Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out. How do our minds make sense of such vastly complex concepts like time? The book is about an ancient man named Dor, the inventor of the first clock and a time keeping hobbyist. As a punishment for trying to measure time, Dor is sent to a cave for 6, years.
While in the cave, he hears voices from people all over earth, constantly asking for more time. One of these people wants too much time. This is Victor Delamonte, fourteenth richest man in the world and dying from cancer. Victor decides that he will have his body cryogenically frozen, to be rejuvenated and cured once medicine has advanced enough. Victor wants to live forever. The other character Dor is sent to help wants too little time.
Sarah Lemon is a high school senior who has been humiliated and cast off by a boy she mistakenly believed to be her boyfriend. Sarah wants to die. But no one owns time… When you are measuring time, you are not living it. We treat time as a thing. My Google calendar may as well be my homepage. The rare room lacking a clock feels like a prison. We take ownership of our time when we capture it in photographs, sign contracts for work we will complete, and invest our money for the future.
We talk about wasting or saving time just the same way we talk about wasting or saving food. Albom reminds us that despite our language, cultural practices, and technological innovations, despite the fact that we can measure and quantify time in amazingly precise and meticulous ways, we do not control time. You are commenting using your WordPress. Many will no doubt find it comforting and life-affirming.
I just found it all a bit too obvious for my taste. Perhaps I'm just not one who feels I need a fable to remind me how precious our time on earth is, or how important it is to try to live in the moment. I'm all too aware of it every day. View all 5 comments. Aug 31, Liz rated it it was amazing Shelves: You know, I have a friend. A very precious one. One, who knows many parts of me better than any other person. She, more than anyone else, knows how obsessed I am with time. I am always in time, always counting time and paying attention to it.
The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom
It can be quite annoying. She gave me the book and told me to read it, or better ordered me to read it. This friend knew what this book would do to me. It changed some things forever. This is a story about Father Time.
A story about a man named Dor who starts measuring time, something he better shouldn't do. He is the first one to notice time passing by. He becomes obsessed with time and he loses something. Something very important and after this loss he is banished in a cave. Alone, not aging, not changing, just hearing. He hears all the voices who speak about time, over years.
Eventually, he is granted freedom again with a special hourglass and a unique mission: Teaching two people on earth the true meaning of time. One who wants more time, more than he is allowed to have. And one who doesn't want time at all. Who is ready to give everything up, especially the granted time. Time is not something you give back. Yet, there was something captivating about it.
The shortness of the sentences was a strength of this book. The book showed three different people, with completely different lives. One who had nothing. One who had everything. One who had nobody. Each character made mistakes. Grave mistakes all of them had to pay for, but they were just normal human beings so their mistakes were just natural. They tried to overpower time and failed at it. There wasn't something like a real plot in this book.
It was more the description of lives. This book showed a certain process without much tension in it. There was neither thrill, nor excitement in this book, but there was understanding and thinking and strength. This book was deep and it was powerful. It makes you think about life in general as much as about your own life-style. It makes you reconcider and probably even realize things you didn't before. I was mesmerized, enchanted, shocked and so much more I cannot name after finishing this book. I just loved it and I know I will come back to this book over and over again I highly recommend this book to everyone.
Just everyone, without exceptions. View all 12 comments. Nov 26, Daniel Kite rated it it was ok. Dor is an interesting character on paper, but so little is put into why he has this desire to measure time. The familial and social struggles of Sarah and the devastating childhood of Victor are largely parsed over, so much so that there is little reader investment in the choices that they ultimately make. Unless the novel as a whole is some sort of comment on how our lives move too fast to truly know anyone around us which seems kind of defeatist and against the point Albom is trying to make in this novel , there simply isn't enough time put in towards developing these characters so that their actions actually have meaning to the reader.
It's an interesting concept, but this novel seems like the kind of thing you might pick up at an airport and read on the ensuing flight for a shallow time-killer, and little more.
View all 6 comments. Jan 07, Phrynne rated it really liked it Shelves: Rather quirky and unusual but still a light read, this is a story about Father Time and the man who discovered time in the first place. I enjoyed the way it was told in short chapters which circled around three different points of view. There was humour and there was sadness and there was a lot of philosophy about life and death, but it was never deep or hard to understand.
I have not read any of this author's other more famous books yet but I certainly will now. This was an ideal book to read Rather quirky and unusual but still a light read, this is a story about Father Time and the man who discovered time in the first place. This was an ideal book to read on hot Sydney summer Sunday with the air conditioning on full blast! I love days when you just have to stay inside and read: View all 3 comments. Apr 04, Dianne Joy rated it it was amazing Shelves: That one word that made me lose it and just cry - page , last line, last word - "Grace. This book is not quite like the other books Albom has earlier written, but it is no less good.
It is just as great as his earlier works, and I'm currently deciding if maybe, for me, this has been one of his better works. The Time Keeper is a light read. But it was still full of lessons like a typical Mitch Albom boo That one word that made me lose it and just cry - page , last line, last word - "Grace. But it was still full of lessons like a typical Mitch Albom book is - lessons that will keep you thinking, lessons that will fill your thoughts as you lay in bed at night, waiting for sleep to come.
