FROM TIME TO TIME

Rating:
Summary: Rose-Colored Glasses, Anyone?
Review: Finney is, as many reviewers noted, writing a historical novel rather than a time-travel story. He's clearly nostalgic for the world of pre-WWI America, and clearly wants the reader to share his longing for what he sees as a lost "golden age." If you share his nostalgia and his "golden age" view, you'll probably like the book a lot. More power to you.

I tried, but I just couldn't do it.

My problem, I think, is that I just can't see 1912 as the Golden Age that Finney sees it as. I'm interested in it, but not nostalgic for it--not with the teeming slums, the hideous working conditions, the ingrained racism, the casual oppression of women, and the disease-ridden summers that Finney leaves off-screen. Finney's a novelist, not a social historian, and he has every right to pick and choose his scenes (believe me, I'm *glad* we didn't see Si Morley visit the dentist in 1912). Well before the end of the book, though, I'd had enough of his relentless insistence that "everything was better back in the Good Old Days."

_From Time to Time_, for all its fascinating details, is set in the same rose-colored version of 1912 that you see in "The Music Man" and Disneyland's "Main Street USA." If that's where your taste in historical novels runs . . . enjoy. If you prefer your tours of old-time New York a little grittier, try Raymond Paul's _The Thomas Street Horror_ or something by E. L. Doctorow.

Rating:
Summary: Lukewarm sequel
Review: Finney's original book, Time and Again, is considered a classic by many, although I find it is poorly written and gimmicky while lacking rigorous thought about time travel. This book is more of the same. One gets the feeling that Finney wrote plot lines for the sole purpose of being able to incorporate old photos and drawings into his book. Maybe high school students will think the story is neat and thought-provoking, and maybe I'm a jaded grown-up, but I think the story is simplistic. Also, the poor writing (like that of a precocious high school student, not a serious fiction writer) makes this book difficult to read for more than an hour at a time

Rating:
Summary: Tricky tangled tale
Review: Finney*s Time and Again does not live up to its predecessor From Time to Time--and that is a virtue. Here, Si Morley finally, after a false start, returns to a *present* (actually the 1970s, shortly after the events of the first book) more convoluted than before. The entire business of mental Time-travel, that is,-- cutting off ALL awareness of our own present, in order to connect with ALL details of a specific past--has deepened. Si, as related, had escaped to the past from digust with his present. Now John, a fellow *escapee*, turns up just long enough to undo the *grandfather paradox* left at the end of the first book. By this strategem physicist Dr.Prien is returned from limbo; reviving the entire Time project, now rife with disquieting hints of a provocative alternative history. It is these odd hints--a 1916 newspaper with no mention of WW 1, a 1964 Kennedy banner, a film of a Towerless Paris, that truly provoke the mind. Hints of other travelers, lost in the past, pass by but are not picked up by the author. Finney*s main plot, Si now returns to 1912 to prevent World War One, is almost lost in a friendly if distracting *travelogue* of vaudeville, fashion, manners. Si glimpses his own father and grandmother (a nice contradiction to the first book, not all details match) but never bothers to look for his own 1884-born son, by then a man. (I cannot help but wonder if Si*s son is father to Si*s own father--talk about paradox!) The lively Jotta girl joins Si, yet another time-traveler with her own mysteries. The climax-the sinking of the Titanic-fails to move me as it should, whereas the details-a gravestone marked *Born 1942--Died 1890* keep me leaping throughout the book for more. Finney creates temporal knots and then ignores them in favor of lavish detailing of a time he clearly enjoys. The sense of *being there* is quite vivid, if only I could forgot HOW I got there and WHY I had gone to 1912 to begin with. As it is, I do not regret the trip.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Story
Review: From Time To Time may not be better than Time And Again, but it passes for an above-average book. I think that I got more laughs out of this book than the first one, but the ending in this sequel isn't very good. Instead of tying everything up at the end, the plot unravels. One must keep in mind, though, that Jack Finney was probably dying near the end of writing his book (he died of pneumonia and emphysema, which take a while to actually kill you, so I've heard), and couldn't put more time into the final few chapters. The rest of the book is perfect though, and the beginning is particularly interesting if you've read the novel this book is based on. I highly recommend it for anyone, but it's certainly not for anyone who hasn't read the first story, as the book refers to it a lot. So, in conclusion, read Time And Again first, then read this book right after. You'll like them both, believe me!

Rating:
Summary: Does not stack up next to Time and Again
Review: From Time to Time was an unnecessary sequel to the excellent book, Time and Again. The plot was vague and often rambling. I read the entire book but it was a chore.

Rating:
Summary: Charming, but a weak sequel.
Review: From Time to Time, the sequel of Time and Again, returns "Si" to the "Project", this time in an effort to prevent World War I. Unfortunately, this book did not have the same charm or magic of its predecessor. The plot was at times jumbled, and far too much attention was paid to certain aspects of the story that did not significantly advance the story. The end of the book seemed rushed and was hardly satisfying to this reader. One must read it to complete the "series", but don't expect the same sense of elation as you did with the original.

