This review contains affiliate links, which earn me a small commission when you click and purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business and allowing me to continue providing you a reliable resource for clean book ratings.
Tom Hazard was born in March 1581 in France. But he has aged incredibly slowly, so in the present he looks like he’s around 40. Living through centuries and experiencing history personally may sound like a gift, but it’s more like a curse. It’s dangerous, for one thing: in his early decades in England, he and his mother were viewed as witches. And heartbreaking: his one true love, Rose, aged normally and died, leaving Tom bereft.
For the past century and a half or so, he’s been living under the guidance and protection of the Albatross Society, which identifies and tracks down others who have the same condition and makes sure they don’t reveal that people like them exist. The organization’s leader moves Tom and others around regularly so others don’t get suspicious, and he reminds Tom not to fall in love or form serious attachments: It’s just too complicated.
But he does have a long-ago attachment: his daughter, Marion, who inherited Tom’s condition. He hasn’t seen her in centuries and is doggedly trying to find her. So he decides for his next stint to go back to London, where he lived with Marion and Rose, before he had to abandon them to keep them safe. His mind and heart are full of memories.
For the first time in centuries, however, Tom feels a pull toward someone new, a fellow teacher at the school where he is teaching history. She seems particularly intrigued by him, and he can’t deny he could have feelings for her. Love is dangerous in so many ways, but maybe, just maybe, it may be time to change how he lives life: to move into the future, however uncertain, and leave the past behind.
How to Stop Time is a charming book that is my second foray into Matt Haig’s writing. His work seems to focus a lot on time, the meaning of life, and making the most of what we have in life. The Midnight Library was smaller in scope, focusing on one young woman who got many opportunities to go back in her life and try out different paths she regretted not taking; this novel is larger in scope, with one man living many lives, in a sense, in one very long lifetime. I enjoyed reading about the various famous people he crossed paths with in one way or another: Shakespeare, Captain Cook, F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was also entertaining and even educational to read little bits of information about past eras that were woven into the story. For instance, we now associate the tune “Greensleeves” with the holy Christmas carol “What Child Is This?”, but in Shakespearean times, Lady Greensleeves was “the standard insult for promiscuous women.” You learn something new every day.
This book drew me along the river of time with a character gifted with a lot of it but still in the process of learning. It’s sweet and poignant, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, but overall an engaging journey.
Rated: High, mostly for profanity: about 30 instances of strong profanity, about 25 uses of moderate language, 10 instances of mild profanity, and about 5 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sex is implied; there is a scene where some women are groped or almost groped. There are some spots of violence, including some murders but hardly any details, the killing of a woman as a witch by drowning, and fighting and peril.
Click here to purchase your copy of How to Stop Time on Amazon.
