Book Review- How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
Some novel underlies a handful of every variety of masala…a love story, a kind of science fiction, definitive historical fantasy, and some portion thriller…and my 2nd novel read after Midnight Library by English writer Matt Haig entails all.
Tom Hazard, the protagonist of “How to Stop Time,” is very, very old. He was born in the 16th-century but still looks like a 41-year-old man. He is employed as a history teacher in London. A reluctant member of the Albatross Society, a secret group dedicated to protecting the existence of these “immortals” a secret, Hazard is at odds with the Albatross Society’s founder, who is the oldest man on Earth, and devout supporter in immortals not establishing emotional attachments. Still mourning his wife’s death centuries earlier and hunting for his daughter with hope that she is ageless like him, 401-year-old Hazard encounters himself flooded by memories of his past and an unexpected attraction to one of the other teachers at the school.
The reader has the opportunity to tour through the apexes of Tom’s life like playing the lute in Shakespeare’s Globe, voyaging with Captain Cook to the Pacific islands, drinking cocktails in Paris with Scott, and Zelda Fitzgerald, etc.
The story does have a significant moral (which, in my view, is simple i.e. don’t forget to exclusively live life), and it’s couched in a great deal of sentimentalism and schmaltz. There are lots of remarkable quotes about time in it, i.e. how we discern time 'as humans'… we fear it, but also resent it, all while struggling to see that it’s one of the most valuable things we have as mere mortals'.
If not a must-read but yet a to-do read book !!!
Some of the quotes of my likes are-
“And, just as it only takes a moment to die, it only takes a moment to live. “And last but not the least-
“Every man takes the limits of his field of vision for the limits of the world.”
“Everything is going to be all right. Or, if not, everything is going to be, so let's not worry.”
“There comes a time when the only way to start living is, to tell the truth. To be who you are, even if it is dangerous.”
“That was the familiar lesson of time. Everything changes and nothing changes.”
“That is the whole thing with the future. You don’t know. At some point, you have to accept that you don’t know. You have to stop flicking ahead and just concentrate on the page you are on.”
Dear Ekta,
ReplyDeleteToday's Blog is so thought provoking, especially
"And, just as it only takes a moment to die, it only takes a moment to live. “
How true this is and I could correlate it with many of my real life situations.
It's just a moment, ab hum hain, ab nahin.
Everything is going to be all right. Or, if not, everything is going to be, so let's not worry.”
This is so plain fact. Accept it as it is, if it's not going to be alright, at least it's going to be. Wow.
“That is the whole thing with the future. You don’t know. At some point, you have to accept that you don’t know. You have to stop flicking ahead and just concentrate on the page you are on.”
We spend our life planning and working for the UNKNOWN, considering that it's going to happen the way it suits me. But what if you accept and say I don't know next, let it come and I shall address it appropriately.
These were the takeaways for me through your wonderful review.
Keep smiling, keep writing, keep inspiring.
Thank you for sharing your viewpoint sir!!
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