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.

Matt Haig's latest novel, How To Stop Time (review copy from Canongate) was a bit of a disappointment. The story follows Tom Hazard, a man born in Elizabethan England whose body ages at a much slower rate than normal human beings. Along with the other 'albas' Tom is part of a society aimed at preserving the secret of their unusual existence, principally by supporting people to periodically reinvent themselves with new jobs and identities before suspicion at their youthfulness becomes dangerous.

For most of his life Tom has been an unthinking member of that society, working to recruit other members when albas are discovered, or eliminate threats to the society. But he is increasingly starting to question whether this is the right course of action. His values are increasingly becoming out of step with the society and he increasingly struggles to commit to its work. A move back to East London and a job as a history teacher force Tom to confront his past and his desire to live a settled life free from deception.

The frequent flash-backs to Tom's past life make this a very choppy novel. It is fractured and fragmented. While this reflects the intrusion of his memories of the past into Tom's present day life, it serves to interrupt the narrative flow., risking pushing the reader out of the novel.

Ultimately, I was not convinced. The ending feels rushed and the changes of heart from various characters feel unconvincing in their rapidity and firmness. Go read The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North instead. It's a much better book.

Goodreads rating: 2*

This was a great book. Not too long, but full of ideas and emotion, expertly delivered. The story of a man who ages at a rate 15 times slower than average, I thought at first that the premise was a bit far-fetched. Then a little way into the book this phenomenon is compared to progeria (where the body ages faster than normal) and I suddenly became aware that this really could happen! And started to wonder if there was anyone alive today who might be hiding this secret...
Very cleverly written. with sympathetic characters and a well-rounded plot to wrap the idea up in.

After reading and adoring Reasons to stay alive, I thought I'd give Matt Haigs new novel a try and I'm extremely glad that I did. This book covers over 400 years of Tom Hazzard's life and all of the wonderful people he meets along the way. He has a condition where he ages at a much slower pace from everyone else. Each time period that he lives through is detailed and really comes to life. As Tom looks back on the past you feel like you are travelling through time with him and all of the different time periods are happening to him at once. Beautifully written. It's one of those books that everyone should read.

This is basically the story of a man who seems to be ageing much slower than the average human. We follow him in the present day, and catch glimpses of him in the distant and not so distant past. We watch him as he tries to come to terms with the people he meets, the things he has to do, and the things he feels he can't do. It seems a really simple tale, but it is so much more than the sum of its parts. This is one of those magical books that you barely feel you're reading so light is its touch, but you come away a better and more thoughtful person. I felt like I really wanted to re-read the book (something I very rarely actually do), because I felt that lack of this book. I didn't want to let go of this man, I wanted to keep reading about his life which I found interesting sometimes because of the historical moments but mostly because of how he described his normal life. Matt does not rely on putting big names and big events in this book as hooks to make you read more, he relies on the fact that you will love his protagonist, and I have to say I did fall for him! He goes through so much in his admittedly long life, and he makes the reader go through it all emotionally with him.
I'm now off to find more books by this author just to help me get over finishing this book. My advice is to pick this book up and sink into it, then after that last page just take a big deep breathe and start the book all over again.

How to Stop Time is a book that is going to be talked about for a while. It made headlines when Benedict Cumberbatch signed on to star in the movie adaptation before the book had even been released.

After reading the description and seeing it virtually everywhere, of course I had to see what all the fuss was about.

Tom is old. He looks forty but is actually more than four hundred. He’s part of a small group of people who age about fifteen times slower than the average human. But being blessed with a long life is more of a curse than a gift — you are guaranteed to lose all that matters to you and falling in love is the ultimate rule you can’t break.

The plot is told through two stories: present day London following Tom as he starts his new job as a history teacher, and multiple snapshots of Tom’s past where we get to see famous moments in history like the plague, Shakespeare, and 1920s Paris.

