- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd; New edition edition (2 Aug 1990)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099590107
- ISBN-13: 978-0099590101
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 14.7 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 459,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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"New York Times" Go back to a wonderful world and have a wonderful time doing it.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
'One of the most important, and most moving, timeslip texts yet composed' THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FANTASY.
--This text refers to an alternate
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First Sentence
IN SHIRT-SLEEVES, the way I generally worked, I sat sketching a bar of soap taped to an upper corner of my drawing board. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
IN SHIRT-SLEEVES, the way I generally worked, I sat sketching a bar of soap taped to an upper corner of my drawing board. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Si Morely is a late twentieth-century artist who spends his days in the comfortable but non-creative pursuit of drawing boring illustrations, and his nights in an equally comfortable but not-so-great relationship with an interesting (but definitely not hot) antiques dealer. It's the type of relationship where you might get married someday, but then again, you might not. Si's girlfriend, however, is a lady with a secret: a burned, blue envelope that appears to warn of the the end of the world by fire.
The government interrupts Si's comfortable but mundane life when they make a proposal. The only problem is, Si has to agree before he can learn any of the details. As nothing particularly spectacular is happening in Si's life right now, he agrees and learns the government has been experimenting with time travel. They are now searching for the perfect people to send back in time, i.e., people who love history, who can recreate the past in their imaginations.
As it turns out, Si has a very good imagination and is the first to make the trip. He crosses time's threshold and enters New York in 1882, a place where he will encounter an old mystery and a future love.
Finney's Old New York is both magical and romanticized, a little like Mark Helprin's in Winter's Tale. Horses trot down the city streets, skyscrapers are only a dream and snow transforms the city into a winter wonderland. The streets are cobblestone, the men are gentlemen and people live in boarding houses whose windows reflect the light from the gas lamps lining the streets. It's an idealized version of New York, to be sure, and Finney doesn't tell us about the child labor, the rampant racism, the myriad of problems that were portrayed in Caleb Carr's The Alienist, for example. That's okay, because Time and Again is so good, and such wonderful entertainment, that we easily forgive Finney his historical inaccuracies.
While visiting the past, Si investigates his girlfriend's family secret, the secret of the blue envelope. Although a little contrived, this is a mystery with many twists and turns, at times sinister, at times amusing, but always engrossing.
Finney wisely presents no new earth-shaking ideas here and only briefly touches on themes such as the paradox and angst associated with fooling around with the course of history. Si is a man who interacts with the past in much the same way you or I probably would, and, ultimately, this is what makes Time and Again so very believable and so very good.
Gratefully, Finney eschews gimmicks and high-tech solutions to the problem of time travel and gracefully relies on plain old-fashioned will instead. That is part of why Si is able to accomplish it so easily. For him, history is more than names and dates in a book, it's something that's happening right now, something that can be recreated, if only one can get into the right frame of mind.
Time travel is a wonderful and entertaining genre if only it's handled correctly and handling it correctly is something Finney never fails to do. In Time and Again Finney gives us the complexity of a murder mystery wrapped in a "Russian" enigma. It's a wonderful book with wonderful characters that never fails to entertain.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is without question one of the most original and totally absorbing books I've ever read. I will admit that the beginning was a little slow. The first time I started to read it, I stopped at the beginning and gave it to a friend, because it just didn't grab me. My friend read it, loved it, and convinced me to try again. I am so glad I did! On my second attempt, I was completely drawn in and mesmerized by Sy's travels. I live in NYC and love its past, and was thrilled to have old NY described in such vivid detail. I really felt like I was there. This book also affected my sleep - I had dreams about travelling into NY's past almost every night. This book makes you believe it really can be done. For those who are interested in science fiction, forget this book. It is a non-sci-fi book about time travel that really holds a person's interest. I have recommended this book to everyone, have read it twice myself, and can't wait to read it again and again and again!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I first read this book 21 years but unfortunately did not make a note of the author. Since then i have spent endless hours in libraries trying to find it.
A few weeks ago I put into the search engine on Amazon -Dakota buildings and back in time and it came up with Time and Again.
I have just finished reading it and once again I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact I think it is one of the most enjoyable books that i have ever read. It is fascinating
A few weeks ago I put into the search engine on Amazon -Dakota buildings and back in time and it came up with Time and Again.
I have just finished reading it and once again I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact I think it is one of the most enjoyable books that i have ever read. It is fascinating
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Aahh Time Travel.....YES PLEASE!
Quite simply one of the top two books on Time Travel I have ever read....and I love Time Travel! I am reading it again for the 5th "Time" excuse the pun, and something new always... Read more
Published 16 days ago by L. Jelinek
Best book on time travel
This and the other time travel book of his are the best and most convincing books I have ever read on time travel- almost think it could happen. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Ichabod
Time and again - magical...
A wonderful piece of work by Jack Finney.
There are some reviews that suggest that the level of detail employed by the author is too much. Read more
There are some reviews that suggest that the level of detail employed by the author is too much. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Maveneer
A classic!
I was so pleased I'd found this great story. It combines some fine historic details and social comment with an excellent, gripping story that I just couldn't put down. Read more
Published 4 months ago by D. M. Monk
Boring!
If you are in the market for exhaustive descriptions of New York streets 130 years ago then this is the book for you. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Iain Hoey
Time and Again
I read this book for the first time some years ago and absolutely loved it. I could almost smell New York City in late Victorian times, could feel myself there, it was completely... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Wade Hampton
TIME AND AGAIN
Time and Again , a book by Jack Finney.
A thrilling novel with a twist you will not expect. Read more
A thrilling novel with a twist you will not expect. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Naguere
Largely charming time travel story
A good read and for the most part a rather charming tale of time travel, though there are some unlikely plot developments. Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2010 by John Hopper
overlong and wordy, but still a gripping time travel story
I am left a bit confused at the end of this book. I thought it started off really well, I loved the idea of Si Morley willing himself to travel across time to the Dakota Building... Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2010 by L. Bretherton
Time and Again by Jack Finney
An advertising artist, Si Morley, is recruited as a guinea pig to travel back to the New York of January 1882. Read more
Published on 23 July 2009 by P. Newman
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