getting bored.
With so many other books at hands reach - I didn’t feel a need to ‘have’ to continue.
Read OTHER reviews- many readers LOVE this book!!!!
Rating for approx 41%. > 2-2.5 stars
Rating: really liked it
4+ stars
I’m captivated by a good time travel story and while this is not a time travel story in the strictest sense, I was reminded of a few favorites - Jack Finney’s Time and Again , Stephen King’s 11/22/63 and Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife . I couldn’t help but think of all three of these at the very beginning of the story : “The first rule is that you don’t fall in love”, he said. There are other rules too, but that is the main one. No falling in love. No staying in love. No daydreaming of love.” Of course, the main character in each of these books falls in love. Our protagonist Tom Hazard takes us back and forth across centuries from the now through flashbacks to his past not just years ago, but centuries ago. No he’s not time traveling. He’s just very old, due to his affliction which causes him to age at a much slower rate than normal and in Tom’s case he ages in appearance a year for every fifteen years so now he is over 400 years old. So it is his memory that takes us back to the time when he fell in love with Rose in 1599 and when their daughter was born
If I haven’t lost you already, I’ll try to make the case for this story. What I said in my review of Jack Finney’s book Time and Again held true for me here: When I read a time travel story, I try not to dwell on how the character got to this other time and place. It just doesn't pay because then I start asking questions for which there is no realistic answer. So for me it has to be about the destination, what I find there, what happens there, what it means for the character in his or her present day. What we find in Tom’s past is a lonely, sad life with moments of joy that he has to run from in order to keep his loved ones safe. All of this connected to his desire to lead a normal life and find his daughter as we find him in the now teaching history in a London school.
There are also moments where I found sheer enjoyment - from when he works at the Globe Theater for Shakespeare to when he plays the piano at Ciro’s in Paris and meets F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, among others. I also loved the appearance of the famous Dakota apartment building in New York City in the 1890’s as it is also in Jack Finney’s book. The story has an ominous side to it as well in the character of Hendrich, head of the society claiming to protect those with the affliction.
This was lovely way to spend a snowy weekend taking a trip down Tom Hazard’s memory lane - all 400 years of it. Amid the fear and loss and loneliness there is a lot of love in this creative and captivating story as well as some things to think about for sure - what it means to live one’s life, what are the important things, the things to hold precious. To those who just don’t think they can accept the premise of the story I say the same thing I said about Finney’s book: Imagine you are in another time, in another place with people you don't yet know. It doesn’t have to be a story about time travel; it could be a fantasy, a mystery, a story that takes place in history or in the future because isn’t this what we as readers of any fiction are ultimately summoned to do when we begin that first page of any story.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Viking through Edelweiss.
Rating: really liked it
A melancholy novel about a man who lives for hundreds of years, unable to move past the true love he outlived — or perhaps the idea of the person he was when he was with his true love.
Rating: really liked it
4.5 stars for this one.
"If you saw me, you would probably think I was about forty, but you would be very wrong. I am
old — old in the way that a tree, or a quahog clam, or a Renaissance painting is old."
Because of a rare medical condition, Tom Hazard has been alive since the 1500s. Born into a wealthy French family, he has traveled all over the world, assumed many different identities, and led a life characterized by adventure, trauma, emotion, and loneliness. Tom has performed with Shakespeare, explored with Captain Cook, shared a cocktail with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, and experienced the drastic changes the world has undergone through the centuries.
Even though he has seen incredible things, what Tom wants more than anything is a normal life. He had that once, back in Shakespeare's time, when he met a woman and fell in love, but as his unchanging appearance caught the notice of suspicious and fearful townspeople, he had to leave that life behind. Yet he's never stopped thinking of her and wishing things were different, that he was different.
"So, don't think of me as a sexy vampire, stuck for ever at peak virility. Though I have to say it can feel like you are stuck for ever when, according to your appearance, only a decade passes between the death of Napoleon and the first man on the moon."
Those like Tom are watched over by a group called the Albatross Society, which protects them and ensures they keep their longevity a secret from the general public. The shadowy head of the society, Hendrich, controls Tom and calls in favors to move him to place to place every eight years (since that is about the period of time before people notice he doesn't seem to grow any older). But Hendrich has his own ulterior motives, and his own methods of ensuring Tom and his brethren are kept in check. And the one major rule Hendrich has impressed upon Tom for many years now? Never fall in love.
