Rating: 
Summary: Overrated
Review: This book has its moments, but they are few and distant from each other. The devotion of page after page to the transformation of the NYC landscape are only of interest to those who are familiar with its layout; even tourists would not have the intimate knowledge needed to really appreciate the described changes. Yet such descriptions are unrelenting. AND, given the number of characters who are said to "grin" at this and that, I must conclude that the whole lot of them are loaded on amphetamines.
Rating: 
Summary: Great historical detail, murky plot, bad science
Review: Well, it had a REALLY slow start and a REALLY murky plot that, frankly, I had entirely lost interest in long before the last page. Still ... the book stays with me (after two weeks) for its vivid and sometimes, yes, haunting recreation of NYC life 100 or so years ago. The author is good at nudging the reader to look past familiar fin-de-20th century assumptions and expectations to try to see that moment in time on its own terms, just as alive and vital a time as today. (You know, just like converting those old sepia prints back into technicolor, as the book's characters tend to say.)
HOW-ever .... the plot was peculiar and opaque as to motivation and character; moreover, about 1/3 of the way through, the storyline jumped track for no good reason, and switched over to a somewhat less interesting 'romance/suspense' story. And of course the 'science' stuff is about as unpersuasive as Professor Harold Hill's musical "Think System": if you just do the proper visualization exercises and get a really good night's sleep, you too can go back in time. Well, Gaaaw-ly, as Andy Griffiths used say; we shoulda thought of that sooner!
Finally, I found the echos of 1970s New York cynicism and despair in the book's "present-day" scenes a little off-putting; maybe this too will seem charming and nostalgic some day, but not yet. (Remember NYC in the early 70s? When liberals knew the City was going to hell in a handbasket and nothing would ever get better, and conservatives couldn't get beyond welfare cheats and those damn Russki's.)
Oh yes, there's also an abortive subplot relating to Communist Cuba, which is about on the level of the CIA's dreams of making Castro's beard fall out.)
So, there are many many many better things to read; but if you like NYC and are a history buff, you may want to spend the time absorbing Finney's vividly imagined slice of 19C life.
Rating: 
Summary: I was glad to find this book again.
Review: I read this book when it was first published and I was thrilled to see it in my local bookstore last month. It's such a great story. I was close to the end and I was annoyed when my husband came into the room and said, "Aren't you watching the Bulls game?" This was during the NBA finals. Now I love basketball and especially the Bulls, but I wanted to finish that book in peace! Oh well
Rating:
Summary: Good yarn for a rainy day, but highly over-rated
Review: I found the book a let-down. I bought it recently after hearing it raved about for decades; after reading it I came away with the feeling that it's an uneven yarn best saved for a rainy summer day at the beach or a blizzard day when you can't go to work. The characters are cardboard figures shoved through their paces by the author, they never take on a life of their own. The opening chapter is so bad that it has the appearance of having been tacked on as an afterthought because the protagonist has to have a life that starts somewhere. And the plot doesn't really take off for several chapters, unless you are very easily entertained by grade B movie dialogue about time travel fantasies. Once the main character does go back in time the plot moves more quickly, and the book becomes a more entertaining read. However, the author is clearly fascinated by the period he is writing about. In places the protagonist simply wanders aimlessly with no contributing action to the plot so that the author can enjoy his own obsession with late 19th century New York City. The most exciting portion of the book is the description of the World Building fire; unfortunately it occurs too early in the book and the continuing unfolding of the story after that point suffers badly by comparison. Those portions of the novel which take place in the present are sometimes so poorly written as to be downright dull - and worth racing through - clearly the author is so interested in the past he couldn't be bothered wasting his writing skills on the present-day material.
If you find you can't put this book down one of two things has happened: Yours hands were sticky and have dried to the cover, or you have become the sudden victim of a mysterious paralysis and should have someone call your physician. On the other hand, if you are taking a stack of fifteen books to your summer cottage make room for this one, borrow it or buy a used copy though.
For those who are hyped on the same time period in NYC history, you could do just as well reading Charles Lockwood's, "New York Moves Uptown." It's non-fiction, but hardly less entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: You are there in 1875 NYC. I could feel the surroundings!
Review: I couldn't put the book down, I read and read all night long. What a wonderful way to get to old New York, go back into time. Live, breathe, smell, taste - the works---- I literally felt like I was there all during the time I was reading this marvelous little story of love, mystery and a great New York fire. I smelled the smoke, sensed the danger when the character and his lady were climbing from a burning building. I felt his horror and his compassion. I enjoyed his style of writing, almost kid like. It shows he is real as most of us are when describing a new adventure especially when we are time traveling. How many of us can say we've gone down that path! I will definitely buy the sequal
Rating:
Summary: A Great Time Travel Book describing the 1800's.
Review: This book was imaginative enough to make you wonder if you did the research as the characters in the book did, could you time travel.
The details of the 1870's time period covered was wonderful.
The details of the movements and what the characters felt during this time, took you completely away from the current time.
If you want a book to relax with this would be the book.
It is also a good tool for learning the 1870 time period in history.
Rating:
Summary: Mind-boggling
Review: Utterly fresh and original. I couldn't stop reading it, people literally had to tear the book away from me. I dreaded finishing the book-I wanted it to go on forever. No other book, in my opinion, was so surprising. It was so brilliant that I just had to buy the sequel
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of Atmosphere.
Review: The story is magical. The settings are magical. And the characters are real. They will live with you as long as you live and you will search in vain for another book that will surpass this one. Search in vain for I doubt that any other novel of the last 50 years is as fully realized as this
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable
Review: This was the first (and remains the most memorable) Jack
Finney book I read and it was simply delightful! It's sort
of a mix of historical novel and science fiction, an unlikely
combination. Finney presents a fascinating account of a very
unique way to travel through time (going BACK in time instead of FORWARD), and makes sure the reader is thinking about the amazing impact such a time traveler could have on our lives
today. What's fun is Finney makes you believe you could really do this! Why not? Along with thought-provoking details about how Si Morley, the main character gets back to late 19th century New York City, Finney weaves a remarkable and dramatic story of crime, love, passion, and life in New York over 100 years ago. The text is accompanied by period photos (supposedly taken by the "first-person" author, which add a real feel of authenticity. You're bound to learn something neat about old New York; the story will stick with you and will doubtless lead you to other Finney time travel books; he's a master at the genre! Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A magical journey through NYC history
Review: Jack Finney weaves us a marvelous story of time travel and late 19th century New York City. Albeit a novel, nonetheless Mr. Finney's research on the period is complete.
I cannot recommend a book more vogorously!
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