The Time Keeper

As with all Mitch Albom's novels, this book is another story with a moral that gets people to really think.

The Story

"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 come after him seeking more days, more years.

"Eventually, with his soul nearly broken, Father Time is granted his freedom, alone 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 on 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."

My Review

This simple but touching story was an easy read for me. It is told in the third person point of view, but constantly jumps back and forth between all three characters and between different time frames. The time frames jump from the current century to a century when Father Time lived, which was sometime in the B.C. Thankfully, the chapters are no more than one or two pages long, so it's easy to follow and not confusing to the reader.

The two people that Father Time must save are a teenage girl named Sarah Lemmon and an old businessman named Victor Delamonte. Sarah is suffering from unrequited love on all ends of the spectrum and Victor is so obsessed with trying to beat his cancer that he resorts to using an unconventional method.

Father Time saves both characters right before their climactic end. In order to save them though, he literally stops time and is able to show how things could have been if they'd made different choices. Imagine that? Being able to see how things will play out based on what you decide to do. How different our lives might play out? Most decisions are made with the best intentions, yet bad things may happen that were unplanned.

The moral of this story is about the meaning of time. Man today is so obsessed with time. How many of us always count the hours before a movie starts, the minutes left to finish getting ready, the hours left before clocking out for work? Everyone today is on a routine and a schedule. Even right now, as I'm typing this, I'm counting down the hours until I have to get ready since I'm going out tonight. 

What I liked was Albom's story version of Father Time. Even Father Time learned that sometimes it's better to relish in the minutes we have left, rather than dwell on the minutes that have gone by. The best way to describe Albom's moral of the story is through this interaction between Victor and Father Time:

                                Father Time: "There is a reason God limits our days."

                                Victor: "Why?"

                                "To make each one precious."

Would I recommend it or read it again?

I'd definitely recommend it. I've read 4 of Albom's other stories and re-read two of them. I'll most likely read this one again in the future. They are just great short stories, good for a quick but satisfying read.

Favorite Quotes

"Once we began to chime the hour, we lost the ability to be satisfied. There was always a quest for more minutes, more hours, faster progress to accomplish more in each day. The simple joy of living between sunrises was gone." 

"When we are most alone is when we embrace another's loneliness."

"Time is not something you give back. The very next moment may be an answer to your prayer. To deny that is to deny the most important part of the future."

"Father Time realized that knowing something and understanding it were not the same thing."