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Summary: Cant Get enough of this classic
Review: Number one time travel book period. If you love this classic please check out the other Finney books which are funny and also time travel related. awesome
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Summary: Nice concept of time travel
Review: One of the trendiest ways to view time nowadays is not as an unstoppable river, but rather a set of discrete moments that are joined together in a series only by our mental picture of reality. In this story, the protagonist accomplishes time travel via a hypnotic state where he eliminates all prejudice and preconceived notions he has about the current time and puts his mind in the frame of 1882.It's a nice story with some mystery flavor, some romance flavor, though I found the ending to be less than ideal on the romantic front. The illustrations and photos lend a nice touch to the story, to give you a better vision of exactly what the characters see.
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Summary: Time and Again (and again and again and again...)
Review: Simply the best one on time travel ever written. Since reading it for the first time the year it came out, I've read it at least 20 times. A great read.
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Summary: How does one follow 118 reviews? With a twist..
Review: Let me say first of all that I loved this book. Let me say secondly that I do not like New York City very much. No matter - Jack Finney, for all his writing faults, creates a viable and enjoyable time travel story. Jack Finney also shows himself to be somewhat of a bigot, but that didn't bother me either - hey, Hemmingway was an alchoholic, but that isn't why I don't like much of his work. Finney's description of old New York City in 1882 was, to me, thoroughly enjoyable. I would live there whereas I would never live in what it is now. In 50 years, if we're still here, I think Finney will be seen as a kind of visionary - because I believe that time travel can be (is) a reality...and I think his theory on how to do it is not that far off. I believe that DNA is far more powerful than we know. I also believe that, in our subconscious, we can access the memories of our past, given the proper stimulus, state of mind, and location - so to me the storyline is not at all farfetched. Yes, the plot itself has a few flaws. For instance, why did Si and Julia not simply go back to the room at the Dakota when they were being hunted. This book is not meant to be a heavy read. It is meant to be fun - and it is. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose, judging by the vehemently differing opinions on the value of this best seller. I read very few fiction books, but this one I would recommend. It actually inspired me to write a time travel novel of my own.
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Summary: If you love historical detail, you will love this
Review: I waited for this book to deliver, and I waited. The author gives more than enough detail about old NYC, which is great if you enjoy imagining NYC before the Statue of Liberty stood tall. The story is good, and but loses its zest with an overkill of the obvious. This 400-page book could have been written in 300. Also, this story is simply dated. The author uses the language of the 1950's calling women with jobs "office girls" and African Americans "Negros." The book was published in 1970, and thus pre-dates the Twin Towers, the murder of John Lennon at one of the book's most significant landmarks, The Dakota. But that does not excuse another annoying problem: story holes. For instance, the military combs through all its records to determine that our protagonist has the "right stuff" for time travel. One character in particular, Rube, envies our leading man, Si, for his good luck in being selected for time travel. This implied to me, at least, that Si has a rare composition that might predispose him for greatness. A short time later, Si's girlfriend proves equally able, on a whim, to travel with him on an excursion back in time, and by allowing her to join him, Si proves himself quite ordinary. Thus, for me, the the story became contradictory, hollow and strained. While enjoyable, Time and Again fails to live up to its potential. The author barely addresses the ramifications of time travel and over indulges in historical and romantic descriptions. Others have found this book magical. I enjoyed it, but I was not carried away with its charm.
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Summary: Great if you're an old NYC fan, but I was disappointed
Review: I love time travel books and I'm fascinated by history, so I thought this work would be a perfect match. Unfortunately, as other reviewers have noted, Finney gets bogged down in page after page of tediously detailed descriptions. There were some pretty big holes in the plot - the "just close your eyes and you'll be magically transported" was just too simple a plot device, and the casual way the main character treats history-changing decisions was infuriating to me ("but I LOVE her, who cares what I do to the history of the entire world!"). I did thoroughly enjoy the concept, was fascinated with the (albeit far too detailed) glimpse into 1880s New York, and the ending gave me lots to think about. I just wish Finney had had a better editor. In short, a good read if you are a rabid fan of historical New York fiction, otherwise - a decent enough pasttime, but there are better time travel novels out there.
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Summary: The Ultimate Time Travel Book
Review: This was the first and best time travel book I've ever read. I "cut my teeth" on time travel with this book. Now I have a vast library of time travel books.
I also am collecting time travel movies.
Does anyone know if Finney's "Time and Again" was made into a movie?
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Summary: You don't know Jack... Finney.
Review: I had to read and research this book for a paper at my school, but found that a majority, well, all of his stories lacked a plot. Oh yeah, having some guy with "magic" glasses is cool, and being able to travel back in time may be fun, but a great example to prove my point would have to be "Where the Cluetts Are." That was not only the most boring, but made the least amount of sense as to WHY he wrote this story, it means nothing! My advise, don't waste your time.
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Summary: Great concept, somewhat dissapointing execution
Review: I enjoy time travel books and have read a number of books about time travel from authors as varied as Mark Helprin, Gene Wolf, Jorges Borges, Italo Calvino, William S. Burroughs, Martin Amis, Salmon Rushdie, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. That being said, this Jack Finney novel fascinated me with its original (to me anyway) approach to time travel. I was delighted as he methodically laid out his method of time travel and I found it to be a very fun and charming. If you are intrigued by old New York or time travel, I suspect this book will be a very enjoyable read. The fantasy aspect is done in such a way that the book seems almost a work of magical realism but the execution (referring to writing style) is very different than that of any magical realist authors I am familar with. In some ways the writing style is very obsessed with detail. The brick by brick description of the city works very well within the framework of the novel at times, but there are other times that it clearly detracts from the momentum and readability. The dialogue is a bit rough and awkward most of the time but not so much that it ruined the novel (it was still a fun read). The reactions of the characters to events and each others' statements was awkward and reminiscent of pulp writers of the 70s. By that I mean that the actions, choices, statements of the characters seemed very contrived at times. The author knew which way he wanted the events to go, and Finney manhandles his characters to make sure they do and say the correct things in order that plot proceeds as planned. This happens often without regard for previous character development or common sense. Overall, I didn't regret reading the novel in fact it was a page turner, but I really would like to see a higher caliber writer approach this type of time travel because I felt that some limitations of Finney definitely detracted from the book's success. In music one band will often "cover" a song from another band. Reading this novel I couldn't help but wish that Helprin or Rushdie or some other great writer would do a "cover" of this book.
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Summary: A Minority View
Review: The volume I read had 400 pages, of which at least 200 were descriptions of old-time New York City, seemingly down to the last brick. The balance between description and plot was therefore significantly tilted to description, and I must therefore admit I skimmed portions of the book as a result. In summary, I found this a tedius read which could have greatly benefited from 100 pages of editing.
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