I really wanted to love this book. The person who recommended it to me did. At least one of my bookstore customers did. Alas, I did not.

I had to work very hard to make myself read it all the way to the end. The tale was interesting enough, but having spent a grand total of twenty-five minutes (at most) of my life in New York, I simply couldn't appreciate the packaging. At good 80% of the text is devoted to describing nineteenth century New York city, mostly as compared to twentieth century New York. The remaining 20% slowly (very, very, slowly) moved the protagonist towards a predictable decision. Some twists at the end were unexpected - I'll give Finney that - but by then I didn't care enough to feel genuine surprise at the turn of events.

A native New Yorker would probably be delighted with this book, but this southern girl was left quite unmoved. (Sorry, Barb!) ( )

Combination of science fiction and historical fiction, this book mixes time traveling with a heavy dose of New York City history. Set in “present day” of 1970, the year it was published, I felt like I traveled in time twice, once to 1970 (how times have changed since then!) and again to 1882, making the title even more apropos. Perhaps this clever author was thinking ahead? The protagonist, Si, is recruited for a governmental project involving time travel, which only a handful of candidates can perform. He has a personal motive to help solve a mystery involving his girlfriend's family.

Full of elaborate historical detail and descriptions, it evokes the desired feeling of what it was like to live in New York in 1882. The plot drives the story, and once it picks up the pace, it is a gripping adventure. To me, the only drawback is the character development, particularly with respect to the romantic component. I didn’t get a sense of what drew these people together, and this element was important to the story, since it is the basis of some key decisions. I found it an enjoyable and imaginative adventure. Recommended to those who enjoy books about time traveling and readers of historical fiction. ( )

I might have loved this had I read it in the 1970s, but I have long grown totally bored with the straight up guy protagonist and a totally plot driven narrative. And all the gushing at how wonderful life was in 1882 NYC seemed very shallow to me. Knowing your loved ones will be subject to smallpox and polio and all the other delights of pre-antibiotic medicine are such and well, the 50 years after 1970 probably weren't much worse than 1882-1932. ( )

[[Jack Finney]] is a classic science fiction writer, having his work leak into the culture with multiple film adaptations for [The Body Snatchers]. That book is a wonderful read - read the book, don't just watch the movie(s). [Time and Again] is the tale of a man recruited to a secret government project for his rich imagination, because the scientists believe he can imagine his way back in time. And he succeeds in going back to 1880s New York City, his mission to find out everything he can about a minor character in history. The mission turns into a bit of a mystery, which keeps the narrative moving nicely. Ultimately, the time traveler is forced to confront the ethics of time travel and interfering in history. The detail Finney provides about New York is startling and wildly enjoyable.

Interestingly, as I read the book, I was convinced this book was the basis for the Christopher Reeve film Somewhere in Time. But I learned later the film was actually an adaptation of [[Richard Matheson]]'s later novel, [Bid Time Return]. I was floored to learn that Matheson gets all the credit for the idea of time traveling through imagination, as Finney's novel predates his by five years.

Highly recommended.
4 1/2 bones!!!!! ( )

A work of fantasy involving time travel. In this story the main character travels between NYC in modern times to NYC in the 1800s. It was interesting to see the bustling city compared in the different centuries. The book doesn't get into time travel much, does discuss the ethical dilemmas of time travel, and the motivation one has to change history. I have to admit that I had never heard of this book. It was published in 1970 and is the first book of a series. ( )