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    The Thief of Time: A Novel
    The Thief of Time: A Novel
    The Thief of Time: A Novel
    Ebook524 pages11 hours

    The Thief of Time: A Novel

    By John Boyne

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    John Boyne became internationally known for his acclaimed novels Crippen and the bestselling The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Now, for the first time in the US comes The Thief of Time, the book that started the career of the author that the Irish Examiner calls "one of the best and original of the new generation of Irish writers."

    It is 1758 and Matthieu Zela is fleeing Paris after witnessing the murder of his mother and his stepfather's execution. Matthieu's life is characterized by one extraordinary fact: before the eighteenth century ends, he discovers that his body has stopped ageing. At the end of the twentieth century and the ripe old age of 256 he is suddenly forced to answer an uncomfortable question: what is the worth of immortality without love?

    In this carefully crafted novel, The Thief of Time, John Boyne juxtaposes history and the buzz of the modern world, weaving together portraits of 1920s Hollywood, the Great Exhibition of 1851, the French Revolution, the Wall Street Crash, and other landmark events into one man's story of murder, love, and redemption.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateMar 6, 2007
    ISBN9781429988490
    The Thief of Time: A Novel
    Author

    John Boyne

    John Boyne is the author of numerous works of fiction, including The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a young adult novel that became an international bestseller and was made into an award-winning film. His books have been translated into forty-six languages, and he is the recipient of two Irish Book Awards, the Bistro Book of the Year award, and numerous international prizes. He lives in Dublin.

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    Reviews for The Thief of Time

    4/5

    11 ratings7 reviews

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    • 4/5
      READ IN DUTCH

      This was my first John Boyne book after The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which is really well-known. His other books are far less popular, but I can't see why, as John Boyne turned out to be one of my favourite authors. One of the things I like best, besides the style and pacing of his stories, is the fact that he does something different every time.



      This is a adult novel, although he also writes books for (arguably) children like The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas or Noah Barleywater runs away. The main character ceases to age, and is therefore able to tell about a lot of important chapters in Western history (since 1750 or so), besides the stories of his very unfortunate kin (who are not blessed/cursed with not dying).



      I really liked the story and the ideas, and what I think to be even better: He's putting references to this man in his other books. I've spotted him once in the beginning of Mutiny on the Bounty. But I believe I would find more of these subtle references if I would reread the books.
    • 4/5
      Matthieu Zela, the narrator of this novel, was born in Paris in 1743. By 1999 (the present day for the novel) he is 256 years old, but has not aged noticeably for more than two centuries, and still appears to be a healthy, sprightly man in early middle age.The novel takes the form of three separate narratives, one recounting Zela’s early experiences, and his departure from Paris as a teenager, and his struggles to establish himself in England. In this he is accompanied by Dominique, a beautiful young Parisienne who has also fled her homeland, escaping unspecified travails back home. The second narrative follows Matthieu in the present day of 1999 (the novel was published in 2000), by which time he has amassed huge wealth and is a significant shareholder in an early participant in satellite television broadcasting. The third narrative flits back and forth between various episodes from the intervening phases of Matthieu’s long eventful life.Having once succeeded in establish a firm financial basis for his life, Matthieu finds himself taking one several different careers, mostly in arts-based circles, although he tends to be an administrator rather than a creator. At different times we find him managing a new opera house in Rome, working on the fringes of Hollywood in the 1920s and rubbing shoulders with Charlie Chaplin, then later working in the early days of the television explosion if post-war America, labouring under the shadow of the McCarthy witch hunts. With each new window on a phase of his life we find him embarking on a new marriage or extended relationship. He also stands as mentor and unofficial guardian to a succession of ‘nephews’, although by 1999 a string of ‘greats’ is needed to pinpoint exactly how distant the relationship has become.This may all sound extremely fanciful, but such is the strength of John Boyne’s writing and plotting that once Zela has made his opening statement about his age, the reader goes along with it entirely. Once the reader has encompassed that leap of faith, the rest follows on naturally.All very engaging and very accomplished.
    • 4/5
      Het verhaal van een man die maar niet ouder werd, en zijn familie om zich heen ziet komen en gaan.
      Al meer dan 250 jaar leeft Matthieu Zela en heeft hij veel zien gebeuren en veranderen op aarde.

      verhaal springt heen en weer tussen zijn eerste jaren, de huidige tijd en zijn verleden. idee van het verhaal was goed
    • 5/5
      Was really loving this book until the last few chapters and then I was so disappointed!! It had the makings of a brilliant book but seemed to go downhill at the end - it felt like someone else had wrote the last few chapters instead of John Boyne!! If this had been my first book by this Author I probably wouldn't read any of his other books - but The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and the House of Special Purpose both took my breath away - amazing reads!!
    • 3/5
      Boyne’s first novel is a uniquely constructed blend of three narratives that are connected by an equally unique protagonist/narrator, Matthieu Zéla—a 256-year-old man who has stopped aging and is seemingly immortal. The first narrative tells the story of Zéla’s youth in 18th century France and England. This tale focuses mainly on Matthieu’s unrequited love for a woman named Dominique, who—for various reasons—poses as his sister during their travels through the English countryside with Matthieu’s younger half-brother Thomas.Another narrative strand, episodic in nature, follows Matthieu through his involvement in numerous historically significant events such as the Reign of Terror during the French revolution, the founding of the modern Olympic games, the film career of Charlie Chaplin, and the Wall Street crash that precipitated the Great Depression.The final narrative is set in contemporary London, where Matthieu works as a television executive and assists his nephew Tommy (a descendent of his 18th-century half-brother), who is a drug-addicted soap opera star.Although the narratives loosely align with three developmental stages in Matthieu’s life—namely youth, middle-age, and maturity—Boyne makes little effort to structure the episodes of each narrative strand in any way that would suggest thematic resonance. Indeed, they are woven together in a seemingly random fashion. Consequently, while Boyne’s writing is clear and crisp and Matthieu’s narrative voice is well developed and distinct, the overall story hardly qualifies as a conventional novel featuring a traditional plot structure. Furthermore, Matthieu never bothers to discover why he stopped aging and why he continues to live; thus, the mystery behind his immortality is never revealed.*The Thief of Time* is an enjoyable and, at times, thrilling read, but it never quite “clicks” as a unified novel.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      The story of a man who ceased aging in the 18th century--an interesting tale, an engaging read, but you don't get the feeling of being immersed in another era in the historical sections, which is something I value highly in a historical novel. The book is a series of anecdotes interspersed with continuing sections of the 256-year-old hero's teen years and his most recent years. It jumps around and large sections of his life are missing. I didn't find it crude or raunchy but I didn't find it addictive, either.
    • 5/5
      Matthieu Zela is 256 years old. He does not know why or how but around age 50 he just stopped aging. Thoughout his life he manages to keep in touch with the progeny of his brother, Tomas, who all seem to have unusually short lives. Matthieu tells us his life story in vignettes that center around his many wifes and many nephews, along with the story of his first love that is told throughout the entire book. I found this book addictive. It is well written and engaging.

    Book preview

    The Thief of Time - John Boyne

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