Four and one-half stars for this reflective and spiritually didactic fable.  This book is a lesson in valuing time.  Through the lessons each of the main characters—Sarah Lemon, a lovelorn teenager; Victor Delamonte, a wealthy and fatally ill man in his eighties; and their instructor Dor (Father Time)—learns, the reader experiences an epiphany regarding his/her view of time.  Sarah Lemon wants to stop time; Victor Delamonte wants to extend time; while Dor, who has lived thousands of years (God’s punishment for his attempts at being the first to count time), has learned through his own experiences the value of time, which he is obligated to teach to Sarah and Victor.

Sentenced to live in a cave all those years of his imprisonment, Dor was forced to listen to the whispering of all the people on earth as they complained about time.  Time was too slow or too fast or less than desired.  Serving the last of his sentence, he returns to earth to teach Sarah and Victor God’s reason for limiting man’s days:  to make each day precious.

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom – ISBN: 978-1401312855
Reviewed by Lee L. Peoples