The Ministry of Time
image taken from Amazon
The Summary (No Spoilers)
“The Ministry of Time” is a novel about a group of people who have been brought from the past and paired with present day guides (members of the UK’s fictional Ministry of Time) to help them acclimate to the modern world over the course of a year. The reason for why they have been brought through time develops over the course of the book. Some might say “the work is mysterious and important” (for the Severance fans out there).
Touchstones
Despite my modest review below, there were some really great lines in this book. They fell roughly along three themes.
Theme 1: Luxury and Work
“He had been handed a plush-lined life, with time to read, to pursue thoughts to their phantasmagoric end, to take in whole seasons at the British Film Institute, to walk for miles, to master sonatas, and paint to his heart’s content. He did not need to work, to exchange the sweat of his brow or the creak of his mind for board and bed. And yet, he was bored of having no purpose.”
“He had a presence as mild as salad and the beautiful crow’s-feet of someone who could afford to age attractively. He seemed like he shouldn’t have the job… as jobs are not very chic.”
Theme 2: Chosen Paths and the Chaos Lottery
I do not know if the term “chaos lottery” is original to her, but I first heard it from a podcaster I enjoy, Sarah Stewart Holland of Pantsuit Politics. It refers to the idea that there is so much of life that is outside of our control, that we can make all the very best decisions and live a pristine lifestyle and still we will have to face difficult things: a devastating diagnosis, a natural disaster that destroys our home, a freak accident, job loss, death of a loved one. Life is a chaos lottery and sooner or later, in one way or another, our number gets drawn.
“You can’t trauma-proof life, and you can’t hurt-proof your relationships. You have to accept you will cause harm to yourself and others. But you can also fuck up, really badly, and not learn anything from it except that you fucked up. It’s the same with oppression. You don’t gain any special knowledge from being marginalized.”
“Life is a series of slamming doors. We make irrevocable decisions every day.”
These quotes made me think about both the chaos lottery as well as a quote from Kate Bowler’s No Cure For Being Human that has stuck with me: “Everybody pretends that you only die once. But that’s not true. You can die to a thousand possible futures in the course of a single, stupid life.” Every decision we make opens one door and closes a hundred others, and that impacts us in ways that we may get glimpses of, but that we will never truly know. There are pivot points in my life that I look back on and think about how dramatically different life could be if I had gone another way. You probably have those moments too. When I look back on those pivot points I feel gratitude and relief for the way my life has unfolded. I hope you are lucky enough to feel the same.
“I thought I was doing something constructive, escaping exploitation by becoming exceptional. In fact, what I was doing was squeezing my eyes shut and singing la la la at the gathering darkness, as if the gathering darkness cared that I couldn’t see it.”
“I was filled with happiness, so enormous and terrifying it was as if I’d committed a crime to get it. No one had given me permission to feel this way, and I thought I might not be allowed it... I was frightened with happiness, harrowed by it. There was no way that anyone could feel this much without also knowing they were going to lose it.”
The anxiety of feeling like this is all too good, like the other shoe will inevitably drop, like the chaos lottery is on it’s way - I am capable of spiraling into that dark hole. Sometimes it is overwhelming, the catastrophization. Often, though, I am able to remember that while the chaos lottery will come, for now we are well. We will face the chaos when it arrives.
Theme 3: Bystanders of History
“But what could I have said? That the Holocaust was one of the most appalling, most shameful stains on the history of humanity, and it could have been prevented? Everything that has ever been could have been prevented, and none of it was. The only thing you can mend is the future.”
When the problems of the world feel impossible, I try to remember that what I do matters. My small kindnesses, my care for friends and neighbors, the lessons I teach my children, the books I read, the way I pay attention, the service I give to my patients, to my community - all of this matters. If all I do is the next right thing, it will be in service of the future I want for the world. I must remember that even when it feels I cannot do much, I can do this.
My Review
I really enjoyed this one in the beginning. I love witty banter and this book has it, which I appreciate. But, by the end the story was feeling to me a bit tedious. It dipped into the idea of the butterfly effect, how even small decisions can shape the course of the future in unknowable ways, but there was potential to go deeper there. Instead it seemed more about… greed? Selfishness? That can make a fine story. It just didn’t quite do it for me this time. It is also distinctly possible that I’m the problem here. Nevertheless, I give The Ministry of Time 3 stars.