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    How to Stop Time: A Novel
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    How to Stop Time: A Novel
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    How to Stop Time: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    How to Stop Time: A Novel

    Written by Matt Haig

    Narrated by Mark Meadows

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "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. If you stick to this you will just about be okay.'"

    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. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.

    So Tom moves back his to London, his old home, to become a high school history teacher--the perfect job for someone who has witnessed the city's history first hand. Better yet, a captivating French teacher at his school seems fascinated by him. But the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society's watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can't have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.

    How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages - and for the ages - about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateFeb 6, 2018
    ISBN9780525587477
    Unavailable
    How to Stop Time: A Novel
    Author

    Matt Haig

    MATT HAIG is the bestselling author of The Midnight Library. His most recent work is the non-fiction title The Comfort Book. He has written two other books of non-fiction and six highly acclaimed novels for adults, as well as many books for children. Matt Haig has sold more than a million books worldwide. His work has been translated into more than forty languages.

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    Reviews for How to Stop Time

    4/5

    626 ratings62 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This is sort of sci-fi, historical fiction, we follow this fellow who goes by many names, as one must when they live past the age of 400. An exciting story of intrigue, romance, and frustration, it's a little like a spy novel, and a little like a romantic comedy. Matt Haig has surprised me a few times, I may have to read more of his work!
    • 4/5
      Life is often too short, but that’s not true for Tom Hazard. Although he is 400 years old, he hardly looks a day over 40. Blessed, or maybe cursed, with a rare condition, he ages oh, so very slowly. And while others like him exist, most of the people around him are just normal humans. Warned never to fall in love, he, of course, does. And has a child. His wife ages and becomes ill; he does not. And so, his life becomes one of secrets and of saying good-bye to those he is close to, because to reveal the truth is dangerous, and to stay invites trouble. This fascinating tale is a most unusual one, and readers will likely find themselves captivated by the very likable character of Tom Hazard and the problems that come with being long-lived. This novel is well imagined and well written.
    • 4/5
      Interesting concept of a man born in the 16th century, ageing very slowly, so that he has the appearance of a forty-something in the present day.Gave Matt Haig the opportunity to dip into Wikipedia and have his character (who had a very 21st century mentality throughout) come fleetingly across the likes of Shakespeare, Captain Cooke, F. Scott Fitzgerald...Rather light on historical detail, but allowed his hero - who spent his long life trying to evade detection- to ruminate on how he/we should live: to try to live very ‘safe’ when the future can never be known, or suffer the pains (& meaningfulness) of love.Original & though provoking.
    • 5/5
      “People you love never die” (original quotation)

      Content:
      Tom Hazard is a history teacher in London and he likes what he does. But what seems to be a normal life, for him does not mean normality at all, because he was born on the third of March 1581, which means that now he is 437 years old. Not that he is immortal, it is only that he is aging very, very slow. In 1890, a doctor had called this condition “anageria”, his lifelong mentor Hendrich calls people like them (and there are more) albatrosses, or just albas.
      The problem for people like Tom is that they have to change identity, places to live, before their neighbors are wondering and become suspicious. In 1603 he fell in love with Rose, they got married in 1607 and as she got older, the difference between him and her was even more visible. The 17th century was an especially dangerous period for people being somehow different, but also in our modern times, for Tom there seems to be no place to just live a normal life – but, what if? … what if he falls in love again? …

      This story is much more than “fantasy” and definitely not “science fiction”. It is more a travel through time and centuries, with vivid descriptions of the Shakespearian London and Paris in the “Golden Twenties”. But it is not about time-travelling, as Tom cannot go back into the past.

      Written in the 1st person and in chapters, the story is set in nowadays London and Tom thinks and speaks about his life in form of many flashbacks, each chapter heading defines time and location.

      Based on his experiences during more than 400 years, Tom now is ruled by the situation, by the time, by his fears that have grown from the risk of discovery of his special condition and above all he feels his loneliness. Based on his experiences he never wants to fall in love again. Some of his fears and concerns are given rise by Hendrich, who is much older than Tom and who is the Head of the Albatross Organization, who helps Albas with new identities. But Tom during the complete story is and remains a really loveable, often struggeling main character.

      The story is enjoyable and entertaining to read, with exciting turns. For readers who like historical fiction and plots in different time settings.


    • 4/5
      I've been meaning to read this for some time as the topic - time - is really up my street! I found it a very interesting novel.

