Book Review: The Time Keeper

Title:  The Time Keeper
Author:  Mitch Albom
Where I got it:  From NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review

Amazon 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 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, 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.

My Thoughts:
I’ve loved Mitch Albom ever since I read Tuesdays with Morrie.  While very few of his subsequent books have packed the huge emotional punch Tuesdays with Morrie did, his books never fail to deliver a powerful message in a simple and powerful manner.

In The Time Keeper, Dor began his life as a curious kid who loved to count and measure things.  He discovers the concept of time, and is eventually stuck living in a cave while he learns the value of time.  Thousands of years later, once he’s learned the value of time, he is tasked with assisting two people – one who claims to have to little time, and one who wishes they had less time. 

Dor struggles to learn all he can about the modern world, and quickly identifies Sarah and Victor as two individuals who meet the criteria imposed.  Now, Dor only has a few weeks to teach these two people the value of time, before it’s too late.

The Time Keeper shows the meaning of time, and living for all the days of our lives, in a powerful and absorbing manner.  Nothing about the story is particularly complex, and this simplicity makes the meaning of the book that more impressive.