How to Stop Time: A Novel by Matt Haig
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Web ID: 15843459Slow
I loved the premise of the book, but the delivery was plodding and fairly predictable. The main character is 400+ years old, but he doesn’t seem to have learned much in that time about himself or human nature. The climax is more of a whimper than a bang. It was a disappointing delivery of what could have been an intriguing idea. Not a bad book, but I don’t think I’ll read any of his others.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Slow to settle in
Tom Hazard has lived a very long life. Despite looking like an average 41 year old Tom, in fact, has been alive for centuries, a secret that has come with a high price. After being recruited into the Albatross Society, a group of people just like Tom, he must abide by their one rule going forward: do not ever fall in love. Tom's never-ending mission to find his long-lost daughter is always forefront in his mind while trying to maintain his newly acquired identity as a high school history teacher. The thought of being reunited with his daughter is what has kept Tom alive all these years. The leader of the Albatross Society has promised Tom that he will help find Marion as long as Tom continues to perform missions for him every eight years. After decades of loneliness Tom has finally found someone that might mend what has been broken for hundreds of years but what will be the price to pay for his potential happiness? I want to say that I enjoyed "How to Stop Time" and for the most part I did. However, it was such a slow reading process and I never fully settled into its pages. The plot was creative and I enjoyed the concept it just never developed into a page-turner for me.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Interesting read at a slow-pace
After browsing the shelves for a fun read, I found the book teaser to be an interesting concept and began reading right away. This book is a slow-paced read with interesting storytelling that does not begin to reveal its ties to the plot until nearing the end. Because of this, basing your interest In the book can seem underwhelming due to how some of the elements are delayed til closer to the end. After finishing this book I was excited to read more of Matt’s books that are marked as being more fast-paced.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
The answer to the title is itself
How to Stop Time? Read this book. It takes so long to get going. At one point I wondered out loud about how this author (but honestly it might just be the main character in this novel, as I have not read anything else by Matt Haig!) writes as though he knows he is better than everyone. My fiancée replied asking me if the story at least was good even if the writing wasn’t great, mind you, I was on about page 80 or so at this point, and my reply could only be “I’ll let you know when I get to it.” The main character, Tom, who’s point of view this story is from, thinks of himself as better than the mayflies, as he and the other members of the Albatross Society call humans who age normally. To be fair, this is due much to the brainwashing of the head of the Society, and because he has lived such a long life, but still Tom thinks he is even better than that man as well because he thinks that he doesn’t think he’s better than everyone. I also thought it was a bit pandering that Tom had had such significant interactions with great people throughout his life. Shakespeare and Fitzgerald, Captain Cook. Just seemed a bit much for me. Finally, things got going about 2/3 of the way through the book, and you could feel the story inching toward the climax and building up speed and intensity. Except it never got there. The climax came and went without much significance at all and then the book was over. Good potential here in the story. The execution was written with grave nonchalance at best, the uniquely boring telling of a very interesting concept at worst.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Entertaining and Valuable Book!
Tom Hazard has an unusual condition. He ages very, very slowly. He looks fortyish but is actually over 400 years old. He has even met Shakespeare and Captain Cook! He belongs to a society that protects people like him from research companies that want to use him as a “lab rat”. The society insists he change his identity every eight years, so that no one notices his condition. They also have one rule: Never fall in love. Sadly, he did, centuries ago, and he still suffers from the loss. Now, he is a professor in London, and he fears he will fall in love, again, with the French teacher, Camille. But he wants to live! This is a wonderful book! Matt Haig’s characters are so very real and his settings so very vivid, that his subject matter comes alive, too! We follow Tom through his present, while interspersed chapters that explain his past pop up every now and then. These chapters explain why Tom is and reacts the way he does. This story is more than just entertaining. It also presents a valuable lesson for all of us.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com