      Would anyone really want to live for such a long time if that meant that:
      You would be classed as a dangerous oddity?
      You would have to hide who you are?
      You would have to suffer - and those you loved would suffer or be threatened/murdered because of your condition.
      You'd live a lonely existence-as you would lose those you love through their natural death, or through their connection to you.

      I doubt it.

      It's a thoughtful, philosophical novel - and I particularly enjoy novels that make you ponder.

      There are sad episodes in the novel but somehow they didn't make me cry which was a bit of a disappointment! All those long episodes of time and not a tear jerker is sight. This could have been a five star read, but it didn't quite make it. And that is why, in my opinion.

      Nevertheless, it's well written and worthy of reading. It's a thinking novel so it might not be for everyone!

    • 2/5
      This book was recommended to my by my bestie who probably knows better than most what my taste in literature is and she wasn't wrong with this one. However, I'm a fickle mood reader and when I picked up this book I just wasn't particularly interested in reading about the lives of these characters. The story follows a man named Tom who has a rare ability: he ages at an incredibly slow rate. The reader follows him from his birth up to the present where he is struggling with his centuries old existence and having to keep his secret (while trying to locate his estranged daughter). There's a secret society of those like him that are ruled over by a man who will do everything in his seemingly unlimited powers to keep their secret from being leaked. The issue I had wasn't that I didn't enjoy the narrative or its delivery but that once I put it down I didn't actively seek to pick it back up. (It was also on hold at the library so I didn't have long to languish over it.) I took that as a sign that this was one I'd have to revisit some time in the future. (haha time reference) Progress: I made it to page 127 out of 325.
    • 3/5
      I've read other books about people who can live forever, or to an incredibly old age, but they have usually been vampire stories. Frankly, I've liked those books better than this one. Tom Hazard was born in 1581 with a condition of unknown origin that made him age very, very slowly. He and the other people with this condition have been forced to uproot their lives frequently so that they are not discovered and burned as witches, subjected to scientific experiments or faced with other imagined horrors. Tom fell in love and married once and they had a daughter Marion who inherited Tom's condition. Tom became separated from his family and he spent the rest of his life searching for Marion. You would think that in 500 years Tom would have done something interesting or exciting or useful, but that is not the case. He moped. He also met some famous people like Shakespeare and Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, who are name dropped for no reason. I know that it wasn't the intent of the author to write an adventure story or speculative fiction. He wanted to tell a story about the meaning and purpose of life and how to use the time we have. However I found the philosophy trite and the ending of the book really sappy. I didn't hate this book, but I was unmoved by it. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
    • 3/5
      there are some gems in here: moments of humor, succinct observation on the human condition, quotable quotes but it feels like there’s a lot to “wade through” too - the structure is a repetitive and tidy back and forth - maybe too interruptive ? too repetitive ?
    • 2/5
      The plot formula is clear, based on a time-spanning conceit and an intended suspense, but this reader wasn't gripped. Characters and motives are somehow sterile, and the supposed breakthrough they arrive at feels less than profound. Even the dog seems sketchy. The author's breezy voice is likeable enough to get one through to the end, but without much that convinces.
    • 4/5
      Glimpses of time and philosophy, with a touch of name-dropping and a lot of devotion. I liked it.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of Tom Hazard a 41 year old History Teacher at an East London Secondary School, Tom is actually over 400 years old.He has a disease called Anageria which makes him age 15 times slower than normal people. There are a few hundred people around the world who have this condition. They live in secret and have to move on every 8 years. Tom is tired of running although he really wants to find his daughter Marion who has the same condition. Hendreich the leader of the Albatross society who looks after all the people with Anageria sends Tom on missions to convert others.Tom goes to Australia to track down an old friend called Sol.Tom then meets his daughter Marion there how was going to shoot him.They sort out their differences and keep in touch. Tom also falls in love with a teacher called Camille they move to France were they live together Camille is pregnant.Good book this bit different.
    • 5/5
      YES! I must say ”All the feels!” This novel was a great ride through time and love thanks to the many memories written in separate chapters. The ending is both painful and truthful. While the MC is depressed for most of the book, it’s there for good reasons. Such an emotional and lovely read. I will forever recommend it!
    • 3/5
