Welcome back to another review from the Beach Café Book Club. After a short Hiatus we are back, for the start of 2018 we decided to read ‘How to Stop Time’ By Matt Haig, a tale told by a 400-year-old man and his journey through the decades, love, heartbreak, travel & adventure. From endless amazing reviews we thought it best to see for ourselves what it’s all about!
This month our feature reviewer was the wonderful Wellness expert, pilates teacher & blogger Lottie Murphy. Read on to see what we all thought of our latest read!
Beach Café Director – Emma
This book was a real page turner and I finished it in just a few days. The main character Tom is over 400 years old, and the story jumps from present day to various points in his life in the past. It is a story of love and loss, with encounters with famous historical figures like Shakespeare and F Scott Fitzgerald that make the book really intriguing. My only fault with the book was that it could have been 300 pages longer – the main characters are brilliantly written, and I felt it was all over too quickly – it could have been a real epic book about Tom’s journey from the 1500s to present day.
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Beach Café GM & Social – Laura
I absolutely loved this book, such a beautiful idea. My only flaw towards it is that it wasn’t long enough! The story was so interesting and exciting that it could have been taken even more in depth and the different parts of his life could have been much bulkier, so you fall in love with the journey even more. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this read and couldn’t put it down, I finished it extremely quickly! I came away with the feeling that regardless of the path we are placed on we need to live and love and take risks, because we only get one life, whether its for 80 years or 400!
Must read!
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Feature reviewer - Lottie Murphy
I would definitely recommend reading this book, as Haig says in the acknowledgments it comes alive when you read it and after I finished it and especially during the last few pages, I really felt like I wanted to live more in my own life and not worry about time so much. I loved the story but also wanted to underline so many little passages and quotes from it that I feel I need to go back with a pencil and read it again. I’m really content with the ending and was not expecting the twist near the end. A lovely enjoyable read that is also a little thought provoking about the world we live in today
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Beach Café Ecommerce – Joanna
How to stop time started off so promising with a brilliant story line that seemed so interesting and unlike the books I tend to read. This story jumps between the present and past following the exciting life of Tom Hazard and the struggles he has faced over the past 400 years.
I loved the story change from the present to past and how it shows that life’s struggles and challenges tend not to change, making the story somewhat relatable. However, I personally struggled to find that conation with the characters, in turn making it very difficult to feel much emotion when the character was experiencing the heart ache and happiness over the last 400 years.
How to stop time was a pleasant read and perfect for a short holiday or a commute, this unique story ended very abruptly and somewhat predictable, I would have loved some more detail and time in the past.
If you are looking for a story to wizz through and get you through a few hours on the train every day this could be for you.
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Let us know fi you read it & join in with us next time.