Tom's latest persona is as a history teacher in London, a place that stirs old memories for him, memories of love and loss. But when he meets a beautiful French teacher who seems to think she's seen him before, he starts to wonder whether the rules to which he's adhered are truly worth it. What good is living for hundreds of years if you have to do so alone, without letting anyone get close to you? But Hendrich will stop at nothing, will use everything and anyone to ensure his charges comply with his rules.
This is a fascinating, beautiful, moving book about love, loss, loneliness, and adventure.
How to Stop Time shifts between Tom's current life and the different persona he assumed throughout the years. It's both a rollicking adventure through time and a love story through time, populated with fascinating characters and events.
Matt Haig is a tremendous storyteller, and I found this book so creative, poignant, and enjoyable. It gets a little slow at times, but for the most part it's just such a beautiful story. Obviously, some suspension of disbelief is necessary for a story like this, but at its core, it's a book that explores universal themes. Definitely a winner.
NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Viking provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com, or check out my list of the best books I read in 2017 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2017.html.
Rating: really liked it
Tom Hazard has just got the job as a history teacher as a school in a less privileged area of East London in the early 21st Century; despite knowing that he's absolutely not allowed to connect with people, he feels a sense of interest and desire towards one of his fellow members of staff. Why is that an issue? Tom Hazard is over 400 years old and belongs to a secret organisation of very long lived anomalies, called the Albatross Society!
Matt Haig captures the plight of the long-lived quite well, and through countless flashbacks appears to give us some really well researched snippets of English and Empire history over the last 400+ years. The book also manages to stay very much protagonist focused whilst still able to look at the wider issues through his lens - what makes us who we are, and how should we live? This is my favourite Haig read so far, but ultimately for the concept, the speculative fiction reality and the detailed jaunts to the past than the main meat of the story itself. Still, a solid 8 out of 12.
Rating: really liked it
This book was so bad it actually did stop time for me - stopped time on my reading, bigtime. I've been trying to finish it for the past three weeks or more...! Just the thought of picking it up was too much. (Just as there are some books you can't put down - there are books you can't bloody pick up - and this, for me, was one of them.)
Honestly. What a farce. Sorry Matt Haig. I do enjoy your writing. But I should have known better after reading 'The Humans.' Although I loved the idea of it, I was underwhelmed by its poor narrative. But this was something else entirely. After just one paragraph my attention would wander. All that telling and no showing. (Show don't tell! - the most basic rule of writing...!)
The first problem was the characters. I couldn't care less about the characters - because they weren't characterized that much, just puppets in a poorly realised show. And with the narrator coming across as unlikable and unremarkable (unusual for someone who has lived over 400 years...), not to mention self-involved, moany, bland and boring - it's pretty hard to care.
The story. Well. If there's one thing I can't stand about bad writing, it's the fact that there is no story, rather a pretence of a story, a thin wispy veil that acts as a vehicle for the author's abundant sentimentalities. The thing I most disliked about this novel was the many regurgitated cliches about life and Time rehashed in a plot that is as flat as a steamrolled chicken. At times, I felt I was reading the author's Twitter feed condensed into prose!
There are so many unique things that could have been done with the cool premise that all the blurbs of this book promise. But sadly, they weren't. I don't think I've ever read anything as deflating, anything that elicited a 'wait, that's it?' reaction. And the clip-clopping, staccato stuttering chapters from the present to the past, marked so awkwardly by 'Oooh I feel a memory coming on,' were just so cumbersome, cringe-worthy and just tired.
And to add insult to injury - the curveball chapters of meeting Shakespeare and F Scott Fitzgerald (!!), just parachuted in from nowhere, stretched the bar just a bit too far. That's what you get when the author is telling the story I suppose, and not the narrator. Which was how this novel came across to me. I'm sorry, I don't want to sound like a hater, but when writing a novel, you make sure you leave yourself out of it (!). A true writer surrenders everything to story. A bad writer surrenders story to everything else - the sentimental motives, personal creeds and other concerns that unfortunately blot out the vitals of fiction. This is what this novel feels like.
Was tempted so many times to give it up. It was only the thought of venting my frustration here that kept me going to the end...!
I really couldn't stand this book. And I wanted to like it so much... Disappointing!!!
