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How to Stop Time

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How to Stop Time

By: Matt Haig
Narrated by: Mark Meadows
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About this listen

The Sunday Times top 10 best seller from the author of The Midnight Library and The Humans

HOW MANY LIFETIMES DOES IT TAKE TO LEARN HOW TO LIVE?

Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old history teacher, but he’s been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen it all. As long as he keeps changing his identity, he can stay one step ahead of his past – and stay alive. The only thing he must not do is fall in love.

But what if the one thing he can't have just happens to be the one thing that might save him?

©2017 Matt Haig (P)2017 Canongate Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction Fiction Thought-Provoking Funny Inspiring

Critic reviews

"A rollicking time-hopping fantasy... How to Stop Time will provoke wonder and delight." (Observer)
"Hugely entertaining." (John Boyne, Irish Times)
"Outlandish...heartwarming, perceptive prose." (Anita Sethi, Daily Telegraph)
"A rollicking time-hopping fantasy... How to Stop Time will provoke wonder and delight." (Observer)
"Hugely entertaining." (John Boyne, Irish Times)
"Outlandish...heartwarming, perceptive prose." (Anita Sethi, Daily Telegraph)
All stars
Most relevant
I don't suppose any people expect to learn lessons on how to have a wonderful life from a novel about a man who is over four hundred years old, but believe me you will when you read this story. However, please don't fear that this is a boring preachy affair. In fact it is a wonderfully entertaining story that skips across the centuries at a cracking pace and brings us to a conclusion that is satisfying and not wholly predictable.
I am a huge fan of Matt Haig's writing and this is every bit as good as my two big favourites The Humans and The Radleys. I'm sure the forthcoming film will be marvellous but the excellent narration of this book by Mark Meadows will be a hard act to follow.

Superb as I expected from Matt Haig

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I enjoyed this book, but not as much as I thought I was going to.

The central idea of a man ageing 15 times more slowly than normal is a strong one. It generates some nice scenes, and some thoughtful passages on the perception of time and the appreciation of the passing of it.

However there is a "thriller" element to the plot that does not seem fully realised. It is not particularly tense and rather fizzles out towards the end.

Also, the writer makes the same philosophical point too many times and therefore lessens the impact.

The narrators performance is good, well suited to the tone of the book and he handles the various accents competently.
I would recommend this book, but with some reservations.

Plot does not live up to the concept

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Matt Haig has created a new mythology, one that explores what it means to live in this world, yet still feel slightly apart from it.
Mark Meadows is as ever the perfect purveyor of Matt Haig's gentle wit.
Just sorry I couldn't listen to it in one sitting.

A new mythology is born

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I enjoyed this so much, I have sent a copy if the physical book to my daughter and would recommend it to all! Read it or listen to it, it will make you think and remind you to appreciate the joy of life! Enjoy the moments and stop worrying about how many you're going to have!

Uplifting, philosophical and hugely entertaining!

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I think this book would have been way more enjoyable with a different narrator as the lackluster way it was read really had an impact on how I enjoyed the story. The story itself is ok but not as good as Haigs other books and that was super disappointing. I did not feel as gripped on the story as I have been in the past with Haigs writing and I feel like the narration was a big part of why. The accents were also distracting, the Australian/American was good, French passable and Scottish embarrassingly bad...

disappointing narration

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