Thursday, February 8, 2018

the immortal Forrest Gump

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: speculative fiction
Review: Tom has met William Shakespeare, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Captain Cook.  He's over four centuries old (but looks like he's only in his 40s) but of course he can't tell anyone that.  As far as Tom is concerned, being practically immortal (he's not, but he should live well into his ninth century) isn't all it's cracked up to be.  He probably would have done himself in a long time ago, except he has to find his daughter, who's out there somewhere.  He thinks.  But since he hasn't even had a hint of where she might be in about 350 years, he's decided to go back to his roots, which dredge up a lot of memories.  Most of the book alternates between Tom's current life as a history teacher and his reminiscenses as he Forrest Gumps his way through history.

There's not so much plot for most of the book as there is deep, dark philosophical musing on life and time and history.  Until suddenly Haig realizes that he has to actually end the book in some way, and several very dramatic things happen, Tom comes to some startling realizations, and they all live happily ever after.  For a long time.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

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