Matt Haig was already one of my favourite authors before picking up this galley, so you could say my review was always going to be biased. But finding the fiction overlap with some of the settings of my own life, having travelled and lived in Byron Bay, was an extra pleasant surprise. The book has Haig's trademark easy reading style, immediately engrossing and comfortable. Tom is at once recognisable and fresh as a literary creation, and the joy and possibility of his longevity is soon seen for the horror it could be — loneliness, isolation, loss. A novel I will revisit, for certain.

An interesting premise but the books is rather slow and the text a little turgid. It did not really appeal as an author to follow.

Matt Haig has quickly become one of my favourite authors somehow. Personally, I think he has a wonderful way with words, and with picking out the smallest of details in the everyday life and then twisting it into a fantastical plot point that really illustrates, as they say in Hamilton, “how lucky we are to be alive right now”. I was anticipating this book pretty highly so getting an eARC of it via NetGalley was like a dream come true. Basically the main character Tom has a condition which means that he ages suuuuper slowly, like he’s lived throughout centuries of history, and met some pretty interesting characters along the way (William Shakespeare and F Scott Fitzgerald included). But obviously the drawback of ageing super slowly is that everyone else around you, your nearest and dearest, will die before you do, and you will go through losing them, and then having to rebuild another life with the weight of this inevitable mortality on your shoulders. I like these kind of stories (the interrogation of this concept is what fascinates me about the likes of Doctor Who) so I was always going to go into this book with fondness but I truly loved the experience of reading it.

How to Stop Time is the story of Tom Hazard, a man with a rare medical condition which means that he ages at a much slower rate than most people. He is over 400 years old and has seen things that people have only read about in books. However, his condition puts I’m in danger - danger from scientists, eugenicists, by people who just couldn’t understand. So whilst Tom tries to hide under the radar - not make friends, not fall in love but this proves impossible when he gets a new job in a secondary school.

How to Stop Time is a time travel novel that meets a historical one. We travel through time with Tom Hazard and we meet a cast of historical figures from Shakespeare to F Scott Fitzgerald. At its heart, it is a story about relationships and how we need to keep people close to use regardless of the cost.

If I am completely honest I am not a huge fan of fantasy novels and How to Stop Time didn’t float my boat the way I wanted it to. I love Matt Haig’s writing - in particular his non fiction/mental health books so I worry that maybe his fiction is not for me. How to Stop Time is written well but the genre as a whole is one that I tend to avoid.

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig is available now.

For more information regarding Matt Haig (@MattHaig1) please visit his Twitter page.

For more information regarding Canongate Books (@canongatebooks) please visit www.canongate.co.uk.

I don’t think I’m smart enough to review How To Stop Time. I finished it last week and I’m still finding it pretty impossible to form my thoughts on it into coherent sentences, because this is the kind of epic, literary novel which is beautifully written but almost went over my head and then smacked me in the forehead and gave me a little bit of a headache.


Following Tom Hazard, How To Stop Time focuses on the concept of albas – short for albatrosses – which is a code word for people who age extremely slowly. Tom only looks in his late-twenties, but he’s actually been alive for over 400 years (he said his ratio is 1:15; for every 15 years he lives, he looks like he ages one).

Tom is a member of the Albatross Society, which means every eight years he gets a new name and moves to a new place to avoid people getting suspicious about his lack of aging. When we join Tom he decides he wants to move back to London – the place where he fell in love and lost his love hundreds of years ago – so he can start teaching and try to track down his long (long!) lost daughter.

This book certainly wasn’t what I expected, as it was marketed as ‘a love story across the ages’ and I had expected romantic love rather than familial love. I actually think I enjoyed this more because of the fact that it focused so heavily on Tom’s desperation to find his daughter: she is like him, but she runs away before he can learn that about her and he has always sworn that he’ll make it up to her someday.

