How to Stop Time

This was a very intriguing idea, but the plot was...felt...? nonexistent. made it rough to get through.

Matt Haig has become one of my absolute favorite authors. Everything I've read by him so far is absolutely whimsical and raw and amazing. He is such an amazing story teller and really loved this one. I've read books very similar yet this one brought its own uniqueness.

First line: ”I am old.”

Last line: ”The future is you.”

Time is a tantalizing and utterly fascinating concept. An ever present concept constantly affecting us, but still so elusive to our understanding of its constituents.

Traveling in time is a recurring theme in many books and movies. This book is not like those.

How to Stop Time explores more the intricacies of eternal life. At first glance, it may seem tempting, as I think most of us in periods experience a fear of dying, and stress that life is too short. Maybe there are so many things we would want to experience, or maybe we want to be able to explore different life choices to see where they would have led us.

Tom Hazard, in the book, as an ”alba”, does age, just at a very slow rate. Born in the 16th century, he has seen it all, and lived through some of the most defining moments of humanity’s development.

As a story, the book reminds me of both Forrest Gump, Benjamin Button and Sophie’s World, but the story is not what keeps me reading. It’s how Haig so smoothly weaves in little lessons of philosophy and strategically places small intellectual challenges regarding life, age, death, time and love throughout the story.

We not only follow Tom back and forth from his experiences of living in over four different centuries, as well as present time. We also get to feel his struggles, the fear of being ”different”, the pain of outliving people he loves and trying to find a meaning in an existence where everyone else’s full lives are nothing but fleeting moments for him.

I think a pretty good way of defining a ”good book” is how long it stays in your mind after reading it. I have a feeling this will turn out to be a very good book.

Favorite passages:

”You are not the only one with sorrows in this world. Don’t hoard them like they are precious. There is always plenty of them to go around.” (p.126)

”…I was starting to feel that you couldn’t do mathematics with emotions. In protecting yourself from hurt you could create a new, subtler type of pain. It is a dilemma.” (p.132)

”The human mind has is its own…prisons. You don’t have a choice over everything in life.” (p.152)

”I have only been alive for four hundred and thirty- nine years, which is of course nowhere near long enough to understand the minimal facial expressions of the average teenage boy.” (p.173)

”Free will might be overrated. ’Anxiety,’ Kierkegaard wrote, in the middle of of the nineteenth century, ’is the dizziness of freedom.’ (p.233)

”Love is where you find the meaning…You can take all the years before and since and weigh them next to those, and they wouldn’t stand a chance.” (p.296)

”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’s 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.” (p.296)

“And, 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 the fear of being fucked 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? Yes. What would I do? Who would I care for? What battle would I fight? Which paths would I step down? What joys would I allow myself? What internal mysteries would I solve? How, in short, would I live?

So, it took me only 437 years, but I finally realised how to go about answering all this. I didn’t quite know what the answer was but I knew the process. In a way the process was not knowing the answer, and being fine with that.” (p.314)

”’Love is a motherfucker.’

I sigh. ’Of course it is.’

’You should just shoot for it. Tell her you messed up. Tell her why you messed up. Be honest. Honesty works. Well, honesty gets you locked up in a psych ward. But sometimes it works.’

’Honesty is a motherfucker,’ I say, and she laughs.

She goes quiet for a little while. Remembers something. ’I speak the truth not so much as I would, but as much as I dare, and I dare a little more as I grow older.’” (p.317)

”History was - is - a one-way street. You have to keep walking forwards. But you don’t always have to look ahead. Sometimes you can just look around and be happy right where you are.” (p.321)

”I love her so much. I could not love her more. And the terror of not allowing myself to love her has beaten that fear of losing her.” (p.325)

”There is only the present. Just as every object on earth contains similar and interchanging atoms, so every fragment of time contains aspects of every other…

It is clear. In those moments that burst alive the present lasts for ever, and I know there are many more presents to live. I understand. I understand you can be free. I understand that the way you stop time is by stopping being ruled by it. I am no longer drowning in my past, or fearful of my future. How can I be?

The future is you.” (p.325)

This author has some unique and fun stories. I enjoyed this story. The main character is a person with an never ending life. Yes, his life is eternal. However, this condition has some faults and risks.
Such imagination put into the character and his journey.

