Rating: 
Summary: An excellent book
Review: This book is by far one of the best books I have ever read. "Time and Again" takes you back to the 1800s with a man from the mid-1900s and he goes around New York City looking at locations he knows very well, but does not recognize in the 1800s. Anyone who loves time travel books or anyone interested in reading a fictional story about life in the mid-1800s New York, this is an excellent read.
Rating: 
Summary: Still looking for a great time travel book
Review: I am a huge fan of time travel books but for some reason I have yet to find one that really captures my imagination. They all sound good on the dust cover and yet when you get into them the fascination wears off quickly. Usually, it's that the scientific (or pseudo science) aspect of it seems to be lacking or a brushed over. Its as if the author did not have enough imagination or did not do enough research to come up with an interesting and believable mode for the time travel event. That certainly seems to be the case with Time and Again. Jack Finney did a horrible job of convincing the reader of the feasibility of time travel and thus took a bit away from the wow factor of the book. Basically it was the same idea that was used in the Christopher Reeves movie Somewhere in Time where in the case of Time and Again the main character (and in two instances a female companion) travel through time via hypnosis. This idea seems a bit wacky since the trip is described as a physical transplantation in time not just a mental. That is, the subject has physically left one scene and is transported to another. I also found the mystery aspect of this book just plain silly and poorly thought out. Some of the reasons behind why the characters do certain things seemed to make no sense other than to allow the author to place them in the right situation so the next predictable event can take place. This certainly is not a thinking person's book. I did however, find the bloom on the rose when the story described the New York of the past. Jack Finney does such and excellent job in describing this long lost New York that I really could see it. Jack did not seem to miss a detail and really focused in on what to us may be the mundane and commonplace but to someone who has just traveled back in time 100 years
Rating:
Summary: Visit a simplier time!
Review: Have you ever wished you could go back and live in a
simpler time, a time when the pace of life was slower? You
might have to give up our modern transportation system, you
might have no television or telephones, and you might have
to live without a computer -- but your life would be much
less complicated. In Time And Again, Jack Finney tells the story of Simon
Morley, a man who is able to fulfill this dream, to go back
in time -- specifically to the year 1882. Unlike most time
travel novels, however, this one involves no time machine;
there is no use of hidden dimensions or holes in time.
Instead, time travel involves the inner self, our ability to
visualize a new reality. Simon was a magazine illustrator who was approached by
a secret United State governmental project. Would he be
interested in joining them? The agent who contacted him
could not say what the project was, just that it was the
most exciting opportunity in the history of humanity. If Simon was interested, he could be tested, and if he passed
the tests, he would be told more and invited to join. Needless to say (otherwise there would be no story),
Simon was interested, he took the tests (some right
interesting ones, too), and he did pass. Then he learned the
secret. Dr. E. E. Danziger had theorized that if a person
believed -- totally and completely -- that he was living at
a particular time, he would in fact travel back to that
time. And Simon, because he was such an inner-directed
person who would stick to what he believed and because he
was a man who could be totally hypnotized, was a perfect
subject for the experiment. Simon agreed to participate, partly because of a
private mystery of his own, a letter that he wanted to trace
back to its origin in the late 1890's. As a result, he moved
into an apartment building in a part of town that had
changed very little since the turn of the century and began
to immerse himself in the past. He read the newspapers of
the period, he dressed in the period, and those who came to
visit dressed and acted like their nineteenth century
counterparts. And one morning it worked! He left the building to find
himself in the same apartment building on the same street in
New York, but in the year 1882. And thus began his
adventures. I will say no more about the plot, less I give away too
much. The story is fascinating, both in terms of the science
fiction element of time travel and in terms of the mystery
that Simon has to solve while there. The highlight of the
book for me, however, was the detailed description of the
time to which he had traveled. If Dr. Danziger's theory were
true, many of Finney's readers would have disappeared long ago,
for he gives such a graphic picture of the period that I felt
almost as if I were there myself, as if the events of the novel
were not fiction, but reality. Likewise his characterization is well done. These are not
one-sided characters. There are villains, but we learn quickly
that they have a human side, that sometimes there are reasons for
their actions that are not apparent on the surface, and the good
guys have their faults, too. The writing style is also enjoyable,
especially the dialog of the 1890's, which captures the flavor of
the period. No, I don't want to give up the convenience of modern
society (certainly not my computer!), but I must admit that at
times, Finney almost had be convinced that life then really was
better!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best of ALL TIME
Review: Time and again is one of my favorite books and, in my opinion, one of the best of all time (no joke intended.) It sweeps you up and wisks you away to New York City of the 1880's, and could be called nothing less than a page turner. But what a page-turner! Si Morley is a bored artist who is selected by an underground government group to go back in time. He goes to New York, and one of the best things about the book is the way he goes back: there are no big machines or zooming colors. He simply lives the life of an 1880's man for weeks and, hwen he walks out of his hotel, he's there. His adventure is a fantastic one, and Jack Finney (along with hundreds of photos from that time) really puts you there. You can picture everything Si sees, because finney describes it so well and because the pictures are so great. You can tell that Finney has done his homework and the book benefits from this. while he is in New York, he falls in love and is involved in a horrible disaster. By this time, the book is about to be over and you're suddenly aware of the fact that you never even noticed the hours that have slipped away. Time and Again is a book that should be read by everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best
Review: The only reason that I don't give this book 5 stars is because it is hard to get into. Once you get into it though, it is one of the best stories concerning time travel that you will ever read. It's no wonder that people in Hollywood are falling over themselves to make this into a movie (which reminds me, it is a lot like "Somewhere in Time" but much,much better).
