I would feel the weight of it on my shoulders when I was younger, how people could be so cruel to each other, so fixed and prejudiced against one another, warring and hanging onto their flags as if their lives depended on it. I relate to it because like Tom, I was often depressed at the state of the world. Everyone would realise that the thing that defines a human being is being a human.” how to stop time, matt haig Everyone would see their worldview challenged and disproved. Everyone would realise their nationality means little in the long run. Everyone will become a refugee if they live long enough. “The longer you live, the more you realise that nothing is fixed. Tom has headaches and depressive episodes about his condition, here he muses about what life means on his timeframe
The only way to recover from such depths is to step back and analyse what life has meant and could mean for you. Which is what coming out of depression does too. By giving Tom Hazard too much time to he is forced to take stock of what life really means. The perspective he has in this short novel filled me with a great warmth. Haig’s insight to the human condition can only have come from his experience and subsequent recovery from anxiety and depression. This is what kept me turning page after page. Time becomes elastic because Tom has far too much of it.Īs his story and secrets are slowly revealed we are never allowed to forget that he is an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances, just trying to be a human. The novel flits around in time, present day, 1800s, 1500s, back to the present, then back to three months ago. He is dying slowly, slower than normal, he’s actually over 400 years old which is where the story begins. But inside this man is a whole secret world. You know him, I know him, we’ve all been taught by him if we went to school in England. A middle-aged history teacher, Tom Hazard. I bring it up here because you can see how much of Matt’s own mental health experience influences his beautiful novel, How to Stop Time. Reasons to Stay Alive was small and manageable and, importantly, relatable and honest. At the time I wasn’t reading much, this is one of the side effects of depression, the lack of ability to focus on a page for very long before you feel tired and drained. I first read Matt Haig’s Reasons to Stay Alive while I was in the throws of depression.
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