I loved this book. Looooooved this book! When you meet the main character Tom Hazard, you learn right away that his life is rather extraordinary; and it would have to be if one is 439 years old! (I’m not giving away any secrets here, don’t worry.) Tom may look like a typical 41 year old man, but the places he’s been and the things he’s seen are enough to fill multiple lifetimes.
How to Stop Time moves back and forth through different periods of Tom’s long life, from his present-day iteration as a history teacher in London, all the way back to his early teens with his mother in rural Suffolk, England. I was worried this novel would be some sort of odd rehash/offshoot of The Time Traveler’s Wife, but it’s totally not. It’s so much more than that! This story stands strong on its own two legs and takes you on an extraordinary journey to discover what it means to live and be loved.
Tom’s gone on some amazing adventures over his 400+ year lifetime, and the chance at love in his latest life has him facing some tough questions. Tom has to decide if he’s going to stick with the safe way of living that’s stood the test of time (quite literally) or if he’s going to be brave and take a chance on what a world with love could offer him.
Any Strictly Ballroom fans out there? This book made me think of the famous line from that movie, “Una vida con miedo es como la vida medias.” (Translation: “A life lived in fear is a life half-lived.”). Tom may have been alive for a long time, but has he really been living? Is he strong enough to recognize the difference and do what it takes to break free from what binds him? You’ll just have to read the book yourself to discover the truth.