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Summary
Summary
From the author who's inspired millions worldwide with books like Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven comes his most imaginative novel yet, The Time Keeper --a compelling fable about the first man on Earth to count the hours.
The man who became Father Time.
In Mitch Albom's exceptional work of fiction, the inventor of the world's first clock is punished for trying to measure God's greatest gift. He is banished to a cave for centuries and forced to listen to the voices of all who come after him seeking more days, more years.
Eventually, with his soul nearly broken, Father Time is granted his freedom, along with a magical hourglass and a mission: a chance to redeem himself by teaching two earthly people the true meaning of time.
He returns to our world--now dominated by the hour-counting he so innocently began--and commences a journey with two unlikely partners: one a teenage girl who is about to give up on life, the other a wealthy old businessman who wants to live forever. To save himself, he must save them both. And stop the world to do so.
Told in Albom's signature spare, evocative prose, this remarkably original tale will inspire readers everywhere to reconsider their own notions of time, how they spend it, and how precious it truly is.
Genre:
| Fantasy fiction. |
| Fables. |
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestselling author Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie) turns his attention to Father Time in his new fabulist page-turner. Long ago, Aibefore a word like "ago" had any meaning,Aia man named Dor began to chart the passage of time, immediately realizing that "all his days were numbered," and so were his wife's. When she falls deathly ill, Dor climbs the Tower of Babel to beg the gods for help. But as a result of his brazenness, he is banished to a cave where he must endure listening to humanity plead for "more hours, more years, more time." After 6,000 years of torment, Dor is finally released back into the modern world with an enchanted hourglass and a mission: to teach two wayward souls the true value of time, AiSarah Lemon, a distressed teen, who wishes the end would come quickly, and Victor Delamonte, a prosperous aging businessman trying his best to keep the end at bay. With a clever conceit and frequent shifts in perspective, Albom deftly juggles multiple narratives to craft an inspiring tale that will please his fans and newcomers alike. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Treacly fable by pop inspirationalist Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie, 1997, etc.). Dava Sobel and Longitude be damned, God doesn't like people who measure things. Six thousandodd years ago--is the date a nod to Archbishop Ussher and his proto-creationism?--a fine young fellow named Dor invents the world's first clock and is banished to a cave for the affront, since only the deity is supposed to be concerned with such things, it being the days before hourly wage work and lawyers who bill in 15-minute increments. Dor now sits in a cave, "listening to something. Voices. Endless voices." And what do you suppose those voices want? Yup, time. More of it. Endless time. Or at least a year or two. Writing in his customary staccato ("But Father Time is real. And, in truth, he cannot age."), Albom gives Dor a chance to redeem himself by instructing two hapless earthlings--a man dying of cancer, a teenage girl in danger of dying by her own hand--in the meaning of life. The Little Prince it ain't: Albom seems to have taken the template for his novel from a corporate report, each page studded with boldfaced passages that would seem to signal something momentous; a person in a hurry could well read just those boldfaced passages and emerge with a pretty good idea of the storyline, which is plenty predictable in any event. Still, there are a few useful takeaways, among them these: If you're moribund, a pocket watch will cheer you right up; if you're worried about the prospect of imminent demise, then remember that, as the old dude who cometh from God's side sayeth, immortality "is not a gift." A product less than a book; those with not enough time on their hands might spend what they have more meaningfully elsewhere.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Albom displays his usual flair for plumbing the emotional depths of the human spirit in this cleverly constructed fable. After Dor, the first man to measure time, becomes so obsessed with the philosophical concept and the practical mathematics of his discovery that he loses sight of what is truly important in life, he is banished to a cave and condemned to listen to the mind-numbing din of the time-centric pleas and prayers of the masses throughout the centuries. Granted a chance to redeem himself by rescuing two floundering contemporary souls, he brings together Victor, a dying business mogul determined to unlock the secret of immortality, and Sarah, a lonely and depressed teenager on the brink of suicide. Morphing into wise Father Time, Dor grants Victor and Sarah equally bleak views of the futures they are forging. Elements of the supernatural abound as invaluable life lessons are learned in this heartrending morality play reminiscent of both A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life. High Demand Backstory: Albom has proved time and again that tried-and-true formulas sell. In his latest morality play, he strikes a familiar emotional chord that will resonate with a wide cross-section of readers and translate into bestselling gold.--Flanagan, Margaret Copyright 2010 Booklist