Somewhere In Time

Rating:
Summary: It's a good book but....
Review: I have to agree with Emily W's review. I liked this book it's not that I hated it but this is one of those rare times when the movie actually improved the story. That doesn't happen too often but here it did. Luckily I had read the book first before I saw the movie. I wasnt't disappointed in the book. But it was just ok. I fell in love with the movie though

Rating:
Summary: Apples and Oranges
Review: I really would like to avoid being lynched. That said, here's my history. I first heard about Somewhere in Time in an article in a newspaper about 8 years ago. I noticed the actual filming was done at Macinac Island, a place I had visited as a child. Fascinated, I rented the movie and fell in love with it. I've watched it several times and recently introduced a friend to it who hunted down the book.

After finishing it and discussing it with her, I came to this conclusion: while the book was more intellectually satisfying, it was a failure as a romance. I never believed Elise's emotions, but maybe I can't really connect to a 1896 mind. Intellectually it's a better conundrum; the mystery and the mechanics of the time travel are explored more fully but at the sacrifice of the emotional story.

I have read books with a much more engaging, endearing romance portrayed than Elise and Richard's quiet desperation. Somehow in the process of making the time travel more believable, for me at least, Matheson lost the emotional truth. The characters seemed confined and two-dimensional. I think the book and movie together are a beautiful complete picture, but the romance for me will always be in the movie.

Rating:
Summary: Stunningly tragic, but also romantic.
Review: I first read this magical book almost fifteen years ago, and like the movie based upon it, it's stuck with me and haunted me ever since. Both compliment each other wonderfully.

I won't bother to rehash the story, since others have done so more effectively here. Needless to say, like any good novel that becomes a movie, the text story is much richer than the onscreen experience. You can almost feel yourself living and breathing the world of 1896 as Richard Matheson manages to strike a perfect balance of a realism, and romanticism.

If you've seen the film Somewhere In Time you may be struck by the changes you'll find here. However at the same time you'll likely be touched by the books in-depth portrayal of Elise, sharing the joy she feels as she finds herself giving her heart to a man for the first time in her life. The range of emotions that flow through her, the sense of fear, the uncertainty, the immeasurable joy are simply beautiful. This makes her eventual fate all the more tragic and heart-rending. Her manager, William Robinson is also a completely different character from the one in the film, and is in many ways a much more vivid one.

This is definately not a book for the easily depressed. If you fit into this category I'd recommend watching the movie first as the ending is much less dispairing. This is a book that will forever haunt anyone with a truely romantic heart.

Rating:
Summary: ROMANTIC AND POIGNANT...THE LONGING IS PALPABLE
Review: A terminally ill man falls in love with a famous turn of the century actress. The only trouble is that they are separated by a span of about seventy five years. What is a man to do? Why travel back in time, of course.

That is just what Richard Collier does in order to be with the beautiful Elise McKenna, the woman of his dreams. Or does he? Does he really travel back in time, or is it merely the delusion of a desperately ill man who seeks to find meaning for his existence? Does his tenuous hold on life in the present mirror his equally tenuous hold on life at the turn of the century? Is his death ultimately the only way for these unrequited lovers to be united, at last?

This is a beautifully poignant love story in which the longing the protaganists have for each other is palpable. A bittersweet sadness permeates the pages of this book, as Robert and Elise pass through life, each a shadow on the consciousness of the other. One only hopes that they find in the hereafter, what they were denied in this life.

This wonderfully imaginative and inventive book draws the reader into its fantastical web. A veritable page turner, it is a classic story of a love which will not be denied. Read the book, and then see the movie with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. You will not be disappointed.


Rating:
Summary: Somewhere in the heart
Review: No reason to tell you what the book's about. You can read that elsewhere here - and if you saw the movie, then you'll probably be curious about the book only as an afterthought. Big mistake. The book is much, much more thoughtful, deeply engaging, and rewarding than the movie. The movie made you cry; the book will do something much more lasting. Matheson explores things like the rage at the finality of life (what we breezily call "fate"), and what one's desperation coupled with the conviction of true love can do to change everything you know about life. He is a writer who, no matter what movies ("What Dreams May Come," "Stir of Echoes," "Omega Man," "The Legend of Hell House," "The Incredible Shrinking Man,") or TV shows (numerous Twilight Zones and "The Martian Chronicles") are made from his ideas, he always writes to the heart, & to the heart of the matter.