Rating:
Summary: I opened the pages and stepped into 1882 NY....
Review: This is without a doubt my all time favorite book. I have been recommending it to others for years....and all of those who have followed my recommendation have later thanked me. The book has moments that remain with the reader for ever. How did Mr. Finney capture 1882 NY in such a way without having been there? This is the book I wish I had written....
Rating:
Summary: A Modern Classic
Review: This book is excellent! The author creates a rich world of New York during the 1880's. The scenes are vivid and the author adds photos and drawings that really give a sense of reality. I am a native New Yorker and learned a great deal about my own city such as not knowing that the arm of the Statue of Liberty was sitting for a long time in a public park. The book flows well throughout. The only thing that prevented me from giving it 5 stars was the method the author used for the time travel. However, if we consider the book a classic and accept it for what it is, you can easily accept the method given. I understand that there is a sequel to this book and I will be ordering it from my library.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: Those who approach Time and Again expecting hardcore science fiction time travel will be sorely disappointed. While Time and Again does contain numerous instances of time travel, it is definitely not science fiction. And this is okay. Even if Finney had written the book today, I doubt that he'd change a thing. Time and Again is timeless, a real classic. And, it's a classic that's fun. I'm not a New Yorker and not at all familiar with most of the places Si visits and talks about in the novel, but it was enormous fun reading about them, both "then" and "now." The fact that the book is, for the most part, historically accurate, only added to my enjoyment. I do have one bone to pick with Finney and it concerns the abrupt manner in which Si handled his relationship with Kate. It seemed quite out of character to me. Time and Again is a book to be read when you want to be entertained but you really don't want to think too much. It's a book to be read when you simply want to have fun.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, but not perfect.
Review: I read this for the first time about 20 years ago, and I was happy to rediscover it. While I did see shortcomings that I missed when I was a kid, the book's good points outweigh its negatives. I love the photographs. Someone said they weren't impressed with the illustrations, but I liked them. This was the first time travel story I ever read where the traveler took a camera with him. It always bugs me when they don't take cameras. I mean, duh. The detailed descriptions of 1880's New York were wonderful. The first time Si goes back and he hears the sleigh bells in the park is very moving. I enjoyed reading about mansions that were later torn down, and loved the descriptions of the almost-rural Dakota. There are only two things that bug me. First, the modern girlfriend, Kate. What the heck is she in the story for? And why on earth does he take her into the past? She's completely extraneous. Any character at The Project could have given Si the personal "mission" that he ended up with. If I were Kate, and I'd been taken back in time, then dumped, I would be hot on the heels of The Project trying to go back again. Instead, she just disappears. Second, Si's reactions to women are pretty dated. I didn't notice this 20 years ago, but it was a distraction to me now. I got kind of tired of listening to him leer. All in all, lots of fun though! Just pretend that Kate isn't there and ignore the girl-watching. :-)
Rating:
Summary: It's not ABOUT time travel, it IS time travel
Review: Until someone really invents time travel, this is as close as you will ever get to feeling like it's you who is visiting another time--in this case 1880's New York.
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