Time Out

by David Hill

Alienated at school and struggling with his parents’ separation, Kit takes his loneliness to the blacktop, where he loses himself in running — until one day, an accident on the road catapults him into what seems to be a parallel universe. Names and places are strange yet oddly familiar, and Kit is torn between newfound popularity in this world and panic at the thought of never returning home. While Kit’s routine centers on training for an important cross-country race against a rival school, the reader is drawn into Kit’s predicament and his growing fascination with an enigmatic teammate, Alrika. She leads Kit to wonder if he is racing not only for his school but also for his life.

128 pages, Hardcover

First published August 21, 2001

About the author

David Hill (born 1942) is a New Zealand author, especially well known for his young adult fiction. His young fiction books See Ya, Simon (1992) and Right Where It Hurts (2001) have been shortlisted for numerous awards. He is also a prolific journalist, writing many articles for The New Zealand Herald.

He cites Maurice Gee as his favourite author, and Joy Cowley and Margaret Mahy as his favourite children's authors.

Hill attended Victoria University in Wellington, graduating MA Hons in 1964. Hill currently lives in New Plymouth.

Reviews

[Natasha Findlay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I decided to read this book because it was very short and I needed to read a book to get excellence.
The category I chose on the bingo board for this book was 'A book written by a New Zealander' this category was interesting because it was hard to find a book written by a New Zealander.
I didn't have a favourite quote because I found the book terrible but If I had to chose a quote I guess I would chose "she's had a few" because it told us the readers that he had a mother who was an alcoholic and that he had a hard life living with a alcoholic mother.
Something I learned from this book is to not run away when life is tough because your life may end in an instant.
A setting I found interesting was the parallel universe in his dream/coma because everyone/everything was different but had a similarity to his real life.

[Julia Barnes-brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a while, but I remember absolutely adoring this book when I was younger. Read it at least three times, and I still have it. I should read it again and see what I think of it now.

[Rhian Beddow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed this book though it got confusing at times it was really interesting and captivated me. I read the book around 3 years ago and at the time I just needed to read a NZ author and I thought that all NZ authors weren't that good (as we don't actually have many) so I picked up the shortest book and actually really enjoyed it!!!!!!!!!

[T. Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a really difficult time with this book. I thought that the random spurts of scientific jargon were misplaced in the text. It seemed forced (astronomy, black holes etc) in an effort to intergrate true science into the fiction. I would have liked to see better fluidity in the text.