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Bianca's Reviews > How to Stop Time
How to Stop Time
by
by
Bianca's review
bookshelves: audiobook, british-author, british-lit, general-fiction, male-author, 2018
Mar 01, 2018
bookshelves: audiobook, british-author, british-lit, general-fiction, male-author, 2018
I'm throwing in the towel at the 70% mark ... I can't take it anymore. I can't believe this is the same author as the one who wrote The Humans.
After reading and enjoying The Humans, I was eager to give this one a go, despite the fact that "time travel" and other such concepts don't necessarily float my boat, but I was willing to sail away with it.
I got the audiobook for this, as I enjoy British accents, plus, it was easier to fit in with other reading.
Honestly, I was getting murderous thoughts towards the hero, Tom Hazard, who was four hundred something years old. Oh, the moaning, and the over-explaining, and the self-pity - I wanted to slap him or worse.
I was willing to suspend my disbelief, after all, I did it successfully with The Humans. But I just couldn't. It felt as if Haig took the history book out and then picked some events and some cool historical figures, just to spice things up a little. I used to be a huge history buff. Re-acquainting myself with some historical events and meeting important historical figures via Tom Hazard - should have been interesting. Alas, no! It was lacking authenticity and it felt too much like reading journal entries: "today I went there and met this person. And oh, I feel so lonely and so, so sad. I need love" *Insert rolling eyes. You see, in order to continue to live his miserable life, he couldn't fall in love again. So the poor guy has been single for centuries. He seems to have been celibate for centuries as well. Oh, and despite meeting so many important people in different parts of the world, he just couldn't find his daughter, who'd inherited his condition - which was why he still wanted to keep living.
The premise was good, the execution though was uninspired and a bit too much like a readers digest of historic events and who's who of historical figures.
After reading and enjoying The Humans, I was eager to give this one a go, despite the fact that "time travel" and other such concepts don't necessarily float my boat, but I was willing to sail away with it.
I got the audiobook for this, as I enjoy British accents, plus, it was easier to fit in with other reading.
Honestly, I was getting murderous thoughts towards the hero, Tom Hazard, who was four hundred something years old. Oh, the moaning, and the over-explaining, and the self-pity - I wanted to slap him or worse.
I was willing to suspend my disbelief, after all, I did it successfully with The Humans. But I just couldn't. It felt as if Haig took the history book out and then picked some events and some cool historical figures, just to spice things up a little. I used to be a huge history buff. Re-acquainting myself with some historical events and meeting important historical figures via Tom Hazard - should have been interesting. Alas, no! It was lacking authenticity and it felt too much like reading journal entries: "today I went there and met this person. And oh, I feel so lonely and so, so sad. I need love" *Insert rolling eyes. You see, in order to continue to live his miserable life, he couldn't fall in love again. So the poor guy has been single for centuries. He seems to have been celibate for centuries as well. Oh, and despite meeting so many important people in different parts of the world, he just couldn't find his daughter, who'd inherited his condition - which was why he still wanted to keep living.
The premise was good, the execution though was uninspired and a bit too much like a readers digest of historic events and who's who of historical figures.
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Reading Progress
January 14, 2018
– Shelved
January 14, 2018
– Shelved as:
to-read
February 26, 2018
–
Started Reading
March 1, 2018
– Shelved as:
audiobook
March 1, 2018
– Shelved as:
british-author
March 1, 2018
– Shelved as:
british-lit
March 1, 2018
– Shelved as:
general-fiction
March 1, 2018
– Shelved as:
male-author
March 1, 2018
–
Finished Reading
August 23, 2018
– Shelved as:
2018
Comments Showing 1-33 of 33 (33 new)
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message 1:
by
Julie
(new)
Mar 02, 2018 06:45AM
I support your abandonment of this, Bianca! Sounds pretty bad.
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I am so glad I passed on this one. Thanks, Bianca! I don’t mind suspending belief but it has to be engaging
Thanks, Bianca. I considered this book, even in a small way. I'll pass.
Oh my ! Sorry it didn’t work for you , Bianca. Hope your next one is better!
I completely agree. I wish I had abandoned it, Bianca. I hope you’re on to something better.
Julie wrote: "I support your abandonment of this, Bianca! Sounds pretty bad."Thanks. It was so irking me so much, I thought to myself - I don't need to spend another 1hr + listening to this.
