There are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day and 365 days a year. What’s to question?
You may have never realized it, but we are always begging for time; for more, or less, for it to move faster or slower. Time is a constant, something we have never doubted or had curiosity for.
Mitch Albom’s newest novel, “The Time Keeper“, goes into detail about time and how we take it for granted.
Three main characters, Dor, the creator of time, or Father Time as he is more commonly known, Sarah, a high school girl with a date, and Victor, an old millionaire, whose life seems to be coming to an end, share the story of time.
The plot follows these three characters through their different adventures involving time.
Dor discovers time as a little boy and becomes a victim to it. He becomes obsessed with it, wanting to know why the sun casts a shadow that seems the same every day. His findings lead to the first sundial, something he wishes he never had done. This obsession leads him to his fate, to be stuck forever in a cave, hearing pleads for time.
Sarah can only think of one thing, her date. Finally, this overweight high school senior will have her first date. She wishes for time to speed up, for it to be 8:30.
Victor has one wish, immortality. He enters on a quest to his dream, wanting only more time, and realizing that he can’t have more.
Albom creates the first major plot twist when Dor is sent out of his imprisonment, down to earth. He creates a very unique and imaginative character through Father Time. A character with an infinite amount of time, who then uses it to understand the world.
He travels all over the world, learning all there is to know, in one day. Once he knows everything, he understands that he must help the destinies of two people; Sarah and Victor. He just doesn’t know how.
Albom personifies time in these characers, creating an idea many of us have never even considered: we are always begging for time to stop or slow down or speed up, but what if it did?
Mitch Albom’s “The Time Keeper” from Hyperion Books explores a new terrain, one unmarked by modern literature. His book will make you stop and consider how you use time, and think, “What if we had forever? What if time was meaningless? What happens then?”
