Resumo de Time And Again

Time and Again by Jack Finney is one of those sleeper books which became a cult classic in the years after it was released. With his description of New York City, centering around Manhattan, in an age now long gone, coupled with actual pictures in the book from Manhattan in the second half of the 1800's, Finney leaves us with vivid pictures in our mind's eye. Finney manages not only to take his protagonists but also his readers back in Time - to Manhattan of 1882.

The story is about Simon Morley, who was a normal advertising man, but joined an ultra-secret government project dealing with time travel. This project which actually deals with the focus of the mind in and on itself (no Time Machine here folks) is in and of itself interesting speculation on the part of Finney. His premise is that if one gets into the "mindset" so to speak - wears the clothes, speaks the dialect, uses only those things that were available in 1882 in New York City, then the black hole will open up and transport one back to that time. Which is exactly what happened to Simon Morley as he sat and lived in his government rented apartment overlooking Central Park.

Indeed, Central Park itself is a major theme within this book, as it seems to be the clock around which New York City was able to judge its progress over the years. Simon Morley does have many adventures within the Manhattan of 1882, and as he rents lodging in lower Manhattan, he meets and falls in love. Thus Finney sets the scene for the conflict of love and time travel, forcing his protagonist to make a decision between different time periods.

The magic of this book indeed lies within the subject of time travel and no less in the unique way the author chose to make that time travel come about by use of the mind. Of course this leaves our gallant protagonist open to claims that he dreams the whole story and it never really happened. However, Finney's magic is that we as the readers DO believe in the time travel and in his wonderful descriptions of a New York City that once was but will never be again. Make no mistake though. Finney does not "romanticize" Manhattan or the life of its inhabitants. However, his magic of weaving time travel, history, love, conflict and decisions into one great story line, has left this book with cult status.

There was a sequel to this book, "From Time to Time", however, it did not achieve the status that the first book did. Finney's magic in writing seems to have been the unique story he told and the magic that time brought to it.

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