It’s a wonderful novel; surprisingly short, but captivating nonetheless. I can see why the film rights were snatched up before the book hit the shelves!

How to Stop Time is type of book that stays with you days after you’ve finished reading it.

Thanks to Canongate Books for a copy through NetGalley!

This book was a rare find, one that completely sucked me in to the the point where I was slowing down my reading as I didn’t want it to end. It’s definitely responsible for lifting me from a huge reading slump. From a journey through the glitz and glamour of the ages, to a dark sci-fi mystery complete with a secret society and a poignant musing on the meaning of life and love – it’s got it all. It was emotional, engrossing with humorous touches and it’s definitely a strong contender for my book of the year so far.

In a world where everyone wants to live longer, to look younger, Tom Hazard has a rare condition which would cause a scandal if revealed. He’s 439 years old, but looks in his early forties, due to a condition which means he ages at around one fifteenth of a regular human’s pace. But is it a blessing or a curse?

“It occurred to me that human beings didn’t live beyond a hundred because they simply weren’t up for it. Psychologically, I mean. You kind of ran out. There wasn’t enough self to keep going.”

Flipping between present day and various points through the ages, we learn Tom’s story; his loves, his losses and the lonely existence he’s chosen to live in order to keep his condition secret and keep himself and others out of danger. Changing his entire identity every eight years, Tom’s seen more of his fair share of drama and danger, rubbing shoulder with the likes of Shakespeare, Charlie Chaplin and F Scott Fitzgerald, but what he really wants is to live a normal life. He’s tormented by the past, to the point where he experiences severe headaches and struggles as the past blurs into his present.

“The past is not one separate place. It is many, many places, and they are always ready to rise into the present.”

In a dazzling blend of cultures and periods, peppered with references to literature, music and history, Matt Haig weaves a stunning story about life, love and living. I can completely see why this book has been snapped up for a film before it was even released – there’s something about it which just feels alive, and I can’t wait to see how Benedict Cumberbatch does it justice on the big screen. It’s the first I’ve read of Matt Haig, and I’m so pleased that this author completely lived up to the hype. In this book he offers beautiful reflections on life wrapped up in a story which seamlessly blends, sci-fi, thriller, drama, romance and history. This is one I won’t forget in a hurry, and I’d recommend it to absolutely everyone.

Absolutely loved this one. I don't think it's my favourite book of Matt Haig's (I'm a big fan of his) but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. I thought it was a beautiful story about learning to trust humanity and family, lost love and discovering new things.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This review is spoiler-free.

I recently read and loved Matt Haig’s Reasons to Stay Alive, a moving memoir about living with depression, but had never read any of his fiction. How to Stop Time immediately caught my eye because it combined two of my favourite things: historical fiction and science fiction. I was hoping it was just as poignant and funny and moving as his memoir, and he once again blew me away with his skills as a writer.

I am old. That is the first thing to tell you. The thing you are least likely to believe. If you saw me you would probably think I was about forty, but you would be very wrong.

Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret.

He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he’s been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover – working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he can teach the kids about wars and witch hunts as if he’d never witnessed them first-hand. He can try and tame the past that is fast catching up with him.

The only thing Tom mustn’t do is fall in love.

How to Stop Time is a wild and bittersweet story about losing and finding yourself, about the certainty of change and about the lifetimes it can take to really learn how to live.*

Tom is a man who lives a life that many of us would think as a blessing. He is 439 years old. He is not immortal, but he ages incredibly slowly. He is incredibly resistant to disease. He has seen mankind grow and evolve since the Middle Ages, he has worked with Shakespeare, fought in famous battles, drank with the Fitzgeralds, and lived through some of the most fascinating periods of time. Tom suffers from anageria, an extremely rare condition that manifests during puberty and slows the ageing process to a snail’s pace. Haig turns the immortality dream in to a nightmare, dooming Tom to struggle with loneliness and hundreds of years of heartbreak.

