Point of View

How to Stop Time is written in first person from the limited perspective of Tom Hazard. The novel spans more than 400 years of Tom's life, beginning in the late 1500s when he was a teenager. The fact that Tom has lived so long and is looking back on these events has likely had an impact on his life. He makes the note early in the story that he is writing the events to the best of his memory. While he is trying to be honest, readers may wonder if he can accurately relate events that happened so long ago. In one scene, Tom notes that he remembers Rose's exact words, meaning this scene had a tremendous effect on him at the time. Most of the scene that Tom describes from his past were important moments. These included his mother's murder, the day he first met...