After reading an Albom book, I usually feel heavy hearted, sad but inspired. But this one was different. After having read it, I felt light-hearted, inspired just the same, but not sad. Death is a recurring theme in all the Albom books I've read so far, including this one.
But The Time Keeper gave a lighter tone to it, which is maybe why I didn't feel heavy hearted when I finished it. The story in general was also lighter as compared to his other books. The characters were a bit more shallow. The conflict was not that deep. But this book is imaginative. I would not have expected Albom to write about Father Time. And I have a feeling that every now and then, when I feel like running out of time, or wishing to stand still in time, or wanting to go back in time, I'll be thinking of him, Father Time.
Needless to say, this book was very well written. The sentences in bold letters. The short statements that ended every page,every chapter. I just love it all. It feels all dramatic to me. I've always been a lover of lines, and I enjoyed all the quotable quotes, and trust Mitch Albom to give a lot of those, that's why love him. View all 11 comments.
The Time Keeper
Now, I love Mitch Albom! But although this one was still fantastic, it didn't hit home in the same way as The Five People You Meet in Heaven or Tuesdays with Morrie It focuses on a man in the stone age - the first person to discover time - as penance he is forced to forever listen to the outcome of his discovery. That is - the human race constantly asking for more time. He is sent to save two people on Earth, in ord "Once we began to chime the hour we lost the ability to be satisfied.
He is sent to save two people on Earth, in order to save himself from his eternal fate. These two souls are an old, ailing man suffering from a terminal illness and a teenage girl wanting to end her life. Father Time must show them both the meaning of time and what it is to truly live. A wonderful fable, a quick read. Aug 21, Mrs. Kenyon rated it really liked it Shelves: Father Time was once a living man. His name was Dor and he was the first human to measure time. He lived 6, years ago when life and time were simpler. After a tragic illness took his wife, Dor wanted to reach the heavens and demand more time.
The result of this action was the fall of the Tower of Babel and him being placed in a cave where he had to listen to any mention of time. Sarah is a girl in modern day New York. She wants time to speed up so that she can be with the boy who is showing i Father Time was once a living man. She wants time to speed up so that she can be with the boy who is showing interest in her.
Sarah believes that if Ethan spends time with her, he will see how wonderful she is. Victor is a millionaire in Manhattan. He is dying and wants to cheat death. Victor wants to freeze his body so that it can be healed of its cancer in the future and be given another lifetime to live. After 6, years, Dor is release from his cave and sent to modern times to save these two people. He must also determine what he is supposed to do to save them. The Time Keeper will take the reader on a spiritual journey through time.
Why is time so important? Do humans spend too much of their precious time thinking about time? This story is told through the eyes of these three different individuals, but the story still flows smoothly as you move through time and locations. Sep 19, Britany rated it liked it. Some want it to progress faster, and others want time to slow down.
Many take time for granted and don't appreciate the chance that we all have to take a moment and savor these memories. Dor's life is the main story, as his starts in the times of Babel and ends in present day. He created time and then time stole his life from him. He has a chance for freedom and has to save two lives Sarah Lemon, an insecure t 3 Lives collide in this tale about Father Time and how time affects all of our lives. Sarah Lemon, an insecure teen falls in love with a boy who doesn't love her back, and makes her feel terribly about herself. She wants her time to be over. Victor Delmonte is suffering from dialysis and cancer racking his body, he wants time to last forever.
Solid book by Albom, with good life lessons to take away. However, one that never really left the "average" realm for me. Just didn't really connect to any of the characters. Nov 20, Dale Harcombe rated it liked it.
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This is an entertaining little fable about time and how some people never have enough of it while others wish it would slow down. Dor is one who measures time and ends up in the role of Father Time. The other two main characters are Victor who has cancer and who is running out of time and Sarah who initially wants time to hurry up.
Later events cause her to change her mind. For someone who wants a light read that just really might cause them to think about time and their own lives this could be a worthwhile read. Sadly, I never connected with any of the characters in a meaningful way. Maybe that was the episodic way the story was told. Or perhaps it was just the theme of this one. It did remind me a little of the work of Jostein Gaader and it was a good change of pace from the book I had read before it.
I enjoyed the concept but not so much the way it was written. One of those books, I suspect, you have to be in the right mood for. I will still definitely read others by this author and I am still glad I read this one. May 18, Lori Henrich rated it it was amazing. I picked up this book with great anticipation looking forward to turning each page. When I started reading I was frustrated with the style the author chose.
I liked his other fiction stories and was expecting to find the same style amongst the pages. Then I found a totally different style and was disappointed. But I decided to keep going and this story is so worth the effort. The story follows Dor, Victor and Sarah. Dor lived during the early Bible times during the time of the tower of Babel bein I picked up this book with great anticipation looking forward to turning each page. Dor lived during the early Bible times during the time of the tower of Babel being built.
