TIME AND AGAIN

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Summary: The best time-travel since Wells takes a different approach.
Review: This book achieved fame as the first "trade paperback" bestseller and has been continuously in print since its release. We have always had two copies on the shelf, one to reread and one to lend.

Jack Finney had left New York for California long before writing his great time travel novel, and the trace of nostalgia that touches his vision of the city helps explain why this book has such a magical power over readers for thirty years.

The genius of TIME AND AGAIN is that it takes a middlebrow, wide-eyed, just-folks American approach to its subject, emphasizing the sensual, humorous, and the everyday. Si Morley is a flannel-suit grownup in a "modern" New York that's really more 50's than the 70's. Others may be escaping to the suburbs, but Si has the best escape of all: back to the Gilded Age of telegraphs, horse carriages, steamboats, button shoes, pianos in the parlor and his vivaciously handsome Julia.

The result is storytelling in its purest form. Let other authors worry about pseudoscientific "theory" and high tech mumbo jumbo: Finney simply invites you to close your eyes, suppose that you could somehow go back if the magic and science was just right, and _imagine_ with him (through Si's senses) what it would _really_ be like! That's the wonder of the book - everything else is secondary.

TIME AND AGAIN is not "sci-fi" as that airless literary desert defines itself, but it is a classic American novel built on a delicious fantasy premise, and as the customer reviews here suggest, it has the power to excite the imagination of nearly any reader. It belongs on your bookshelf.

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Summary: Excrutiatingly dull novel.
Review: "Time and Again" is a novel that starts of well and quickly starts to drag, once the main character, Si, finally goes back in time (about a third of the way into the book) the stroy seems poised to really take off. Instead, the story comes to a grinding halt, as Finney starts describing everything in excrutiating detail.

At first the details are themselves interesting as Finney brings 1882 New York to life, but after chapter upon chapter of trivial details even the most avid student of 19th century history has to become bored. And it just seems to get worse as the novel progresses: Eventually, Si can't walk down the street without Finney spending several pages telling the reader ALL about it.

When Finney does find time to tell his story, the book doesn't fair any better since the story itself isn't any good. The characters are two-dimensional and unbelievable. This is an all around pointless book and huge let down. I'm flabbergasted that some many people praise this book.

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Summary: This stands out above all the others...
Review: Okay, I was living in New York City when I read the book...and I was taking architectural walking tours of lower downtown through New York University. And I'm a hopelessly romantic history fanatic.

But I got my master's from NYU in English...and I've read just about every "required" book on every list that I've ever seen, and I've read "The Alienist" by Caleb Carr, and mysteries upon mysteries, and thrillers and biographies galore. When it comes to reading, I'm no schlump. I've been there, et cetera.

There have been many books I've started and dropped. Just too dull. Too slow. Boring. And I'm talking books at the top of the best seller lists.

But this one? "Time and Again" is the one book I cite again and again when queried, "what is your favorite book?"

When I hear some say that he or she doesn't understand how someone else can call this a favorite, I just have to wonder myself. This is transfixing and haunting.

Ever since reading this book, I wonder and yearn...fantasize just a little...if only I could, somehow, go back. What a long, strange trip it might be!

This books makes you think it is possible. The best on the subject ever.

And the history! Old New York comes alive, complete with old photos. Pieces of the Statue of Liberty waiting to be assembled lie about...the places and characters of the time walk before you, so real you feel you could almost touch them.

The love story is enhanced by the ambiance of the period. Nostalgic in the extreme for the "good old days," I was moved tremendously by this book. It was a marvelous time to be in love.

Lest one get overly reminiscent, I might refer you to another Amazon book, "The Good Old Days -- They Were Terrible!" by Otto Bettmann. Read this first and get in the mood!

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Summary: Excellent time travel novel with fantastic twist at the end!
Review: This was a wonderful, wonderful book, full of mystery, history, romance, political intrigue and a fascinating premise. Simon Morley, an illustrator, is suddenly swept into a government program involving time travel (it is 1970 in New York and he is scheduled to travel to 1882 also in New York). He is set on an interesting program of study and the time travel is convincingly brought about when he falls asleep in an apartment in the Dakota building on Central Park (made famous in later years when John Lennon lives and died there) and awakens later in the evening to a snow covered park in 1882. Although he is somewhat smitten in 1970, he takes up interest in a young woman in 1882 whose fiance unwittingly changes the course of American history (in a very, very minor way). As Si's trips back and forth become more controversial for the government unit running this program, he begins to worry about the effects that his travel might have on the 'future' (his present). Finally, the government people ask him to do something he finds morally troubling. How he solves his dilemma is pure genius. You will finish the last sentence of this book, put it down slowly with a big grin and then wish to either read it again, immediately, or pass it along to a friend you know will love it!

Rating:
Summary: Time and Again
Review: This is a good book. Buy it. Jack Finney will love you. You will love yourself for reading it. Pass it on to your friends. They will love you for it. I mean it.

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Summary: An excellent read!
Review: If you like time travel or if you just love history, this is a marvelous way to spend time in New York in 1882. See and feel how they lived. Highly recommended!

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Summary: the most accurate time travel experience
Review: I read it twice and every time I felt like I went back in time with him; I picked up more details the second time around. I could not put it down, his story telling availity it excellent, I strongly recommended, Does anyone know if I can get this book translated into Spanish, I have relatives that would love to read it. please let me know, thanks. [e-mail]

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Summary: What took so long to make the movie?
Review: Usually I'm against movie versions of my favorite books because I feel violated when they don't meet my expectations. Still, when I read this book originally, I dreamt of a movie because the novel lends itself so well to a brilliant cinematic interpretation of old New York. Having grown up in New York City, I really appreciated Finney's recreation of a lost world. It's a beautiful novel with a bit of mystery, intrigue, romance, magic all rolled up into one memorable title. I didn't even know there was a sequel, but I'm running to buy it now. No New York fan should miss Helprin's A Winter's Tale either!

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Summary: Time and Again
Review: The best book I've read in a while. Check out the sequel, "From Time to Time".

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Summary: Entertaining but wordy and flawed
Review: Finney's story of time-travel romance is enjoyable but problematic. The major drawback is the book's verbose obsession with minutiae: every detail of every item our hero sees in 1882 New York City is catalogued with grim completeness. Finney's wordiness extends to the main story line as well; the first half of the book often plods where it should sparkle. Worst of all, despite the torrents of words, characterization remains thin throughout the book. Only occasionally is there any feeling of intimacy with the characters; mostly, they're just actors in an adventure story.

This book suffers by comparison with Richard Matheson's "Bid Time Return" (a.k.a. "Somewhere in Time"), which has a superficially similar plot line. Matheson's book, however, is both much better written and much more personal. We care about what happens to his characters; in Finney's book, we're concerned primarily with the story. "Time and Again" is undeniably fun, but it could have been dramatically improved with some ruthless editing and more heart.