I read the book back in the '70s & was so moved by it, I would go every year to the Hotel Del Coronado & rent a room around the dates of the book... wandering the underground halls, nothing seems to have changed, if you look with a believing eye. Don't forget to also read Jack Finney's masterpiece "Time And Again," which this book pays homage to.

Rating:
Summary: Somewhere in Time
Review: I first read "Somewhere in Time" about 20 years ago, before I saw the movie. In fact I read the book four times before I saw the movie. This book was so beautiful, The setting, the characters, the aura. This book represents what a person would do for the one and only true love. I wish traveling back in time was real. Because I am sure we would love to have a chance to go back to the one we truly might have been our true love and try again. This book was filled with tragedy, hope, determination, and especially a lot of LOVE.. I have recommended this book to many people over the years, and I glad they brought it back to the market.

Rating:
Summary: "O call back yesterday..."
Review: I cannot shake off the impression that to some extent Matheson himself is the man in the hotel room, convincing himself that he can touch the past. Perhaps it was a by-product of an overwrought imagination coupled with a visit to San Diego. Or did he create a well-rounded, complete work of fiction? Disguised as a speedily chronicled delusion? This is one of a number of novels written along similar lines. Some of them are more thoroughly researched and detailed than this novel, but do not have the same emotional core. At times melodramatic, the novel nevertheless creates a touching love story. This is achieved by a disarmingly complex story structure: Richard Collier becomes willingly enmeshed in a web of inescapable fate. He must go back to Elise McKenna; it is written... In many ways the book is superior to the film, but in the screenplay the structure of the story is rearranged slightly. The pocket watch is moved and creates one of the finest paradoxes in time travel fiction. This simple alteration also serves to greatly intensify the character of Elise McKenna in a single stroke without the need for lengthy prose. I was surprised that I had to order this book on the Internet: an almost overlooked book, echoing the photograph of the young and vibrant Elise McKenna, forgotten, slowly fading away in a hotel museum, waiting patiently... I took a trip to California last year. I 'happened' to go to San Diego. I also happened to visit the Hotel Del Coronado: so curiously and specifically identified by Matheson. Why not invent a hotel along similar lines? I went to set my mind at rest. I went to fail in my attempt to find the portrait of Elise McKenna, or whatever her name may be. The 'Hall of History' was closed for refurbishment. I can be grateful for the fact that my faint delusion remains intact. I have since been told that the photograph is there...

Rating:
Summary: "Bid Time Reurn:" A New Place in My Heart
Review: When I read the book "Bid Time Return" by Richard Matheson I got this feeling when I closed the book, satisfied with reading a good book. I got this feeling that made me feel light as a feather and I felt like the luckiest person in the world--Richard meeting Elise for the first time and seeing as they just grew on each other was so wonderful for me. And I figure life is a gift and I don't intend on wasting it (get that "Titanic" joke?), which is completely true. You just have to read "Bid Time Return" a romantic, romantic book that will give the feeling that I got to everyone who reads it. Guarenteed.

Rating:
Summary: the best book of all time
Review: ugh! this book is a killer... its the most beautiful yet sad thing i think i have ever read in my entire life. i absolutely loved it and i would recommend it to everyone. but, im still trying to find the sequel, MEMOIRS OF ELISE (diferent author.) i can't find it anywhere.. if you have one you are willing to sell, or know where i can get one, will ya please contact me? my e-mail addy is [e-mail] ,i'm dying to read it! well, if you haven't yet.. then go read this! you wont be able to put it down!

Rating:
Summary: A magical book...
Review: This book is so wonderful. It is the greatest love story ever told I believe. Once I picked it up, I could not put it back down.

I highly recomend this book to anyone!