Rachel Reviews: How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

Matt Haig writes great fiction. He takes an incredible element and places it at the core of his story and then builds a very human narrative around the concept, using this as a means to explore lives and quandaries and relationships and conflict, to name a few of the things touched upon.

In this book, Tom Hazard is hoping that having a job as a history teacher will provide him with the normality that he so eagerly craves but it's difficult for a man who has lived for hundreds of years (who only looks like he's in his forties) to live a normal existence. What he knows from his lived experience will always make him feel different to those around him and, while the outside signs might just be that he's approaching middle age, is there something about his demeanour which suggests a deeper wisdom, a knowingness that makes him stand out?

The book goes between the present and the past and we see when Tom is a boy, following him from early loss through different ages (including that of Shakespeare) to the present and his teaching job in Tower Hamlets, London. Although the idea of being almost immortal sounds like a bloody brilliant prospect, Tom's story shows that there is loss associated with it as well as danger and as he is not the only one who is this way, there are repercussions for those who would want to be open about their unique quality and cause friction in a world that may struggle to be sympathetic to their 'otherness'.

But it is clear that Tom is tired and as Haig takes us back into Tom's lived experience and shows us the now, alternating these perspectives through the book, the question is asked as to whether living longer than those you love and your friends and peers is better than continual adaptation and confrontation of progress and change. And what of love? Is it possible to have that? A wife? And children? Can a man destined to live beyond those he loves ever have happiness?

A well-plotted story, with great characters and humour, which is thought-provoking and serious at times but has such a magic to it that you can't help as a reader but be enthralled by some great story-telling.

Rachel Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ but a high 4 stars