I really enjoyed this book, despite the fact that my brain had to work extremely hard to keep on top of everything. Tom’s memory begins overwhelming him, so he suffers with flashbacks intruding into his lessons and debilitating migraines. The intrusive nature of the flashbacks is written brilliantly – Tom will be halfway through talking and his words will spark some long forgotten scene from his past into flooding back – and it effectively shows the major downsides to living to be 400. I also feel as though I learnt a lot about what Britain (and London in particular) has been like throughout the ages.

The only thing that stopped me giving this book five stars was the ending. It’s extremely abrupt and doesn’t feel that satisfying compared to the rest of the novel. There’s not really a good way to finish a story like this, but something about it wasn’t exactly to my taste. That being said, there’s apparently going to be an adaptation starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and I can’t wait to see how they translate a novel like this to the big screen.

How do you stop time and live only in a time you want to last forever? Unfortunately Tom, the protagonist, doesn't know. Not only that but in a way he has been cursed by having to live in many other times, centuries of them, not bad times, but not that one perfect 'when'.
Tom is an 'Albatross' not immortal but he lives a very, very long time. If an average human life is seventy years, he can expect to see over a thousand.
The story takes us to visit many famous places and people, (William Shakespeare anyone?), explores what can happen and what we can enjoy, but also what we can lose. Throughout the book the enduring theme is that Rose, his love, died. Evocatively it puts into the story the truest meaning of Freddy Mercury's 'Who wants to live forever.... ...oh when love must die'
Then, of course, it answers the question.

After enjoying Matt Haig's children's fiction, I was excited to read this one, especially when I read the premise. It did not disappoint and fuelled my love for the author.

A thought provoking and feel good novel. I wondered at the beginning if the premise of Tom ageing extremely slowly and living through history would get in the way, but there actually comes a point where you accept what is happening to him as a given and get involved in the more sinister aspects of The Albatross Society and the failings of human nature in general. A book to make you want to stop, look around and appreciate who is with you and what is happening in your life right now, instead of worrying about all life’s imponderables.

I am currently purchasing books for our secondary school library for our senior students. I am trying to provide a balance of genres and periods and really try and introduce them to a wide range of modern fiction and non-fiction. This book would definitely go down well with a hypercritical teenage audience as it has a bit of everything - great insights and a narrative style that draws you in and keeps you reading whilst also making you think about a wide range of issues at the same time. I adore Matt's writing and feel that it's my duty to make sure that young people get to meet him on the page as soon as possible. I think that school libraries are definitely changing and that the book we purchase should provide for all tastes and reflect the types of books that the students and staff go on to enjoy after leaving school. HTST is the kind of book that you can curl up with and totally immerse yourself in and I think it will definitely go down well at my school. I think that it was the perfect blend of A page-turning read with a strong narrative voice too! I think it would be a big hit with our seniors and will definitely recommend that we buy a copy as soon as we can.

Brilliant novel with a nearly immortal protagonist struggling to find meaning in a life that just keeps stretching on. I really love this author's writing and this is a great book that I'm recommending widely.

I've always loved Matt Haig's books, but found this one a little underwhelming. The ideas behind it are inspired, and I particularly liked the encounters with figures from history, but I found the story's telling really difficult to take to and only settled after something of a struggle with the first third. I was always particularly aware of the voice of the author rather than Tom himself, who never entirely engaged or convinced me, and I just didn't care enough. Just not the book for me, I think...

(Review shared only on Goodreads)

I love Matt Haig's books and have done since The Radley's. Matt is a champion for mental health issues and has helped thousands of people feel not so alone with his books over the years, How To Stop Time is a story about hope and love and has the heart-warming factor I love in a book. A lovely book that makes you stop and think.

Full review to follow on blog.

A magical book, completely transformative. I can see myself recommending it to older children I work with. It catches you unaware- you don't think it will be nearly as touching as it is. I'm not a science fiction fan, not when it comes to books anyway, but I feel with this one, Matt Haig has defied the genre.

'I walk briskly away from the house, then the street, wishing I could just as easily walk away from the past.' [pg. 22]

This is a story about the nature of people, the world, through time. It's told by a narrator and protagonist, Tom Hazard, a man who has lived to witness centuries of history in the making. So much so, that he has become rather annoyed with the repetition of the days before him!

