Review of How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

Hello Readers,

Thank you to Viking for generously supplying me with a review copy of How to Stop Time by Matt Haig. I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

How to Stop Time spans the ages, literally because Tom Hazard was born centuries ago. Don't think vampire or time traveler but rather a rare case of growing old at an extremely slow rate. Due to Tom's regressed aging, those around him become very suspicious of the boy who never grows older. After a tragic event, Tom escapes his home and attempts to rebuild his life in London. He hopes that by choosing the bustling city of London during the time of Shakespeare he can stay under the radar and blend in. This book is told from Tom's perspective as he restarts his life in Shakespearian London and present-day London. Tom must start his life over again every eight years because that is the amount of time that the organization that protects him has deemed is the right amount for someone with his condition. Before Tom can move onto his new life he is given a job by the Albatross Society that he must complete before he can enter his new life with papers and money to live on. As Tom tries to figure out his new life in present-day London he needs to make some huge decisions about what his very long future will look like. Should he continue on a path that makes him miserable or begins making choices in his life that could leave him in the hands of the wrong people?

I enjoyed How to Stop Time, but was left feeling a bit disappointed by a few major things that happened in the book. I was honestly jumping into this book hoping for more of a love story, and that section of the book came up lacking to me. I got frustrated with Tom and his inability to ask questions and attempt to figure out some things on his own because I definitely knew a few things that he was too naive to notice. Matt Haig definitely has a way with words though, and I loved sitting with my highlighter and journal as I read this book. 

Here are a few of my favorite quotes in the book-

"The first rule is that you don't fall in love,' he said....'There are other rules too, but that is the main one. No falling in love." 

"You can love the sight of waterfalls and the smell of old books, but the love of people is off limits." page 1

"Humans beings, as a rule, simply don't accept things that don't fit their worldview" Page 7

"One thing that has remained constant across four centuries has been the desire for a British person to fill a silence with talk of weather, and whenever I have lived there I was no exception to this rule" page 34

"If you live long enough you realize that every proven fact is later disproved and then proven again." page 37

This book was a very easy read and might make a good choice to pick up in between heavier reads.  I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy the writing style of Deborah Harkness. 

Links:
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Happy Reading,
Rachael