Rating: really liked it
There comes a time when the only way to start living is to tell the truth. To be who you are, even if it is dangerous.So, I'm breaking the rule of not sharing a quote on an ARC book. You kind of have to know if you are going to read this one...do you like pretty flowery writing? It's pretty full of that.
Tom is old. Very old. He just does not look it. He has been alive for centuries. No, he isn't one of those sparkly vampires.
He has a condition that causes him to age much slower than the normal human. Of course, that causes problems. Whether in the olden days where they suspected everyone of witchcraft or the 20th century where we can just be dingdongs. Tom has challenges.
He is taken under a secret 'society's' wing where he meets people with the same condition that he has. There are rules. Never fall in love. (yawn) Move somewhere new and start over every eight years because people start to wonder why you are not getting any older.
But Tom is depressed. He can never forget the woman he loved years and years ago. He is missing another piece of his life and has been searching for it for a long time. He whines about these two things for most of the book..so get ready!
And he has met several famous people. Shakespeare, Captain Cook. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Josephine Baker. (This took away from the story for me..as I had to roll my eyes a few times-but then I'm an old heifer.)
I didn't hate this book but I sure did not love it.
Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.
Rating: really liked it
4.5 stars - I loved this one!
Most of us have heard of progeria, a condition that is characterized by accelerated aging. Young children with the disorder have the appearance and medical conditions of the very aged. In this book Tom Hazard has the opposite, a condition called anageria, where the aging process is slowed down. Tom is over 400 years old but looks to be in his 40s. He can expect to live close to another 600 years. It’s a rare condition, but there are others like Tom.
For a culture that is obsessed with anti-aging products and plastic surgery, this sounds like a dream come true. But not so fast. There are downsides. Members of the scientific community know of their existence and want to imprison them for experimentation. There’s also the pain of watching everyone you know and love grow old and die. So, in order to protect themselves, one (nearly impossible) rule is to never fall in love, and a second rule is they must move and assume new identities every 8 years. It’s a lonely existence.
I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but Tom has endured painful losses and now roams the world, weary and emotionally spent, searching for the daughter who shares his condition. Along the way he muses about his life and the people he’s met, including Captain Cook, Shakespeare and Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.
These interludes are Tom’s memories, not fully fleshed out characters. I enjoyed them but this section did drag a little bit. There’s also a small thriller element, but the main focus of the novel is a poignant look at life: what does it mean to live, what makes life worthwhile, how to embrace life without worrying about a future we can’t see. These are universal lessons for all of us, regardless of the amount of years we have on this earth. My e-book is filled with highlighted passages, words that resonated with me.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book. (Keep in mind these may not be in the final published book):
“Whenever I see someone reading a book, especially if it is someone I don’t expect, I feel civilization has become a little safer.”
“To teach feels like you are the guardian of time itself, protecting the future happiness of the world via the minds that are yet to shape it.”
“That’s the thing with time, isn’t it? It’s not all the same. Some days – some years – some decades – are empty. There is nothing to them. It is just flat water. And then you come across a year, or even a day, or an afternoon. And it is everything. It is the whole thing.”
"Many of us have every material thing we need, so the job of marketing is now to tie the economy to our emotions, to make us feel like we need more by making us want things we never needed before. We are made to feel poor on thirty thousand pounds a year. To feel poorly traveled if we have been to only ten other countries. To feel too old if we have a wrinkle. To feel ugly is we aren’t photo-shopped and filtered.”
On the effect of music: ”Music doesn’t get in. Music is already in. Music simply uncovers what is there, makes you feel emotions that you didn’t necessarily know you had inside you, and runs around waking them all up.”
"Just as it only takes a moment to die, it only takes a moment to live. You just close your eyes and let every futile fear slip away. And then, in this new state, free from fear, you ask yourself: who am I? If I could live without doubt what would I do? If I could be kind without fear of being f*cked over? If I could love without fear of being hurt? If I could taste the sweetness of today without thinking of how I will miss that taste tomorrow. If I could not fear the passing of time and the people it will steal? What would I do? Who would I care for? What battle would I fight? What paths would I step down? What joys would I allow myself?...How in short, would I live?"
Mr. Haig is quite the storyteller. Highly recommended!
