Time and Again

By: Jack Finney

Narrated by: Paul Hecht

Length: 17 hrs

Publisher's summary

One of the most beloved tales of our time!

Science fiction, mystery, a passionate love story, and a detailed history of Old New York blend together in Jack Finney's spellbinding story of a young man enlisted in a secret Government experiment.

Transported from the mid-20th century to New York City in the year 1882, Si Morley walks the fashionable "Ladies' Mile" of Broadway, is enchanted by the jingling sleigh bells in Central Park, and solves a 20th-century mystery by discovering its 19th-century roots. Falling in love with a beautiful young woman, he ultimately finds himself forced to choose between his lives in the present and the past.

A story that will remain in the listener's memory, Time and Again is a remarkable blending of the troubled present and a nostalgic past, made vivid and extraordinarily moving by the images of a time that was... and perhaps still is.

©1970 Jack Finney (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"Go back to a wonderful world and have a wonderful time doing it." ( The New York Times)

A little too dated for me

I couldn't finish this. I love time travel and fantasy but this feels very dated in 2022 with a lot of the terms used... The narrator sounded at too "proper" for me also. It also seems like it would appeal more to NYC lovers but I've never been so I don't enjoy all the constant rambling about the city.

Incredible

This story was well written and utterly beautiful in how the story was laid out. I love time travel stories but this was original, unpredictable and timeless. Now I understand why Stephen King (one of my favorites) loved it so.

Wistful time travel story

Very interesting story about traveling back to the not too distant past. Intrigue, crime and love converge in a different time same space.

Absolutely Spectacular in every way.

This book was spectacular in absolutely every way. I would never have known about it, had I not read Stephen King’s novel where he recommended it as his inspiration for his time travel book, “11/22/63.” The narration is authentic and gave me a feeling that I was actually there in those times, and withwith fascination.

Enthralling history stumbles on late liberal whine

Really a masterpiece, a time travel piece that has to be considered with the time it was written. "Buy the premise, buy the bit." This story doesn't struggle with time travel paradoxes but with the human consequences of shifting between milieu, between the very different cultures of different times.
Near the end the author looses track of how mankind's struggles to fix our problems often succeed in making this a better world. He wrings his hands over problems current to his own time, while I, down history's timeline, see those problems largely met. This mistake should not be made by a serious student of history. Think it was Heinlein who said that those who harken back to simpler, better times, have no appreciation for how hard it was to find enough food.
In the end of course our time traveler is motivated by the only constant.
Classic. Well done.

Fun story ruined by ignorant maudlin about past

I enjoy good time travel stories and this one was pretty good once it gets going. It is probably better in abridged version. Halfway through the book when the plot finally gets kicking it was fun and entertaining until the last couple chapters with philosophical introspection concluding that people and the world of 1880s were so much better than contemporary times(1960s -1970), when Jack published the book. His ignorance of the extent of worldwide poverty in 1800s compared to modern times was pretty breathtaking.

Completely Rediculous

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No. The manner in which the lead character traveled back in time was silly. All the preparation in time and expense for one man to travel back in time and then to find that two women do with with no training, time or expense is ludicrous. They should have clued in and had women do it. Apparently, they can easily travel back and forth in time, if they just think about it.

What could Jack Finney have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Be consistent with the means for traveling in time.

Have you listened to any of Paul Hecht’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but he was great.

Do you think Time and Again needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No way. It stunk. The premise was unbelievable.

Any additional comments?

The premise was an interesting idea, but Finney should have followed his own rules and been consistent.

Slow. Very slow.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was The Third Level, a collection of short stories by Jack Finney. (Most of you have never heard of Finney, though you may have seen one of FOUR film adaptations of his novel The Body Snatchers.) I loved that collection, reading it over and over. It’s one of my formative influences.

Now, 40+ years later, I’m listening to one of his major works, Time and Again. And it is... dull...

It’s a time travel book, you can tell that from the blurb; but it takes until chapter 4 of 23 for the protagonist to learn that. Until chapter 8 (one-third of the book!) for even a brief excursion through time.

And until chapter 12 for even the MILDEST of conflict to occur. Halfway through the book before there’s any disagreement whatsoever. It’s not until chapter 17 that there’s any real danger. And how does the protagonist confront it? By hiding in a dark room with his female compatriot, spying on two despicable characters as THEY argue and fight.

And then spying some more as the victor searches through filing cabinets. For at least six hours. Literally long enough that the protagonist, his companion, AND the two men fall asleep in the middle of the search.

If I hadn’t been driving as I listened, I would’ve fallen asleep, too.

I’ll admit, the action picks up after that; but I’m having trouble caring. Four chapters left, and I kinda see that the ending will be “And so everything worked out the way history said it would, but now we learned something we didn’t know about it.” I can’t tell yet if the protagonist will return to the present and marry his fiancée, or remain in the past and marry the woman there. And it just doesn’t matter...

So if there’s no action and little time travel, what fills those other chapters? Mostly description. GOOD description, but overwhelming. There are literally two chapters in a row of description of 1880s New York. They do almost nothing to advance the plot (though there’s a little obvious foreshadowing). And many other chapters are packed with description as well. This goes beyond immersive and into tedious.

I had such high hopes for this book. I’ll finish it, but I won’t be rereading it.

UPDATE: The ending redeemed it A LITTLE. Not a lot, but I didn’t see that coming.

Just So So

Like many, apparently, I came to this book following Stephen King’s recommendation in 11/22/63. The book was good in that Finney uses a solid and straight forward voice reminiscent of so many 1950s classics, although it came out in 1970. But the book was top-heavy with unnecessary description and short of action in the story. There were great characters and many parts were interesting, it just took too long getting to them. Narration by Paul Hecht was fabulous.

Excellent Time Travelling Tale...

Well-written and performed! Readers and listeners alike will be spell-bound in this exciting story of traveling back to 1882 NYC!