I'm a huge fan of Matt Haig. I think he writes books that people want to read, and How To Stop Time is highly readable. Having said that, I preferred The Humans, so if you are coming to Matt's writing for the first time, start with that.

Very philosophical about history, time and the future. Also about repeating past mistakes and going with your gut feelings.

How would it feel to live for hundreds of years? The premise of this book, which I absolutely loved and found strangely addictive,, leaves you thinking about the meaning of happiness, and now that we are living longer, about the disadvantages of living too long as well. Tom, the hero has loved and lost,, and his story is very thought provoking. The book is really well written and engages you very quickly. Imaginative and compelling,
I really enjoyed this.

Another Haig classic, but as thought provoking as it is while reading, I struggled to remember much of it's plot or even it's ending a few weeks after reading it.

I loved Humans so I was expecting a simple but engaging plot based on beautifully crafted characters. It was not.

If you love real history then this is the novel for you as the main character takes the reader through all if his key experiences.

If you like an easy read then this one is for you with the short chapters and accesible style. Ideal for the reluctant reader.

I received a free copy from net galley.com for my fair and honest review.

Once again Matt Haig has produced a book which nobody else could have written. Original in both concept and delivery, How to Stop Time teaches you as much about yourself as it does about its protagonist. Every quirky historical incident and flashback brings you back to the human connection at the heart of the book, perfectly balancing humour and melancholy. Although its main character is fictional and fantastical, his emotions are real and relatable. A very enjoyable novel, which imparts its wisdom long after the final page is turned.

Matt Haig writes with a passion and a beauty that cannot be matched. His eloquent sentences are a true spectacle and he has rightly earned his place amongst the greatest modern writers.
How to Stop Time is a story of love and loss and how time sometimes cannot heal all. Century through century Tom Hazard has moved from place to place, seen the development of the world as it is now and been there for some of it's greatest moments, but his greatest memory is of his love, Rose. Lost in a depression, he returns to London after hundreds of years to face his past.

Matt Haig writes wonderfully about human beings (cf The Humans). And love. He writes well about love. This latest novel is ultimately all about love, the underlying (overlying?) theme in all Haig’s books. I think this would be a lovely book for a young adult transitioning into grown up fiction and it deserves to be hugely popular.

‘How To Stop Time’ is another hugely inventive novel by Matt Haig with a thoughtful message about identity. Tom Hazard is a history teacher with a difference. He can talk authoritatively about the Great Fire of London, because he was there; about Shakespeare, because he met him; about witchfinders, because he was terrorised by one. Tom Hazard is 439 years old but he looks forty one.
When he was thirteen, the process of ageing slowed down. Tom and his mother are protestant Huguenot refugees in England when their life falls apart; his impossibly youthful looks draw accusations of witchery. We see snapshots of Tom’s past life as he teaches history to bored teenagers in London. And all the time he struggles with the past, so much so that he is unable to live in the present. So he exists, rather than lives, changing his identity to survive and losing sight of who he is.
This is a fascinating study of humankind, our development through history and inability to learn from what went before. Tom encounters threats and suspicions in the 21st century. Is he safe? Is a sinister bio-tech company searching for albas – short for ‘albatross’, ie long-lived – to use for experiments? And is the mysterious Hendrich, founder of The Albatross Society, a mentor or a threat? At the core of the novel is Tom’s love for his wife Rose, a mayfly – ie short-lived – who dies of the plague, and their daughter Marion, an alba. Where is Marion now? Will Tom become reconciled with his past enough to live his life to the full, whether it be a long life or short, and will he ever feel free enough to love again?
A philosophical novel about making the best of what you have now without dwelling on the past, which cannot be changed, or worrying about the future, which cannot be predicted.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

First of all, I would recommend reading Matt Haig, full stop. Whatever he writes, in whatever context, it’s always gilded with insight into human nature and the world around us in a way that is both beautiful and thought-provoking and also feels intensely personal. He’s brilliant at what he does and a really valuable voice to have in the literary world.

Tom Hazard gives him a perfect lens through which to cast his eye over history and time and look hard at humanity. He’s a perfect wallflower. He meets characters throughout history – including F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda but beyond all the weaving of the plot and the historical cameos, at its heart, this is Haig doing what he does best, human nature, introspection and family.

I did find this one trickier to engage with because it switches between past and present so much, and it is harder to get a grasp on some of the other characters and be fully engaged in his relationships because of this. I found this particularly hard with his life in the present and with characters like Camille. Fittingly, that’s also a challenge for Tom himself – simply staying present and living in the moment. Having lived so long and with such a unique condition, Tom has built up a backlog of trauma which is overwhelming and, along with the organisation which keeps track of him, creates a sense of paranoia and anxiety around every move he makes and every relationship he forms.

There are some really great moments in this one, but I'm not sure, for me, it worked so well overall - perhaps because I've encountered similar multiple/long-life narratives done very well - but also because I did struggle with characters like Camille and Rose and Tom's daughter, because they flit in and out so much that I couldn't get a grasp on them. There are still some truly great moments and Haig-isms in How To Stop a Time, that make it, as always, worth reading.

Full review to come.

The protagonist of this story, Tom Hazard, is a history teacher living in modern day London. At least that is his current existence, because Tom is hiding a secret. He ages slower than most humans so, while he may appear to be about 40, he lived through the days of Shakespeare and is a member of a secret society of people with the same condition. The story follows Tom as he gets to grips with his life and reflects on what he has experienced in his hundreds of years of life so far.