*I received this e-galley via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
*thanks to my fellow traveling sisters for reading this with me!
https://twogirlslostinacouleereading....
Rating: really liked it
You have to choose to live...Exceptional story, out-of-the-box subject: Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries... Imagine, living in times of Shakespeare, Napoleon, up to today.... And try to be invisible, as people may be looking for you.... And whatever happens, don't fall in love.
A story about love and making choices. I like this writer.
Recommended!
Rating: really liked it
I am giving this five stars because I enjoyed it enormously and I finished it in one day! I love time travel and although this was not that really, it had the same effect and was just as pleasing.
Tom Hazard has a condition which means he ages very slowly indeed and in this story he is well over four centuries old. How to Stop Time alternates chapters from the present with others from his extensive past. When I was reading the past I had to keep reminding myself he was living it at that time and not visiting it from the present. It was intriguing.
I was pleased that the present chapters and the past were equally interesting. Tom's experiences teaching and his relationship with Camille were able to compete with him meeting Shakespeare and Charlie Chaplin. The ending was satisfactory and even optimistic. I closed the book with a smile on my face and went straight to Amazon and bought The Humans
Rating: really liked it
3.5 An engaging story about a man who is 400 years old and will continue to live hundreds of years more. Tom Hazard, a man now living in current times, but remembering his love who lived so long ago, and his daughter, who he has long been searching. His daughter, who like him, is able to live a long time. There are interesting forays back in time, historical happenings as Tom remembers. The witch trials in England, playing to lute and meeting Shakespeare, playing piano at Ciro's, and many others.
The chapters alternate between present day, and his past lives, though the past remembrances are for the most part out of order, sometimes for me it seemed like they were just thrown in to bring more famous people into the story. My reception of this novel was mixed, it is entertaining and flows well, easy to read but the constant changing focus if the story kept me from engaging emotionally. There is also a mysterious group called The Albatross, which between this and the age of Tom and others gave this a fantasy flavor, far from my favorite genre. The ending though, I thought well done and did do much to pull the novel together, which is why I went up a bit in my rating. There was also some insightful musings on the role of time in our lives.
I did, however, enjoy our sisters read discussion, love our differing opinions. So an engaging characters interesting historical tidbits but a fantasy element I couldn't fully embrace.
ARC from Edelweiss.
Rating: really liked it
4.5 Stars
If you were to call him by name, you could call him Tom Hazard, but the truth is that over the years, he’s been known by many names, having to change his identity before the truth catches up with him, reveals him to be who he is. Reveals what makes him different than any other man who appears to be around forty. The truth is slightly more than that.
In “this life” Tom teaches history in London at a comprehensive school (a secondary, state school) to young men and young women, teaching these young people lessons of history, some of which he lived through. The wars of old, famous men and woman, such as Shakespeare. There are more than a few famous names you will recognize as this story talks about the changes in time and place throughout his life. The things he’s seen. The witch hunts of old, and those of more modern times.
There is an organization that looks over, looks out for these people, anagerians, those whose internal “clocks” have a much different timeline than your average person. There are always people who will look for what is different in others, feel they must force them out of society, must alienate others from accepting them; they must be kept from co-existing with the “normal” world. This organization,
‘The Albatross Society’ has rules, but the primary rule is saying no to love.
”You are, of course, allowed to love food and music and champagne and rare sunny afternoons in October. You can love the sight of waterfalls and the smell of old books, but the love of people is off limits.” Life is change; it is one of the few constants of life. Change can be welcome or unwanted, exciting or forbidding, and time goes by, bringing change with it, regardless if we are ready or not, or if we wish the change to come sooner. Times passes, as it will, on its own.
Capturing moments, a lifetime of them, seems daunting at times, for each moment you spend capturing another moment, yet another moment is lost. You can’t spend your life this way, either, we must live in the here and now or we are just revisiting the past, but we can’t – or shouldn’t – stay there.
Before I began reading this, I’d just finished the third book of Matt Haig’s books that I’d read, the other three were a series of Christmas stories aimed at children, but charming enough for adults to enjoy, especially parents reading them to their children. I wasn’t sure what to expect from an adult novel by him, but this shares his ability to spin a tale and keep your attention. I suspect I will be thinking about this story for a long, long time.
Published: 06 Feb 2018
Many thanks for the ARC provided by PENGUIN GROUP Viking
