Reviews with content warning for Death - How to Stop Time

Reviews tagging 'Death'

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

37 reviews

introverted_reads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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theespressoedition's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I'm a huge Matt Haig fan. If he writes it, I will read it (and most likely love it). I've been itching to get my hands on this book for ages now, but once I did, I found myself feeling slightly disappointed.

Now, maybe it was just the high of The Midnight Library and The Comfort Book, specifically, but I was really itching for something profound and inspiring to me, personally. That's not so much what I found in this book.

For the most part, this was historical fiction, with elements of magical realism thrown in there and a few nods to the modern era. I don't resonate well with historical fiction, so I think that's the first thing that kind of put me off. The concept of a person who ages at a snail's pace fascinated me, but I wasn't expecting to spend so much time getting to know Shakespeare... and that's kind of what happened.

Not that there's anything wrong with this in the slightest, it just didn't stand out to me. The meaningful aspects of the book were towards the last couple of chapters. Those, I could've highlighted in full, because they were so profound. However, I had hoped for a lot more of that throughout the book, so it was just a bit of a bummer.

However, I would read this book again! That might sound strange, but it's true. I do feel like there was a lot to learn from it, but I probably missed certain things because I got distracted while listening to the audiobook (which had a lovely narrator whose accent I adored, even if I wasn't obsessed with his performance). I'd like to read the updated edition that came out in 2022 as a physical copy to see what else I could gain!

As a whole, it was an interesting book, just not one that I would find myself recommending endlessly as I have with Matt's other books.

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silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This story was enjoyable, especially the way it brought to life parts of the story set in earlier centuries. I can't tell if it was one of those 'almost deep but without actual substance' kind of stories, or if it was actually deep and I never quite absorbed it properly because of listening to it as an audio book.

This book has no graphic content, but it does have a smattering of veiled references to physical intimacy, and quite a bit of emotional tension and death, including in the name of witch hunting, and some passing references to depression/PPD and suicidal thoughts. There are also a few annoying side comments, like when he intentionally uses odd wording in order imply that a baby in the womb is not actually human yet. Not recommended for very young readers, but some teen readers might enjoy it.

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