Time travel with a twist. There is no magic phone booth, but we see our protagonist through time. I was on the hook the whole book to find out where Marion is–if anywhere. I loved the multiple timelines in this book with a glimpse of historical fiction (a la Forrest Gump). Delightful.

♥️♥️♥️

240220 How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

Tom Hazard is a morose loner. Born in 1581, he fell in love in 1598. He lost his love and never loved again.

Not once in the next 400 years.

Tom has a rare genetic condition that opposes progeria. Rather than aging quickly, Tom – and a few others – age very slowly, about one year for every fifteen years. Since the condition kicks in at puberty, Tom spends eighty years as a teenager. In his youth, i.e., the sixteenth century, this raises fears of witchcraft. Tom learns discretion.

In the 1890s, he discovers an organization of similar individuals who take control of his life, insisting that he avoid entanglement with “mayflies,” i.e., those who live and die within the allotted eighty years. People like Tom call themselves “albatrosses” in homage to the alleged long lives of the bird.

This book skips back and forth between the present – London circa 2018 – and various episodes in his past. Tom and his beloved wife, Rose, had a child, Marian. Marian received the albatross gene, but when Rose died of the plague in 1619, Marian disappeared. He's been looking for her ever since.

Tom has lived through history and met some great people – Shakespear, Fitzgerald, Cooke, Samuel Johnson, and others – but he is not an interesting person. He comes across as morose and awkward. He seeks to live an average life. As the story opens, he takes on a job teaching history to school children. There is a romance. There is also tension as Tom comes to trust the Albatross Society less.

I liked the story. I tend to like stories with protagonists who are essentially immortal. The hopping around in time in the story was fun and kept the story moving along. The story ends with action after a slow burn build-up. I could pick some nits about how conveniently the threads of the story came together in the last ten pages, but I am not because I enjoyed the ride.

This book is being made into a television serialization starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Tom Hazard. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/miptv-2023-benedict-cumberbatch-series-matt-haig-how-to-stop-time-1235376489/#!

The premise of this is so cute but there's not really a plot? I don't know, it was put together kind of strangely.

I was eagerly anticipating reading The Midnight Library, so I decided to start with this book first. However, I'm really hoping it's better because this one left me feeling disappointed. How can a 500-year-old individual, who has had experiences with Shakespeare and Captain Cook, be so uninteresting? The premise of people aging slower, roughly 15 years to every one year for normies, intrigued me, and this story revolves around Tom, one such extraordinary individual. Despite such a promising setup and a relatively realistic journey through time, reading this book felt like an excruciating task.

Let's begin with the positives: the book provided a fascinating glimpse into various eras as the narrative hopped through different times. The writing style had its moments of philosophical depth, although it might have been a bit excessive for my taste. If you enjoy a book that dances around the concept and implications of extended life, this might appeal to you.

Now, let's explore the negatives: the conversations between characters lacked authenticity, feeling stilted and devoid of a natural flow. The biggest issue lies with Tom and the overall story; both turned out to be rather mundane. Perhaps the intention was to portray Tom as an ordinary individual, but this approach drained much of the story's excitement. Most of Tom's narrative seemed to dwell on the downsides of his long life, making it obvious that he hasn't truly been living since the tragedies of his youth. Unfortunately, this drained the vibrancy from much of the tale. Additionally, the big climax left me scratching my head; parts of it were apparent, yet it didn't fit well, and it failed to capture my interest. Furthermore, there was a lack of focus on romantic elements, leaving any chemistry to happen off the page, which made the ending triumph feel rather underwhelming.

Overall, I struggled to get through this book. It was decent, but the disappointment was significant. I believe some of this disappointment was intentional, perhaps to force introspection on what makes living worthwhile and to address themes of grief and living on in memory. Nonetheless, the book came across as somewhat lackluster.

It took me some time to get the common thread. In the end I loved the perception of time this story taught me.

Readable right from the start and fairly quick to move through with the shorter chapters, but not sure what the main story is outside of the main character's unusual situation and what feels like short glimpses/stories of specific experiences over time around it that don't add up to much. Expected a story more in the drama/thriller/sci-fi realm based on one of the author's other works, but this is more of a love story/lost family/secret society tale that never seemed to get to the next level. However, the ending was good, as it brought everything full circle and tied the story in a nice bow.