Rating:
Summary: The book tries TOO hard, and, just doesn't work.
Review: How I came to "From Time To Time": I first read Finney's "Time and Again" when I was 10. I loved the way the story really gave me a sense of what it could feel like to be a time traveler (rather the more standard sci-fi focus on the mechanics of time travel). The book is precise about the tiny details that make up daily life, and I was struck by what a "modern" man had to do to adapt to the "olden days." I was also thrilled to find an illustrated "grown-up book." Fast forward 27 years: I find a copy of "From Time To Time" at the bookstore and just have to buy it. Before starting the sequel, I re-read "Time and Again," marveling anew at Finney's skillful descriptions. Like the first time, I couldn't put the book down until I got to the very last page. As an older (and wiser?) reader I found inconsistancies, ridiculous transitions, and other flaws, but it was a great read just the same. I wish I could say the same for the second book. The opening was promising - a secret gathering of people who look for clues to alternative time flow....a clever (if convoluted) way of bringing back The Project, destroyed by Si Morley at the end of the first book. The rest of the book read like Finney had just cut and pasted a whole bunch of story ideas together, unable to decide what version of Morley to use -- Si as a cad, as a tormented soul, as a flirt, as a secret agent, etc. The story goes like this: Si agrees -- for no apparent reason -- to go back and try to stop WWI through involvement with the mysterious "Z." His trip takes him to a variety of places in NY (luckily, he bought a trusty camera!), and suddenly, the man who dearly loved the NY of the 1880s and his charming wife, Julia, is waxing poetic about the NY of 1911 and the "Jott Girl," who hits on him throughout the book (not that he minds). The descriptions of people, places, and things in this book are flat. A lot of time is devoted to things that have nothing to do with the search for "Z" (including a long foray into the vaudeville scene to look for his 12-year old father, culminating in SIX PAGES of one vaudevillian's boring life story), and except for his attraction to Jott, Si seems to be having a miserable time. Throwing in the Titanic in the last few pages was plain pointless; just a chance to bring in one more little historic reference. But, unlike Si's heartfelt brushes with great moments in history in the first book, here he's like a busy Forrest Gump, just trying to get his face in the picture. Throughout "From Time To Time," I kept waiting for Si to go look up his wife and child, nearly 30 years in the future. How could a fellow so taken with the interaction of time with time, and so given to flights of philiosophy not even muse about the possibility? It would have been really interesting if Si had run into himself, aged now in pace with his family. Finney deserves credit for searching out the right old photos, for capturing the spirit of some important moments in American history, and for trying to satisfy all us "Time and Again" fans. Unfortunately, "From Time To Time" doesn't do it.

Rating:
Summary: A historic fiction novel, not a time travel novel
Review: I just sat through the excruciating audio version of from Time to Time. For much of the time, I was screaming at the tape machine that it does not matter what color the man's pajamas are and please do not read the ENTIRE classified ads out loud from the 1912 newspaper. I cannot believe that 6 of the 8 casettes were devoted to minutia about Tessie and Ted, longwinded stories by vaudevillians and detailed descriptions of the Mauritania and only 2 casettes dealt with a plot of any sort.

I love time travel books. I have not read Finney's first book, although it must have been excellent. This book is awful. The intriguing events in the beginning - possible changes to historic events and alternate streams of history -were never explained or folded back into the plot in any way. Simon Morley, who apparently has the miraculous gift to be able to go back to nearly any time period at will, spent most of his time in the past at plays, restaurants and strolling around.

It felt like the last part of the book, which dealt with changing actual historic events, was slapped onto this historic fiction novel about life in 1912. It was well researched but painfully dull as the reader waited and waited for the protagonist to remember what he went to 1912 for in the first place.

This does not qualify as a time travel novel and the man who wrote this has some serious problems tying together his plot strands.

Rating:
Summary: Something Missing This "Time"..
Review: I Loved the first book,It really made me feel like I was THERE;Finney's descriptions were vivid and entertaining and I learned a lot of things about day- to-day life 1880's NY. The sequel was just OK, the parrallel events theory was intriguing,but,as a whole the story seemed liked a lot of ideas that never followed through. The ending itself was a BIG disappointment,after setting up this potentially great plotline, (Stopping WW1) the author just cheats us by not even following through with that storyline. I did like some of the descriptions of 1912 New York, but they just were'nt as wonderfully descriptive the first novel. Also,the fact that he sort of cheated on his wife bugged me,because he seemed to have no real guilt about it,until the last few chapters of the book. In Conclusion,amusing,but no classic.

Rating:
Summary: Don't read !!!
Review: I loved Time and Again and would never bespeak any ill of it, but I find it difficult to believe that the same author could have written From Time To Time. The only aspect of this sequel I liked was the way it conveyed life in 1912. There were many inconsistencies in the story, and esp. regarding the main character in the 1st book and this sequel. Did anyone else notice that accd. to Time and Again, Si's father took him to the Big Apple in the 1950's to see the el but in the sequel his father was a vaudivillian who died when Si was an infant? It seems to me that Finney should've reread the original before writing the sequel, and that he was just grasping for any sort of a tale. Maybe the reader should check their intelligence at the door with their coats before reading it as well.