BOOK REVIEW : HOW TO STOP TIME

Author : Matt Haig
Genre : Fiction

                               

"Are you someone who watches life or someone who participates?"

         Estienne Thomas Hazard, or simply Tom Hazzard ages very slowly and has lived for over 400 centuries. He has loved, laughed but has he lived? 
         We, the readers, are constantly torn between past and present life of Tom which I must say I didn't find hectic. He soon becomes a member of the albatross society which includes people with the same condition as his. The head of the society helps in hiding his secret in return for work for his society every eight years. The first rule Tom is taught is not to fall in love, which he is okay with because he just wants to exist in the world to full-fill some promises from his past.
         There were so many raw truths in the book about life which I truly liked, some of them are-

• "The past is never gone. It just hides."
• "Time,I realise, is a weapon these days. Nothing weakens people like having to wait."
• "To talk about memories is to live them a little."
• "Maybe that is what it takes to love someone. Finding a happy mystery you would like to unravel for ever."
• "You have to match the hurricane. You have to be your own storm."

        It's written in a first person narrative which I think is what kept me going. The build up to the climax of the novel was good, but the climax was so short and predictable for me that I think that is where I lost interest in the story.

        I think it was a concept stretched for far too long but it did made me realise to start living in the present, and that you can't stop time but you very well can live every moment of it to the fullest.

My Verdict- 3/5

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