There's much to enjoy in this novel, especially for those who like the historical dimension; I liked seeing Shakespeare and other key figures from the past coming to life and interacting with Tom, plus the settings were varied and engaging. My only real issue with the book was how it jumped about through Tom's memories. This device, while lively and engaging, meant that the story felt a bit disjointed at times so it was easy to get distracted and forget who was who.

However, I'd say this novel explored an interesting idea and is well written. Recommended for anyone who likes a pacy story which also manages to include deeper reflections on life, time and love.

An excellent story concerning a man who ages at a much slower pace. An Albatross compared to the other Mayfly mortals.
It examines loss and love and how does one move on emotionally from the past.
Of course we have the various historical cameos, Shakespeare, the Fitzgeralds. (I did like the fact he completely missed out on World War II).
I did feel there was more that could have been told and eras were brushed over. But you can't ALWAYS be having adventures.
Recommended.

In his book, Reasons to Stay Alive, a wonderful book that grew from Haig's own depression to become a sort of manual for young men struggling with their mental health, Matt Haig gives us this poem:

How to stop time: kiss.
How to travel in time: read.
How to escape time: music.
How to feel time: write.
How to release time: breathe

Now he has developed some of the themes and ideas in that book into a novel about an apparently youngish man, Tom Hazard, who is not what he appears. Although he appears to be in his early 40s he was, in fact, born in 1581. He has a condition which means he ages fifteen times slower than normal and he has been alive for over 400 years. And, unlike the characters in Outcasts of Time, he has lived every single one of those years day by day...

This book, as well as highlighting the differences in attitudes over four centuries, is an exploration of a life stretched out almost beyond bearing. Tom meets others of his kind and joins their group - the Albatross Society - but finds that his life is controlled by the Society, the Albas. He is helped to move on and find a new life every eight years or so, when others start to notice that he is not showing signs of the passing years but he almost needs to leave behind his identity each time. And of course one of the first rules of the Albatross Society is 'never fall in love' so these 400 years have been largely led alone. This is a rule which Tom had always been happy to live by - his one great love having died in one of the many outbreaks of plague over the years - but which we see him come to doubt. Eventually, in the best Matt Haig fashion, this book becomes an exploration of identity and the difference between being alive and really living. This, like every other Haig book I've read, will become one I recommend to just about everyone...

Matt Haig always gives us really meaty story-lines and no one book of his is ever the same...that's why I will always read his latest offering. I was not disappointed by this book either. This book will have you zapping all over various periods in history with little snapshots into the main character Tom's life and leave you in a state of intrigue until the very end. I laughed, I cried, I muttered under my breath...all the makings of a story and experience. I do wonder if this book will have a follow up by Matt although part of me hopes not as this alone was enough.

The first book I've read by Matt Haig and this won't be the last. I loved this book - it was compelling with just the right amount of intrigue. I loved the concept and the exploration of different moments in time. Like a modern day Benjamin Button but, dare I say it, better...

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Canongate Books for the ARC. How to Stop Time was published in July 2017, and I apologise for being so late with my review.

I have heard this book is being made into a film, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role. He's going to be brilliant as Tom Hazard.

When I read this, I saw David Tennant as Tom - well, to be more accurate, Tennant's Doctor Who. Without the timelordy stuff, like travelling backwards and forwards. Poor Tom can only go forwards, in real time, which must make his life a real drag over the past nine and a half centuries, and at the heart of it, is him never getting over the loss of his love.

The narrative is interspersed with the here and now, and flashes back to earlier times. This could make the story slow down, but it doesn't - the pace is timely and constant.

I love the time Tom spends as a teacher, telling the kids stories - not from history books but from his own perspective. How amazing would it be to hear of Shakespeare first hand? The depth of writing, the life Haig brings to the pages immersed me into Tom's world.

This is a beautiful story.

I was surprised by this book as I thought it was for teen readers but I believe adults will enjoy it too. It is a book about time with a difference. The thought of ageing more slowly than everyone else is a tantalising problem.

The characters are well drawn and Matt Haig has extensively researched historical detail which he delivers in a different way to others. I enjoyed the pieces about his youth and marriage most.

The end tied up a number of threads of the book. It is difficult to say more about a book that is so different, part historical novel, part mystery and part romance. All should read it.

Tom Hazard is over four hundred years old. He is one of a few people who suffer from ‘managerial’, the opposite of progeria – the condition where people age very rapidly. People with this condition have a heightened immune system, which protects them from most viral and bacterial infections. Can you imagine, according to your appearance, only a decade has passed since the death of Napoleon and the first man on the moon!

Ordinary people don’t know about Tom and others like him because they are protected by an organisation. An organisation that ensures that anyone who finds out their secret does not stay alive to tell anyone about it.

This is a story of a quest to find true love and to realise that every moment lasts forever. It lives on. Somewhere. Somehow. The present is continuous and ever- changing and enriches all those other points in life. Tom has shared a drink with Scott Fitzgerald, worked as a lute player for Shakespeare, seen Josephine Baker danced, played piano at Ciro’s and met Dr Johnson.

I was a bit sceptical about this book when I first started reading it but was soon enthralled by the character and by the questions that this book evoked in me – who am I? If I could live without a doubt what would I do? Who would I care for? What battle would I fight? What paths would I tread? What joys would I allow myself? How would I live?

Saphira

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

I absolutely adored this book. I've read a few books by Matt now and I love the way he writes. Yes, I like the fact he's open about his depression and yes, what he writes seems to resonate with me and I find it incredibly easy to relate. I also love his sense of humour and the way that he writes something so interesting without being upsetting to anyone.

An interesting concept that I felt hadn't been explored quite thoroughly enough. I was exoecting a little more from Matt Haig - but it was a good read.