Close but no cigar (The Thief of Time - John Boyne)

Member Name: Katz1

Product:	The Thief of Time - John Boyne
Date:	27/08/01 (117 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting idea, some good plot twists and turns

Disadvantages: Main character not exciting enough, unrealistic dialogue

A story about a man who has stopped ageing and reached the age of 256?? This must be worth a read, I thought... How much you could live through in that time, how much you would see!

The blurb on the back cover (the one written above) seemed to promise so much and, unfortunately, the book does not fulfil this apparent potential. It is written in the first person and is a look back over the centuries through the eyes of somebody who has been there, done that.

Matthieu Zéla, the protagonist, has lived through lots of interesting periods in time; the French Revolution for one, Hollywood during the time of Charlie Chaplin and the Depression for another, etc, etc. He has travelled the world, has witnessed murder, intrigue, and has had many relationships with women; in fact, he has lived a full life, but for me there was something missing. At first I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, but after some contemplation, I decided that what it comes down to is personality - and Mr. Zéla’s lack of one. This character, this experienced, wise old man doesn’t ring true somehow. Obviously the premise itself is far-fetched and you are expected to suspend disbelief to some extent, but Mr. Zéla as a character has no get up and go – he is unconvincing as the hard-nosed businessman he purports to be and seems unworthy of the respect so many of the characters give him, he is even unconvincing as a character with enough passion for life to even want to live for such a long time.

I don’t think the novel takes enough advantage of the age issue. He seems to take for granted the fact that he has stopped ageing, he doesn’t worry about it and is very blasé about the whole thing. He writes as an observer, rather than a participant. As a reader, it is difficult to empathise with this character and for me, this is where the book falls down. The protagonist just seems to drift from one situation to the next, without ambition, without
feelings even – his attitude to everything and everybody is quite passive.

The above could, of course, have been the author’s intention. It is possible he wanted to show that at one time, Mattieu Zéla was able to feel love and passion but it all changed when he lost his first love (Dominique) as a young man. Perhaps this one tragedy affected him to such an extent that he could not allow himself to feel like that ever again, and after this point, his life was just a series of events where he was an outsider, nothing more than an observer.

It is also possible that having a long-living protagonist was just a vehicle for the author to describe various interesting points in history from a first person perspective, to show perhaps that the more things change, the more they stay the same. However, there is insufficient detail on the points in history covered by the author. It doesn’t quite work, somehow.

Something that did work for me, however, was the inclusion of the Thomas’s. You may wonder what on earth I’m rabbiting on about; please let me enlighten you: the Tomas’s are a line of characters who are related to Matthieu – the first Tomas being his half-brother, and the others the sons and grandsons of this original Tomas. The one thing they all have in common is that they all die at a young age, shortly after having impregnated their wives/girlfriends with the next in the line. They are not constant companions of Mattieu, however they are always his only living relative, so he keeps an eye on them and gives them money etc. The last in this line is Tommy, a young TV soap pinup with a drug problem and a recently impregnated girlfriend. Matthieu is concerned about Tommy but already takes it for granted that Tommy shall be dying shortly due to the fate of all the previous Tomas’s. This particular part of the story has various twists and turns and does manage to hold your attention – perhaps be
cause it is set in the present day and the reader may be able to relate to the problems and issues that this Tommy has to face.

I also liked the way the chapters had been set out. They are not too long and switch from a modern day chapter to a historical chapter (be that 18th Century, 19th Century or whatever), and then back again to the modern day. This means that you are being told a few different stories at once, and is something that does work as a device for capturing and holding the readers’ attention.

This is John Boyne’s first novel and as such it is quite impressive. He has chosen an interesting subject matter and has tackled it in an original fashion. The disappointing aspects, such as the characterisation of Matthieu, the at-times unrealistic dialogue, and the insufficient detail on the female characters in the book, do however, detract from its potential.

If you are intrigued by the premise of a character who is either incapable of dying or growing old, I would recommend a book called “Pilgrim” by Timothy Findley (Amazon currently have this one on offer at £6.39). It is written from a slightly different perspective to The Thief of Time as it is set in a mental institution where the character who can not die or grow old is currently residing (due to his being a suicide risk). It is meatier than The Thief of Time and has rather more detailed (both factual and fictional) information.

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