      Ack, my feelings are so mixed on this book. I don't know where to go with the review.The larger storyline was good. I liked the anageria (extremely slow aging) idea. I liked that agelessness had turned from something that could get you burned as a witch to something so valued labs in Berlin were trying to artificially emulate it so everyone could live hundreds of years. Times do change. I liked that Haig made Tom an everyman, but that had a downside as well. After living 400 years he was dull as oatmeal. You would think by the mere act of living that long one would get interesting, but apparently not. In fact it was quite the opposite. Tom managed to make the Globe Theater at the height of Shakespeare's popularity and and hanging out with the Lost Generation superstars at Ciro's in the 20's really boring. (Of course he was going to run into these people, and only the really famous ones. Scott and Zelda, Gertrude and Alice, Sherwood Anderson, all accounted for, but none of the dozens of other Ciro's regulars who don't show up in everyone's Norton's Anthology.) That there is one of my problems with the book. I am fine with Haig putting Tom into this Forest Gump situation, but then Tom takes all of the joy out of these moments he is placed into. Tom is a fun-sucker, a Debbie Downer, a buzzkill of the highest order. That brought the book down, Tom's lack of humor or particular wit made this book something of a slog for me.Other issues: Hendrick--what was his deal? Why did he care if research was done on anageria? Was that ever explained? Why the story with the thug kid and his gang? If the suggestion is that we can turn thugs into College Possible candidates by engaging them in the study of history I would urge Haig to rethink that. Marion -- for a reunion 400ish years in the making, it was pretty blah and wholly lacking in emotion. I assume this was because of Tom's fun-suckage? For someone who spent 100s of years feeling guilty about procreating and making another Alba (SPOILER) he seems fine and dandy with his decision to procreate again. If the message is "love conquers all" I think we all know better and have an issue with that.An easy read which raised some interesting questions but which lagged in the middle and included "morals" that just did not work for me. A 2.5.
    • 4/5
      Not a ROMCOM !I generally dislike “fantasy” fiction, though I have a difficult time describing exactly what I mean by that. So I rely mainly on examples to get my point across. A young girl is murdered and her spirit observes the earthly events following her demise; the spirit impacts subsequent events. An action hero walks into a bar on a distant planet and is confronted by a belligerent patron with three heads, while a 1200 pound frog like creature sits in a corner sipping his martini. Time travel is rife with more examples. But I’m also a romantic at heart so sub-consciously I seem to always be on the lookout for a fantasy that works. I’ve read two earlier Matt Haig books and I found them just OK, two and three star efforts. Recently, I wanted something very different from my usual crime fiction/history/bio/memoir/politics mix so I thought I’d give “How To Stop Time” (HST) a shot.Our HST hero, narrator Tom Hazard, was born March 3, 1581 and he is still alive today; he appears to be in his early 40’s. Yes, Tom ages very slowly, and while this first appears to be a good thing, it does present problems over the years. After all, friends and neighbors will notice at some point that he doesn’t seem any older than he did eight years ago when they first met. When Tom was just a kid, witchcraft in his family was suspected, and we know what they did to witches. In some respects things haven’t improved much for those with his condition over the centuries – imagine what a guinea pig he would become today. So Tom can only survive through the ages by becoming a rolling stone, and eight years seems to be about the critical point to move on. Obviously a story with all kinds of flashback opportunities. Over the years, Tom comes to realize that he is not the only one blessed/afflicted with this condition. There is even a secret society, and their first goal is to survive within ever-changing communities. The society has one rule – never fall in love. Though not stated as such there is a second rule and that is never tell anyone of your condition because you will endanger all other albas. Now don’t assume like I did that this story morphs into some nice sweet little romance. Ninety percent of this 331 page novel is how Tom survives over the centuries. But the anchor timepoint of HST is today, and slowly the story keeps coming back to today. Tom has just taken on a new job as a history teacher (a natural position, right? After all, he knew Shakespeare personally!) and he is soon attracted to a young lady colleague. On the rare occasions that I have read “fantasies”, I have often become frustrated by holes in the story, mostly points where the story v. reality gap becomes enormous and distracting. To really make a story like HST work requires a ton of unusual plotting and other work on the part of the author. Haig has done that with this story and hats off to him for it. HST works. So, why not five star? Is there a message? Yes, but nothing that blew me away. Secondly, the story occasionally slowed down for me. I thought it would have benefitted from a bit more excitement, or tension. There is one such scene with Tom as a young boy, but I would have been more tightly engaged with the book had there been at least one other similar episode. I just noted this will be a movie with Benedict Cumberbatch which strikes me as perfect casting. Hopefully the movie people won’t add seven more adventure scenes.
    • 2/5
      A man has lived more than 400 years, but his life is a lonely one. The story flashes back and forth in time. I wish I liked this one more than I did. I found myself rolling my eyes a lot at the dialogue and plot. It’s pretty cheesy and predictable. It frequently felt like the plot was forced just to give the author a chance to introduce an interaction with another famous person.