I like Matt H's writing style. His plots are very unique too. Disclaimer: This is only the second book of him I've read.

Great ending imho but certain subplots lingered a little too long.
Regardless, easy read where you can also dive deeper if you choose to do so.

What a great book, had me utterly gripped from the first page. I really enjoyed the flashback style of writing which really added a lot to the amazing character development.

The only reason this doesn't get 5 stars is that I felt the last few chapters were almost “action movie” style. Very much bang, bang, bang, over. After the way the book read I really wish there had been another 50 pages just fleshing this out more.

Recommend if you liked The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

Good book but also the main character can get on your nerves just a little; some of the realizations/reflections he expresses seem obvious. Overall entertaining and a bit of a surprise at the end.

This was fine. I really wasn't sure about it until maybe 60% through. It is nowhere near as good as midnight library, which was an instant favorite of mine. I also felt that some of the scenes with famous folks were overwrought and turned me off.

I liked this a lot more than the Midnight Library. I liked the characters and the historical time periods it portrayed. It wasn't fantastic, but I enjoyed reading it.

One of the most boring books I've read in my life. The only good thing about it is that it is short.

This was a typical Matt Haig book in that it deals with an extraordinary circumstance and how it effects the main characters mental health. Luckily I enjoy his style, not least due to the speed of the story telling and ease of reading; however, the ending was a slight let down as it felt like he ran out of steam and decided to just stop there and wrap it all up as quickly as possible.

An interesting idea stretched a bit longer than maybe it needed to be, the ending comes about rather quickly and suddenly. That's not to say that what comes before isn't enjoyable, I had a difficult time putting it down, but it all wraps in the last 120 pages awfully quickly.

I've thought about how this would work as a linear narrative, without the narrative jumping around in time, but I think it would be a lesser novel that way. While for some it might feel a bit preachy at the end, I enjoyed it.

Wonderful hook to begin the book, middle development was strong but the finish was rushed and banal.

If you're wondering how to deal with a lost loved one, read this book.

Anyone who says: “To talk about memories is to live them a little,” has a grip on the truth. I previously read THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by the same author. While I think that book was a little better, both books are excellent.

Also, if you've ever wanted to live forever, it might help to look into this book. Though fiction, the novel plumbs the depths of a long life, particularly in relationship to those with an average life span. While it's not a book about time travel, it does jump back and forth between centuries in an enticing way.

Overall, it was a quick read. However, I felt it was important to take time and think about what the author was exploring. He is a thought-provoking philosopher as well as a student of physics. I think a delightful side note explored how almost every idea comes and goes out of fashion, whether it's getting your tonsils out or climate change. What is believed today as fact, may prove to be folly tomorrow... or in a century, should you live that long.

Un joli roman de Matt Haig, un auteur que j'ai découvert récemment et dont j'apprécie décidément beaucoup les oeuvres, qu'elles soient de fiction ou non.

Dans ce roman, Matt Haig nous propose de suivre la longue vie de Tom, son protagoniste qui présente une particularité étonnante : il vieillit beaucoup plus lentement que la normale. Né au XVIe siècle, il se présente de nos jours comme un jeune quadragénaire. Bien sûr, son âge véritable doit rester un secret, et il doit bouger tous les huit ans pour se faire oublier et recommencer une nouvelle vie loin de la précédente.

Je ne vais pas en dire plus pour ne pas vous divulgâcher ce roman, mais c'est un récit dans le temps qui vaut le coup d'être lu. C'est intéressant, palpitant par moments, et parfois touchant. Une réussite, à nouveau, pour Matt Haig.

Marvelous.

Tom's journey is tinged with Miniver Cheevy's regret; he lives in the past and believes he's hardly ever at the right time or place. He longs to go back to the long lost loves and places he cherishes the most, but discovers living in the moment is more possible than he thought. Tension crests and wanes in the past while the current relationships play along the edges. Then, everything comes together in a satisfying way. The Albatross Society feels incomplete and could fill a book itself. Omai is also in incredible character with a philosophy all his own, and I was left wanting more time with him and his own journey. This entire book could be the foundation for a more in-depth Outlander or Highlander-esque book or television series.

An imperfect book, but one I've enjoyed