Dor has an obsessive desire to figure out how long it takes for things to happen and invents ways to count and determine time. He winds up in a cave as Father Time where he spends eternity having to listen to people pray for more time.
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Victor is a wealthy man who is dying from cancer. He faces it the way he does everything else; he wants to find a way to beat death. He doesn't care what his wife thinks and is determined to find a way to live longer. Sarah is a teenager experiencing love for the first time. Her love interest doesn't seem to be as interested in her and makes her live so intolerable that she wants to end it. Dor arrives on the scene and shows them what comes after they have left this world. He shows them that there is reason God limits our days.
To make each one precious. What a wonderful lesson to learn. It is amazing how much time we can waste wishing for more time. Time is precious and we need to take advantage of what we are given. A very plain writing, almost as if it were meant for young readers, about a supposedly deep and philosophical subject that was addressed, in my opinion, in a very shallow and predictable way.
Apr 28, Lisa rated it did not like it. I honestly think this is the worst book I've ever read. The Time Keeper is supposed to be a story about a lovelorn teenage girl, and an old man who wants to cryogenically freeze himself, who are about to have their perspectives on life changed by, you guessed it, a transplanted prehistoric caveman who for some reason speaks perfect English.
Albom fills I honestly think this is the worst book I've ever read. Albom fills the book with his nonsensical musings on time, such as, "Can you imagine endless time to learn? If any of you give this more than one star I will probably unfriend you immediately.
Aug 14, thewanderingjew rated it really liked it. The book is about time and how it affects our lives from moment to moment. We are all, each and every one of us, preoccupied with its measurement. What would life be like without the constraints of time? The book encourages us to think about how simple life would be if we were just enjoying the moment we were in, without thinking of all our other responsibilities in the next moment, the next appointment, the next day, the next problem.
Three children are playing in a carefree manner, running through the fields. They are Nim, Alli and Dor. Dor is consumed with the need to measure, to watch and to investigate how things occur. Alli is a sweet and gentle girl who becomes his wife. Nim likes power and control and he becomes a powerful king who is sometimes a cruel ruler.
Dor creates the forerunner to the sun dial. He is warned not to tamper with measurements by an apparition, but he ignores the warning. Later, when Dor refuses to help Nim build a tower to heaven, so he might defeat the gods and rule from above, Nim banishes him from his kingdom. Leaving his children behind with his parents, he and his wife Alli move away, dejected and lonely, they resettle elsewhere.
When Alli falls gravely ill, Dor runs frantically to the tower that Nim is building, his stairway to heaven, and he climbs it, seeking to reach the top and force the gods to stop time and help his beloved continue to live. When he reaches the top, he is imprisoned in a cave by the same apparition that warned him, years ago, to stop experimenting with his measuring.
He tells Dor he must stay in the cave until heaven neets earth, until he basically learns the error of his ways, until he learns why he should not have inflicted the knowledge of time upon innocent victims. The three main problematic issues concerning the measurement of time seem to be these: Dor wanted to stop time, Sarah wanted to slow time and Victor wanted to extend it. The need to control it is the source of the problem.
It is the need for a power that is not in the control of mortal man. Finally the day comes when heaven meets earth and the apparition reappears. Dor is instructed that he might free himself from the cave if he listens to the unending pleadings of the voices in the pool that was created by his tears, and chooses two to save, two humans who cannot deal with the time they have allotted or the circumstances within which they are living. Dor hears two voices above all others. Victor, 86, is terminally ill, and wants to find a way to give himself more time, Sarah, 17, is an unhappy, lonely teenager who has deceived herself and is being bullied by social media.
She wants to end her time. Dor, himself, wanted to stop time, and the lesson he must learn, from his next trial, is why what he did was wrong. Using an hourglass and the sands of time, each is led to see the folly of their ways. Each learns that leaving the world, on their own terms, leaves those left behind to suffer. They realize that time is not in their control, should not be controlled and perhaps should not be given so much attention. They discover the drastic consequences of their own behavior and alter their paths. In that way, they also set Dor free and he returns to his own time to be with Alli in her last moments.
Although 6 thousand years have passed, he is unaffected by its passage and is able to return to face whatever fate awaits him. Albom has created a fable about time, about who measured it, about why and how it was measured, and about the consequences for the measurer and those that eventually must live by the tools that measure it. He creates a fantasy about the problems created when we become preoccupied with schedules and the passage of time.
He creates the legend of Father Time. For me, the ultimate message of this little tale is that although we live by time, and we want to control it, we do not own it, we have no power over it and we are helpless in the face of it. Time is the real prison for all of us. If we try too hard to control everything we do, we are consumed with the effort and lose sight of the actual living and of the enjoyment life provides. In the end, I was left with some questions. For instance, were the characters symbols of ancient bible characters? Was Nim the pharaoh in Egypt? Was the apparition the son of son G-d?
Were Alli and Dor metaphors for Adam and Eve? Was the Mayan calendar the symbol of the end of days for Father Time? Weren't both really desirous of the same thing, control? Like the other books I have read by Mitch Albom, this book moved me with its simple premise and message.