    • 3/5
      I would like to think that someone who is 500 years old would be less self-absorbed and whiny than the narrator of this book. Tom has lived since Elizabethan times, and because he never ages he has to move and create a new life every 8 years or so or people become suspicious. He has a daughter who he hasn't seen since she was a child, but he suspects she shares his longevity and wants to find her. So this story is full of him complaining about how lonely he is, obsessing over the loss of his first love and his daughter, and reminiscing about Elizabethan England. The end seems very abrupt, which is mostly because there isn't really any plot to the book, so there's nothing for it to build up to. I won't go so far as to say I regret reading it, but I felt like Haig could have done something more interesting with his premise, or at least given his main character more depth.
    • 3/5
      Tom Hazard was born in England in the mid 1500's. He is 400 plus years old and lives in fear that he will be found out. Due to his oddity, he is described as an albatross by Heinrich who is the founder of the Albatross Society in the mid 1800's to protect "Albas" from being found out by the general population or Mayflies ( normal lived people) therefore on the move every 8 years. We experience Tom though his fear and flashbacks to the one time when he was happy with a wife and child, Marion who is like him an Albas. We meet Shakespeare, and wander the streets of old and modern London with Tom. Our lesson, should we live in fear or embrace life and every moment?
    • 4/5
      A good, well paced read with something to say about appreciating life, though the nice guy protagonist narrator is not anything special, nor really are any of the characters and the cover purely sucks. It's fun to visit with Shakespeare et. al. but gimmicky too.
    • 4/5
      I wanted to like this book a lot more based on the premise, but did enjoy the story and some of the conclusions of our narrator. The beginning was a bit hard to follow, but it started to pick up and I got more into it. At the end of the day there is a lesson about the time you live in and taking full advantage of being in the moment - which I can appreciate.
    • 3/5
      This one was just a little bit better than ok which is why I went ahead and gave it three stars. I really loved the plot of this book and think it could have been done SO much better. It really had a lot of potential but for the first half of the book it dragged quite a bit. It also jumped around in time which messed with the flow of the story. I did like that the character came across a few important figure throughout his life, in fact I wish there had been more of that! Towards the end it was a little rushed but it did end well.
    • 5/5
      We've all heard stories of time travel but this one is not the usual. The focus of this book is a man, and others as well, who happen to live longer than usual, whilst aging at a much slower rate. Albatrosses are known for their longevity, and so, too, are these special people.The story follows some life events of one such man, named Tom Hazard. The story bounces around through 437 years of time, but does so with ease, always alerting the reader or listener to the location in time.I enjoy time travel tales and this fits in well among such other titles. Imagine having met Shakespeare, or Josephine Baker, or F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. They are mere blips upon Hazard's protracted timeline. Nonetheless, he enjoyed his time with them, for what it was.Here are some of my favorite lines from the book:For once in my life, nothing terrible happened. What happened was this, we had a daughter. We called her Marian. I would hold her in my arms while she was still wrapped in swaddling bonds. But I used to sing to her in French to calm her when she cried, and it generally seemed to work. I loved her instantly. Of course, most parents love their children instantly, but I mention it here, because I still find it a remarkable thing. Where was that love before? Where did you acquire it from? The way it is suddenly there; totally, complete, as sudden as grief, but in reverse. It's one of the wonders of our being human. ~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. Yes, it is clear, that in those moments that burst alive, the present lasts forever. 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. ----------I cannot recall how I came across this title, but I placed it on my list of books to read. This weekend I selected it as an Audible audiobook because I had many hours of driving ahead as we returned home following a short vacation. This is the first time I've completed a whole book in a single day.I had 4 kids with me for the drive, aged 12 - 17. They all had their own books and phones to fiddle with. After we stopped for dinner, they told me that they had enjoyed listening along and thought that the book was very well written, without me even asking.
    • 4/5