The most fascinating thing about this book is the science and symptoms behind the condition of anageria. It is one of the best immortality explanations I’ve read because Haig turns it from a fantastical concept into a scientific possibility. An anageria sufferer don’t stay young forever. You continue to age and experience different symptoms of ageing which honestly make complete sense. I really loved all of this because I could just believe it so much. The different aspects of ageing differently just work in this book.

Tom Hazard is a wonderful character. Like Haig himself, he has a gift for being both incredibly funny and sad. You really feel his sense of loneliness coming through and you sympathise so much with him, regardless of whether you think his long life is a blessing or a curse. He has lived for hundreds of years, but his life is a series of tragedies. The book is written in the first person, so we really get to know what’s going on in the mind of a 439 year old man.

I feel that due to its content and plot, this is a difficult book to end. My only complaint is that the ending just felt so abrupt. It didn’t have the appropriate amount of time dedicated to it and it felt rushed – I feel that if you’ve read this book you know what I mean.

How to Stop Time is a stunning piece of fiction from Matt Haig. It is incredibly moving and sad, yet funny and hopeful. He manages to take a fantastical theme – immortality – and ground it firmly in reality. The characters really come to live and Tom’s story is as poignant as it is entertaining.

Rating: 4/5

*copy courtesy of Goodreads

I received a copy of this to read from Netgalley. Here is the blurb:

"Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life.

Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover - working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he can teach the kids about wars and witch hunts as if he'd never witnessed them first-hand. He can try and tame the past that is fast catching up with him. The only thing Tom mustn't do is fall in love."

I wanted to read this book as I thought it would be a good action read, with a combination of a character who has been alive for centuries, a secret society and threats from organisations who want his secret. What I actually got was a human interest story about a human who is different to the majority who has to hide his condition and make painful sacrifices to protect himself and those around him from injury. This is not the action thriller I was expecting but rather a story of this man's journey through lift to where he is now, with a few famous name drops from history along the way. The story alternates between the present and flashes back to other periods in his life with great skill that left me wanting to read on to the next chapter constantly. I really enjoyed this book however, not in the way I was expecting.

I am a huge fan of Matt Haig and have loved his previous books - The Radleys, The Humans, Reasons to Stay Alive, A Boy Called Christmas and The Girl who saved Christmas - so I was itching to read his latest work and feel the same way. Unfortunately, I just didn't have the same love for this book like the others although I did still enjoy it.

It is a fascinating story of a man who never ages! He looks 41 but is actually 439. So moving on to different places in a necessity in his world, and has meant he has met some amazing people in history, but has also meant he's lost some amazing people too. Namely Rose who was his first love. And he's haunted by living life without her and realises that the more time he spends without her, the less his life means.

With this story we follow Tom in the now and throughout this past - those moments that were important to him and shaping him as a person. And with age comes wisdom, so during his time now - as he works as a history teacher in London - he begins to evaluate all he's been through, how life around him is seemingly meaningless and how the world values everything less nowadays. I much preferred the narrative from his point of view now as I found it so insightful and perceptive. Everytime the story dipped back to the past I found it all a little too contrived and lacking something!

It is definitely a story that makes you think as you are reading it and I did enjoy it from this perspective - what is considered progress and what is happiness? I loved the points he made about places not meaning something to people nowadays as whereever they go they are only half there, as the other half of them is living in the digital world so they don't get to enjoy where they actually are and appreciate it for what it is.

Overall it was a really interesting story and I would have just liked more of the 'now' and his views on how the world has changed - for the better or worse! - than the haphazard looks back in time.

My First book by Matt Haig,mit won't be my last. 5 stars. I'll, certainly be reading his back list.

I really, really enjoyed this. It's clever, thought provoking and a real page turner. I love historical novels and time slip novels and this is a great combination of the two - jumping back and forth in time but with the same hero all the way through. I wasn't sure if it was going to be possible for it to work out in a way that left me happy/contented, but it did. This is the first book that I've read by Matt Haig and I know I'll be looking out for more.

