How to Stop Time
by Matt Haig
Date: March 7th, 2023
Reviewed by: Natalie Harms
The book (a mix of romance and time-travel genres) centres around Tom Hazard, a man who has a condition that makes him age extremely slowly. He looks 40 but he’s been alive for centuries. There are others like him in the world, known as ‘Albas’, and many of them have been coerced to join a secret society (more like a cult) run by a manipulative time-traveller named Hendrich. Hendrich helps Tom (and other Albas) avoid scrutiny (and discrimination) by giving them a new life and identity every 8 years. In return Tom must “bring in” Albas to join the society.
Eight years is about the time it takes for people to catch on to the fact that Tom is not aging quickly. So, once the eight years are up, Hendrich give Tom a new assignment and a new identity, and the process repeats. Hendrich has one cardinal rule: Don’t fall in love. Ever. Tom has been in love, once, and he has a daughter (who is also an Alba) but Tom has lost track of his daughter, and Hendrich has promised to reunite the pair. The story takes us on Tom’s journey of falling in love, the search for his daughter and his extraordinary life including performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. But it’s also the story of a man who just wants an ordinary life, a life that doesn’t match up to Hendrich’s rules
The group’s reaction to the book was initially warm but as we discussed the book the group found an appreciation for Matt Haig’s style and the way he weaves his philosophical thoughts and life lessons into the book. It’s a slow moving book in the beginning and for those who pursue it to the end, it does pick up pace. Matt Haig’s style is reflective of his own struggles in life with mental health, and his need to shine a light on life and help his readers make sense of it. In many ways, this book seems to be Matt Haig’s way of coming to terms with life, death and worrying about the future. He throws in some history and questions if we have truly learned from history and shines a light on how important being present (in the day, in the moment) is.
“That is the whole thing with the future. You don’t know. At some point you have to accept that you don’t know. You have to stop flicking ahead and just concentrate on the page you are on.”
“Places don’t matter to people any more. Places aren’t the point. People are only ever half present where they are these days. They always have at least one foot in the great digital nowhere.”