But even if you don't have a passion for history, as I do, there is more to this incredible story. Ultimately we are dealt honest lessons of love, loss and friendship experienced by a tortured soul struggling to find purpose and craft an authentic identity, while keeping the secret of his long past guarded. A man obligated to 'play' within the boundaries that come with having too much time. The biggest order is to not fall in love. Love means danger. It's a risk, it asks for too much. But surviving, without really feeling alive, just might be the greatest risk of all.

I received this book through Netgalley.

Having previously read, and loved, The Humans, I was keen to read another of Matt Haig's books.

I found this one to be more of a "grower", than a book that hooks you from the start, but the idea of humans among the population that age very slowly (as opposed to those who age too quickly) is certainly an intriguing one.

Matt Haig has a way of getting down to the essentials of what it means to be a human being that is very touching and deeply emotional.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am not ashamed to say I shed a tear at the end, (a bit awkward in the optician's waiting room!), just as I did at the end of The Humans.

Ever reliable Matt Haig is a master of crafting a good story line. Great characters with real emotional engagement. Always a pleasure to pick up one of his books. Really funny in parts too.

Plot: Tom Hazard might appear to be a normal man, but he has a secret: he’s much older than you think. Part of the “Albatross Society”, he one of very few people around the world who ages far slower than the average, meaning he’s over 500 years old and has started his life over many, many times to hide this secret. There’s only one rule: he cannot fall in love.

My thoughts: Given the plot I’ve outlined above, I’m sure you can tell where the story goes with this one – of course, Tom did fall in love, and as a result, there’s something that he clings to throughout his long, long life.
I found the premise of the book fascinating. It’s one that’s not entirely new, but was done really quite well. Reading about a character surviving and thriving through various era. At the current time, he’s a history teacher who enjoys making his subject come alive for his students using his far better knowledge than anyone else. In the past, he’s worked at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and met F. Scott Fitzgerald in Paris. These encounters really do add some interest to a story that could otherwise drag, although it occasionally had that feel of “name dropping” that these type of novels often get.
I really liked Tom’s character and the description of his bittersweet life and struggles. It was a good read – one I enjoyed a lot but didn’t absolutely love. Still a good recommendation.

Tom has lived for four centuries but still looks forty. He’s currently a history teacher in East London, but he’s had many other occupations and has lived in many other places during his long life. A fault in his genes means he is, if not quite immortal, then something fairly close to that – and it’s a trial and a burden. The premise may not be completely original, and I didn’t find the ending entirely successful, but, hey, Matt Haig’s skill is that he manages to wrestle with the big themes of love, life and death while still being light and accessible, and this is absorbing, moving and fun.

I read this book a few months before it was published. I enjoyed it, but didn't feel like it was the amazing title everyone else then thought it was once it was published. I totally understand why others liked it, but, although I didn't like the story as much, I still enjoyed all the periods through which Tom lives - even his friendship with Shakespeare. Maybe I've just read too many titles with the 'ouroboros' theme (although I am aware that the character in this title is not one). I would still recommend though.

When I picked up this book, I really had no idea what to expect. As many of you know, I hardly ever read the book blurb or description

I am the kind of person who reads the title and take a gamble on the book...hoping by Jove it would be worth my time

As this is the first work of fiction I am reading this year, I hoped I would be amused

When I read at the beginning of the book that the main character (Tom Hazard) has been alive for over 400 years because of a rare condition, I rolled my eyes

Surely this book was not fixing to be a cross between Vampire stories and Dracula

I was quickly proved wrong by the 2nd chapter

Tom's loneliness is almost tangible. He's lived all these years and learned not to form attachments because of all the death he's seen around his.

First, his parents died by the hands of over zealous christians/ witch hunters; then his wife died from the plague. He had to leave his daughter when she was young...only to find our she's been alive all these hundreds of years.

Then he is discovered by a secret society of people like him. They call themselves albatross (albas for short). The albas protect their members from being discovered and exploited or even killed by normal human beings. However there is a catch. Every 8 years, the albas have to change their identity and location to prevent discovery.