I picked this as one of my summer holiday reads over on my blog - www.verityreadsbooks.com

I’m a huge fan of Matt Haig and couldn’t wait to read this. I was not disappointed.

I loved How to Stop Time. I love books that have time shifts or do crazy things with time. So I loved the concept of this book.

I was engrossed from page one until the end.

I loved the structure of the novel, moving back and forth from Tom’s present life as a history teacher in London through important moments in his long life, including when he first became part of the Albatross Society and the tragedy that ensued when he fell in love with someone who aged normally.

I loved the end of the novel, how all the important moments in Tom’s life came together.

I thought Tom was a great character. I felt so sad for him at times; despite living more than four hundred years he could be very naïve at times. He wanted so much to pass and ordinary and tried so hard but things had a habit of going bad. I sort of loved him.

The story: Tom Hazard, currently working as a teacher living in London, has spent his life hiding a secret – he was actually born in 1581. Tom has a condition that means that he ages so slowly that he has lived through many lifetimes. Now under the protection of others like him through the Albatross society, Tom is given all he needs to reinvent his identity every eight years. The only rule is never to fall in love. But although Tom tries to stick to the rules, being back in the city where he was born brings back long forgotten memories and desires. He’s also been searching for something for a long time which seems to finally be within his reach.

My thoughts: I loved how Tom’s past was overlaid with the present throughout this book – over the centuries he’s been on a stage with Shakespeare, sailed with great explorers and drank in a bar in Paris with the Fitzgerald’s – and when he’s teaching his students history, he’s drawing on all his own personal experiences to really bring the past to life. At first glance, he appears to have it all - he’s travelled the world, set up with everything he needs and has enjoyed all that the world has to offer.

But there are of course the inevitable problems. He’s watched loved ones die and been unable to stop it, he’s unable to for any meaningful attachments for fear of questions, and the mundane details of daily life become increasingly insignificant. Threaded throughout the whole novel are little insights that make us question what it means to be human. It raises some really interesting questions – what is life without love and the people that surround us? Are existing and living the same thing?

The villain of the piece, Hendrich, the leader of the Albatross Society, is suitably dastardly and threatening, which keeps the pace moving along well and adds some additional drama to a story that otherwise may have run the risk of becoming a little bogged down in reflection and memories.

I really enjoyed this book and the way it was written. The subject matter and style really reminded me of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, which I also loved. I’m not surprised to hear that there’s a film of this in the making, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role. The skill of Haig’s writing means that in my head I can already imagine exactly how it will play out on screen, and I can’t wait to watch it.

This was the first book that I have read by Matt Haig and it did not disappoint. I really liked the way that Haig dealt with jumping back and forth between the different time periods that are covered in the book. The main character was very interesting and I grew rather fond of Haig's writing style. I will most certainly be reading more of his work in the future.

How To Stop Time is a wonderfully engaging, lovely story which combines everyday life with elements of science fiction and fantasy.

As someone who doesn’t read a lot of sci-fi, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I hugely enjoyed this novel. We find out about Tom’s life over the many hundreds of years that he’s been alive, and how his ‘condition’ has affected family life, relationships and his entire outlook on life. It’s touching and a lovely read, with some poignant moments and plenty of humorous touches.

I felt so sorry for Tom at times and it’s interesting to read about someone wishing they wouldn’t live forever in a world where we’re all trying to live as long as possible. Because Tom has to effectively start his life over, in a different place with different people, every 8 years, meaningful relationships are kind of pointless as he knows he’ll have to leave again in a set amount of time.

How To Stop Time  made me think about how I’d feel in the same situation as Tom. I won’t give too much away about it but I’ll just say that I’m not at all surprised that it’s already been snapped up for the film version – it’s a great novel which I’ll be very intrigued to see translated onto the big screen! Highly recommended.