the Time Keeper

Mitch Albom’s latest novel, the Time Keeper is an easy read with a simple plot: time is gold and hence must be used wisely. There is nothing special or new with this theme. Yet, despite this seemingly passé and overheard cliché, we oftentimes overlook the significance of time—hours, minutes, seconds, days, weeks, years—in our lives. Albom’s latest novel (which is now available in paperback yay!, the hardbound edition is so expensive) is an apt reminder that our time is numbered, irrevocable, significant. As a borrow from his novel, “There is a reason God limits our days. || Why? || To make each one precious.”

“In Mitch Albom’s newest 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 seek more day, more years. Eventually, Father Time is granted freedom, along with a magical hourglass and 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: a teenage girl who is about to give up on life and an old businessman who wants to live forever…”

There are also a number of “quotable quotes” (read: singing prose) in the Time Keeper that I would like to share:

Sometimes when you are not given the love you want, giving makes you think you will.

But a man who can take anything will find most things unsatisfying. And a man without memories is just a shell.

A heart weighs more when it splits in two; it crushes in the chest like broken plane.

Common sense would have told Sarah to steer clear of Ethan’s waters. But common sense has no place in first love and never has.

…hurting ourselves to inflict pain on others is just another cry to be loved.

Goodreads rating: 4/5