Books of the week
HOW TO STOP TIME MATT HAIG CANONGATE, $33
Reviewed by Charles Cole
Born in 1581, Tom Hazard is 439 years old. He has “anageria”, a rare condition which means it takes him about 15 years to age just one year (for narrative purposes, it doesn’t develop until the normal age of puberty, otherwise his parents could be dead before he was a schoolboy). The problems that ensue form the substance of the story, from witch hunts in the 16th century to the threat from biotech companies in the 21st.
Tom is preoccupied throughout with remorse at separating from his wife to save her and his daughter from persecution (though why they can’t surreptitiously stay in touch is never explained), and with his desire to find that daughter (who, for narrative purposes, also has anageria). There is also a 21st century love interest, as well as an intriguing dose of mystery with Tom’s active membership of the secret Albatross Society, which purports to protect anageria sufferers.
To avoid suspicion at his lack of ageing (and consequent threats to his existence) Tom constantly changes his identity, taking on the roles of, among others, a pianist in Paris in the 1920s, a sailor in the South Pacific with Captain Cook, and a lute player at Shakespeare’s Globe. Haig sets the latter existence in 1599 because this is the year of the music-filled
As You Like It which includes the line: “And one man in his time plays many parts.” The variety of different periods is well imagined, with many clever little touches (and brief appearances by F Scott Fitzgerald, Charlie Chaplin, and Shakespeare and his mates, Burbage and Kemp), and when the narrative leaps to the present they provide Tom with insights which he shares in his job as a history teacher at a London school.
His unique problem with time transpires to be just an extreme version of the relationship we all have with it: we can’t turn back the clock, moments from the past may haunt us, and we can’t see into the future. The text is filled with such platitudes, and indeed meaning seems to be forced into the story at every turn rather than being allowed to emerge from it organically. It seems to complement the simple writing style, and one should not be surprised that Haig has also written books for children and young adults.
Nevertheless, his transparent method does not spoil the underlying fantastical story, a compelling account of one man’s anxious, thoughtful, and sometimes joyful passage through 400 years of history in a search for happiness.