Latanya (CraftyScribbles) wrote: "Thanks, Bianca. I considered this book, even in a small way. I'll pass."Tammy wrote: "I am so glad I passed on this one. Thanks, Bianca! I don’t mind suspending belief but it has to be engaging"
Thanks, Tammy and Latanya. Most GR friends who read it enjoyed it and even loved it. So, you may want to reconsider ... The Humans was much better, with sharper observations, although even that one veered into the saccharin territory, although not for long and there was no whining.
Esil wrote: "I completely agree. I wish I had abandoned it, Bianca. I hope you’re on to something better."Honestly, when I read your review I thought it was just you, because how could HTST not be amusing, interesting etc? As I was listening, prepared to love it, I was thinking OMG, Lise was right! But wait, surely it will get better... Ha! I was wrong. So I'll keep you company in the outliers' corner. I feel terrible about not liking it, I've seen it on many people's best book of the 2017 list.
Angela M wrote: "Oh my ! Sorry it didn’t work for you , Bianca. Hope your next one is better!"Trust me, Angela, I was anticipating loving it. I wonder what you'll make of the Humans. I personally think The Humans is far superior. I'm not giving up on Haig yet.
So glad you tossed this book aside, Bianca ! Too many other great reads awaiting 🙂
We just crossed paths with this author. My experience was a lot better than yours with the book I just read, I was inspired to read this author after your review of The Humans, I’m so glad I did.
Megan wrote: "So glad you tossed this book aside, Bianca ! Too many other great reads awaiting 🙂"I probably waited too long ...
Vanessa wrote: "We just crossed paths with this author. My experience was a lot better than yours with the book I just read, I was inspired to read this author after your review of The Humans, I’m so glad I did."Read Humans before you try this one. Or you may like it, I'm the outlier.
Tom had a lot of headaches didn't he! Hope your next is better Bianca!
Holly wrote: "Tom had a lot of headaches didn't he! Hope your next is better Bianca!"Haha. I've forgotten about the headaches.
Oh no, I loved this book! So sorry that it was not for you, Bianca!
Marialyce wrote: "Oh no, I loved this book! So sorry that it was not for you, Bianca!"I am sorry, too. I guess it happens.
If you got to the 70% mark, you have more diligence than I do. The older you get, the more you realize that if a book does not work in any way or category then it's appropriate to dump it. There are always better ones out there. It's a wise realization to try different fits and then dump if the process is unproductive. Very underestimated as a virtue here.Less
I’ll have to check out The Humans.
Jeanette wrote: "If you got to the 70% mark, you have more diligence than I do. The older you get, the more you realize that if a book does not work in any way or category then it's appropriate to dump it. There ar..."I've become much more cut-throat lately, as I realised I'm never going to read everything I want. It's just that I enjoyed The Humans so much, plus, so many GR friends loved it ...
Ok, Bianca. I'll reconsider. There's a film/t.v. adaptation brewing and I wanted to read it in preparation. Maybe I'll snatch an audiobook version.
Sorry that didn't work for you and i am glad, in the same time, that Human is better as i really wanted to read that one.
Latanya (CraftyScribbles) wrote: "Ok, Bianca. I'll reconsider. There's a film/t.v. adaptation brewing and I wanted to read it in preparation. Maybe I'll snatch an audiobook version."Do you mean adaptation for the Humans or How To Stop Time (I listen to the audio for this one).
Adina wrote: "Sorry that didn't work for you and i am glad, in the same time, that Human is better as i really wanted to read that one."I am sorry, too. As you can probably tell, my opinion is not that of the majority, but I do think Humans was superior.
Oh no! Sorry this one didn't work out for you. I have it and I'm going to give it a shot...sometime. Hopefully I'll not get murderous thoughts while reading it. :-) On to better reads Bianca!
way to go to get to 70 %. here's to better selections!
PorshaJo wrote: "Oh no! Sorry this one didn't work out for you. I have it and I'm going to give it a shot...sometime. Hopefully I'll not get murderous thoughts while reading it. :-) On to better reads Bianca!"By all means, don't let my review stop you from reading it. I hope you'll enjoy it more than I did. Looking forward to reading your thoughts.
paulie wrote: "way to go to get to 70 %. here's to better selections!"Thanks, Paulie. It's even more annoying when you had high expectations for the book.
Elyse wrote: "Wow .... we really ‘did’ both feel much the same about this book!"Ops, just noticed your comment. Absolutely! It wasn't for lack of trying.
What a shame! I loved this book. But that's the beauty of reading, we all take something different from it.
Nat wrote: "What a shame! I loved this book. But that's the beauty of reading, we all take something different from it."Tell me about it. I had such high expectations, based on my experience with the Humans.
