A review of “How To Stop Time” by Matt Haig
It is an intriguing, if fanciful, proposition: a small number of special people age so slowly after puberty – about one year for every 15 of a normal person – that they can live 900 years or so. Since such a person will eventually and inevitably attract suspicion from ordinary mortals, these subjects of exceptional longevity need to move every eight years and must never fall in love.
The novel tells the story of one such character, currently called Tom Hazard and a history teacher at a London school, who was born on 3 March 1581, making him 439 years old. In the course of his extraordinary life, he has met a variety of historical characters including William Shakespeare and F Scott Fitzgerald.
I had previously enjoyed a later novel by Matt Haig, “The Midnight Library”, and this one too has been a bestseller, so I approached it with some enthusiasm. Haig is a good storyteller, if not that fine a writer, and so the work is highly readable, but ultimately it is rather disappointing.
The problem is that Haig does not know what to do with his proposition and his conclusion is too rapid and trite. As average longevity is already increasing and we are on the threshold of some major medical advances that could further extend longevity, the novel could have explored what a longer life can offer and what problems it presents.