yoteach87's review against another edition
2.0
Quick Plot Summary: Tom Hazard ages incredibly slowly, so slow that although he looks around the age of 41 he is actually several hundred years old. With that great age comes great responsibility. It turns out it is dangerous to live that long without someone noticing that lack of aging. Hazard floats from city to city, avoiding long-term relationships in hopes of never being recognized and just surviving.
Genre: Drama/Romance
Pros: (+) I am a sucker for time-travel stories. While this is not technically a time travel novel, Tom does live as if he does. (+) The stories and places that Tom visits, while at times painfully contrived, are neat to read about (especially the Shakespeare scenes). (+) We've heard of stories of living forever and mankind's immortality is a generations-long topic of discussion. However, How to Stop Time is the first story that I've encountered where the negatives of living so long outweigh the positives. Author Matt Haig gives the reader a fresh perspective on immortality.
Cons: (-) I struggled to form a deep relationship with any of the books' characters. Which is ironic. For a book that covers a vast period of time, How to Stop Time is fairly short. I realize that the purpose of the book is not so much the struggles of immortality or the many adventures of Tom Hazard. Its focus is romance. As such several of the plot elements that would have been better developed had the book been longer, get put on the backburner in favor of squeezing out a love story. (-) The ending was convenient. Tom came full circle in embracing his immortality, the antagonist gets what's his, and happily ever after. You know where the story is going and that takes the wind out of the story's sails. It felt rushed.
Verdict: How to Stop Time is a novel that was destined to be turned into a movie. It has the makings of a box office king but leaves readers wanting more.
Genre: Drama/Romance
Pros: (+) I am a sucker for time-travel stories. While this is not technically a time travel novel, Tom does live as if he does. (+) The stories and places that Tom visits, while at times painfully contrived, are neat to read about (especially the Shakespeare scenes). (+) We've heard of stories of living forever and mankind's immortality is a generations-long topic of discussion. However, How to Stop Time is the first story that I've encountered where the negatives of living so long outweigh the positives. Author Matt Haig gives the reader a fresh perspective on immortality.
Cons: (-) I struggled to form a deep relationship with any of the books' characters. Which is ironic. For a book that covers a vast period of time, How to Stop Time is fairly short. I realize that the purpose of the book is not so much the struggles of immortality or the many adventures of Tom Hazard. Its focus is romance. As such several of the plot elements that would have been better developed had the book been longer, get put on the backburner in favor of squeezing out a love story. (-) The ending was convenient. Tom came full circle in embracing his immortality, the antagonist gets what's his, and happily ever after. You know where the story is going and that takes the wind out of the story's sails. It felt rushed.
Verdict: How to Stop Time is a novel that was destined to be turned into a movie. It has the makings of a box office king but leaves readers wanting more.
jlene's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
sambailey's review against another edition
2.0
Clever concept, uneven execution. A New York Times review mentions "fortune cookie philosophy," which seems apt.
lanneyb's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
lesliemcandrews's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
kitinlub's review against another edition
3.0
It was a really fun read and u can feel the pain of the mc being so tired of living, as u can imagine being alive for 400 years. His stories about his life and encounters with different prominent figures were fascinating, reminiscent of forrest gump. The ending with the antagonist was a bit anticlimactic for me, but it was a sweet read.
iudouj's review against another edition
3.0
(3.5 stars) How to Stop Time is my first Matt Haig book and I really enjoyed it. The premise is great, a man who has lived for centuries, Tom, reflects on the many periods of time he's seen and the future he might want for himself. There's more to the plot than that but the structure of the book has you jumping from past to present, often encountering significant historical figures from Tom's past. While some of the historical sections might have people rolling their eyes, the novel's exploration of the complications of its premise keeps it interesting. There was so much I would not have factored into living an unnaturally long life and I was intrigued by Haig's ideas about how someone like this might exist. Check it out!
r_dougherty's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
danielle67's review against another edition
3.0
“That's the thing with time, isn't it? It's not all the same. Some days - some years - some decades - are empty. There is nothing to them. It's just flat water. And then you come across a year, or even a day, or an afternoon. And it is everything. It is the whole thing.”
Matt Haig has a way with words. Like Midnight Library, there were several lines that really stood out to me, and his writing makes me feel very reflective. I found myself thinking about my past, how I spend my time, how I choose to live, etc. However, I had a hard time overall with this book. I think maybe because of the jumping timelines? I had struggled with keeping the storyline straight because we were constantly jumping years (although I think there was a point to that...) Even with the nonlinear timeline, I also found it a bit too slow paced, like the plot wasn't moving forward (or that there wasn't much of a plot?) until the last 25% or so. I also ended up comparing this to Addie LaRue too much which was hard to compete with. Ultimately this ended up somewhere between 2-3 stars for me.
Matt Haig has a way with words. Like Midnight Library, there were several lines that really stood out to me, and his writing makes me feel very reflective. I found myself thinking about my past, how I spend my time, how I choose to live, etc. However, I had a hard time overall with this book. I think maybe because of the jumping timelines? I had struggled with keeping the storyline straight because we were constantly jumping years (although I think there was a point to that...) Even with the nonlinear timeline, I also found it a bit too slow paced, like the plot wasn't moving forward (or that there wasn't much of a plot?) until the last 25% or so. I also ended up comparing this to Addie LaRue too much which was hard to compete with. Ultimately this ended up somewhere between 2-3 stars for me.
aninoag's review against another edition
3.0
General premise is curious. Some of the characters felt one-dimensional to me. Oddly enough, it felt like the main character is a bystander observing his own story.