Would Tom ever find his daughter? Can he keep up with changing his identity every so often?

Matt Haig writes in an intriguing and insightful way...keeping the reader in suspense until the very end

This was one of those books that I felt I had been hearing about for months before I actually read it.  Reviews championed it as an example of 'up-lit', it was original, it was about history and what it meant to be human.  The film rights were bought and Benedict Cumberbatch lined up to play the lead before publication even occurred.  A new edition was released with illustrations by Chris Riddell.  Plus, the author is Matt Haig who not only wrote The Radleys but is also someone I follow keenly on Twitter.  I picked up How To Stop Time with the expectation and the intention of finding a new all-time favourite book.  Somehow or other though, I didn't.  Despite all of the things that I should have loved about the story - time travel, Tudor England, mysterious societies, gallops across history - I finished with a feeling of indifference.  Was it over-hype?  Or was it something else?

The book's hero is Tom Hazard and he has 'a condition'.  He is very old, old 'old in the way that a tree, or a quahog clam, or a Renaissance painting is old'.  He is over four hundred years old but looks to be in his mid-forties.  He is an 'alba', or 'albatross' while the vast majority of the human race are 'mayflies'.  Now living in present day London, Tom is living the life of a history teacher while occasionally carrying out suspicious odd jobs for Heinrich, leader of the Albatross club, an organisation which apparently exists to keep albas safe and out of sight.  In the sixteenth century, Tom had to keep a step ahead of witch-finders.  These days, it's the science research labs who are the bogey man.  But who is the real enemy?

A key problem with this kind of concept is that it has been done so many times before.  As a teenager, I watched (and guffawed over) Highlander with my Dad.  Seeing Tom flee from his home because of ill-informed superstition is well-trodden territory in mainstream fiction.  His tragic love story with apple-seller Rose also felt a little colour-by-numbers - it may be different once acted out on the big screen by Mr Cumberbatch, but I did not feel the heartstrings twang particularly when the two are forced to part.  Another issue is perhaps that I read and loved The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August not so very many years ago and although the premise is not identical, the material felt very familiar.

How To Stop Time felt highly mannered - while Harry August did have a focused conflict, Haig concentrates the action on Tom's meanderings and musings across London and further afield and does not feel the need for greater forward momentum.  Tom comments on how the history of London 'could be charted by the steady and consistent decline of visible faeces in public places'.  He thinks about the irony of how white teeth are de la mode these days when in his youth, 'pale-faced ladies had artificially blackened teeth to simulate the mark of luxury that was sugar-induced decay'.  He tells us that 'if you live long enough you realise that every proven fact is later disproved and then proven again'.  On another page it's that 'the longer you live, the more you realise that nothing is fixed. Everyone will become a refugee if they live long enough'.  It just feels ... predictable.  And giving William Shakespeare a cameo appearance did not assist with this.

Reflecting on all of this, I realised that the reason why I follow Matt Haig on Twitter so keenly is that I find a lot of what he has to say, particularly on the field of mental health, to be inspiring.  The man has a really good turn of phrase.  His object with How To Stop Time was, I think, to package some of this positive perspective.  So it is hardly surprising that it is a story less about plot than it is about his perspective.  A good friend read this and really enjoyed it, commenting that reading this had made her feel more content about mortality.  As Tom struggles to find a place for himself, to combat the loneliness of a life that is necessarily without roots, he is in many ways an expression of the passage from Ecclesiastes 'To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted'.  Those words are very popular at humanist funeral services - it is about accepting the span of our lives on this earth and treasuring the years that are granted to us.

While I can't claim to have been gripped by the story, I continue to admire Haig as a writer and all-round human.  How To Stop Time reads like an over-expanded short story, snippets of a great idea which have been stretched to fraying.  Not enough world-building to be true sci-fi, too little character development for romance, it felt more like a thought experiment.  The biggest plothole for me was Tom Hazard himself, who seems to be a clear proxy for Haig rather than a character in his own right, making it difficult to truly suspend disbelief.  I was never quite able to escape within the narrative, leaving this one of my biggest recent reading disappointments.