      How to Stop Time gives readers many opportunities to consider how they would choose to age slowly with the main character's mixed blessing of living for 900 years.Would we seek the pain of endlessly revisiting horrific memories? If yes, then we also might be blinded by our Alba boss.Many of us might wish instead to join a grief therapy group with Tom since he stays unhappy for most of the 437 years he has so far lived. And, while it is often an impossiblechallenge to live without fear, we wish that his fear of breaking the arbitrary rules of Alba had not dominated his separate existences (and so many pages!).While I totally enjoyed the historical perspectives, notably with the fun twist on Shakespeare, the plot would have been smoother if many of the time jumps hadbeen combined. It was confusing to follow the disjointed threads and it would have been good to meet others with Tom's condition to see if they could fall in lovewith each other and so not be tied to the No Love Rule.It was welcome to be reminded not to be bound to the past, to the bad and unforgivable memories, but, as nearly everyone is writing in these new hard times, to stayin the present while letting the unpredictable and uncontrollable future be more gently revealed and prepared for.The dialogue, when Tim is not beset by another tedious headache while teaching or sparring with Hendrich, flows comfortably when he decides to tell Camille the truthand in his conversations with Omai.
    • 4/5
      This was a random library pick and I am so glad I picked it up. This is a book about a man with a "condition" that slows his aging process dramatically. We get flash backs of his life through the centuries, and his search for his daughter, as he tries to start a new life for himself after being forced to move once again. I loved this and finished it in only two days. This is the author who wrote The Radleys and I enjoyed that one too many years ago.
    • 3/5
      What if you were in excellent health and could live for centuries in the prime of your life. You still were mortal, but you didn't have to worry about the normal ailments that kill people. Wouldn't that be something that everyone would wish for? But eventually everyone in your circle - family, friends, and of course nosy neighbors would notice that as they got older and arthritic, you would still be going strong, looking exactly as you did 50 years ago. And that would probably raise questions and make your nosy neighbors really jealous -- so jealous that your life would be in danger. Tom Hazard has a rare genetic trait that makes him age slowly and immune to disease. He still gets older, just very slowly. Born in the Middle Ages, he has experienced Shakespeare, the Plague, and sailed the seas with Captain Cook. Now fast forward to today. Tom has lived centuries, but only looks 41 years old. He's lived in many places and seen history in the making, but he only stays in one place for 8 years before he moves on. This endless struggle of trying to remain anonymous and not forming any bonds is beginning to wear on him.I thought the premise of this book would make a fascinating story, and there were parts of this book that I loved, but there is also a not-so-subtle message about the true meaning of life. Although I liked the message, the delivery was a little heavy handed and felt too obvious. So overall, I enjoyed it, but I'm a bit disappointed that the delivery wasn't as good as the premise.
    • 4/5
      A good yarn. It engaged me even when I wasn't feeling the story. Eventually, I fell under the spell and gave into the magic.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      2.5 stars raised to 3.I really tried to like this book. I saw so many 4 and 5 star reviews, I just knew it had to be good. Well, 56% of the way to the end, I said "never mind, I just don't get it". I read two other books while reading this one and they were excellent.I'm putting this one back on the shelf. I seriously could not get into this book or care about Tom.Thanks to Penguin Group Viking and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
    • 5/5
      Writing to savor, characters to break your heart and then put the pieces back together, and a story that once it gets in your head refuses to go away. And yes history does tend to repeat itself but sometimes we find a way to be ok with that and appreciate the present for what it offers. A must read for 2018!
    • 3/5
      Tom has met William Shakespeare, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Captain Cook. He's over four centuries old (but looks like he's only in his 40s) but of course he can't tell anyone that. As far as Tom is concerned, being practically immortal (he's not, but he should live well into his ninth century) isn't all it's cracked up to be. He probably would have done himself in a long time ago, except he has to find his daughter, who's out there somewhere. He thinks. But since he hasn't even had a hint of where she might be in about 350 years, he's decided to go back to his roots, which dredge up a lot of memories. Most of the book alternates between Tom's current life as a history teacher and his reminiscenses as he Forrest Gumps his way through history.There's not so much plot for most of the book as there is deep, dark philosophical musing on life and time and history. Until suddenly Haig realizes that he has to actually end the book in some way, and several very dramatic things happen, Tom comes to some startling realizations, and they all live happily ever after. For a long time.
    • 5/5
      The new history teacher at a present day school in London is uniquely qualified. He doesn't just know history. He lived through it. Born in 1581, Tom has been to several places, has met some famous people, and has accumulated many skills and experiences. One important thing he's learned is to avoid close personal relationships; love especially. Aging at about a tenth the rate of most people, such attachments can only bring heartache.

      That description may make this book sound like angst-filled romantic drivel, but it's not. Well, okay, there is some romance, and I suppose a bit of angst is unavoidable, but it's mainly a first person account of human cultures over time from the unique perspective of someone who is simultaneously immersed in and detached from them. It's a good story done well. I recommend it.