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.

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.

I absolutely loved this book! It was so unique and moving, but not in a mushy or overly sentimental way. The characters were brilliant and I loved the extra depth and dimension their ageing process allowed in their development.
I want to go and read all of Matt Haig's other books. Highly recommend.

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.