Time And Again - Jack Finney

   1970; 398 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Book 1 (out of 2) in the “Time” series.  Genre : Time Travel; Hard Sci-Fi; Classic Science Fiction.  Overall Rating : 7*/10.

    Simon “Si” Morley is happy working as an illustrator for an advertising agency located in the heart of New York City.  He’s not looking for another job, but a curious-looking short stocky man has just stopped by his office, and wants to talk to him about a new career opportunity.

    It sounds like he’s either selling something or wanting to enlist Simon in the army.  The latter is not particularly inviting since this is 1970 and America is mired in Vietnam.  Still, the little guy is friendly enough, and Simon agrees to at least hear him out.

    The man is curiously vague about this fabulous “opportunity”.  He says it’s a secret government project of some sort, and he’s adamant that he can’t reveal any details about it until Simon commits to joining it.  He claims it is more exciting than flying to the moon, which is hard to believe, and when Simon jokingly asks if it’s more interesting than sex, the man contends that it is.  Wow.

    There’s just one catch.  The man wants permission to send someone over to Simon’s apartment before he goes back there tonight and do a thorough search, which seems rather nervy from a prospective employer.  But after a bit of stalling, Simon agrees, which delights the little man to no end, and he admits the permission to search was just a bluff because for some reason he’s sure that means Simon has already decided to accept the job offer.

    Now how could he possibly know that?

What’s To Like...

    Time and Again is an ambitious attempt to infuse a time-travel tale with realistic (“hard”) science fiction.  Instead of stumbling upon alien-built magic portals or getting zapped by Marty McFly lightning bolts, Jack Finney presents a plausible scenario for how we might develop such technology ourselves.  As with the USS space program in the 1950s, this means that the first set of temporal voyagers are subjected to rigorous training and simulations, plus lots of classroom lessons on how to blend in with the locals in a long-gone era. 

    The initial attempts at time-travel here only involve jumping backward in time (although you can subsequently return to your present-day starting point), you can’t jump to a different location, and your jump is always to the same calendar day but in a predetermined earlier year.  Afterward, those who jump and return are subjected to a vigorous debriefing, to see if there are any noticeable historical differences in our present timeline due to their interactions while in the past.  "Observe, don't interfere" is their motto and top priority.

    A successful time-jump (this is not a spoiler) hinges on the jumper adjusted his senses to where he feels completely immersed in the selected past, which for Simon is going to be New York City in 1882.  Jack Finney wants very much to have the reader experience this, so he did meticulous research into the life and sights of the Big Apple back then, and gives detailed descriptions of what Simon sees, hears, smells, feels, and even tastes as he adjusts to this culture change.  But there’s also an underlying plotline: Simon wants to witness, but not interfere in, the mailing of a letter that is known to have provoked a suicide because it contains a Doomsday message.

    Jack Finney incorporates a bunch of drawings, old photographs, and even newspaper headlines into the storyline, similar to what Ransom Riggs did in his blockbuster book Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children and reviewed here.  Perhaps Ransom Riggs got his idea from Time And Again.  In both cases, I was simply enchanted by those more-than-a-century-old photographs.

    It was fascinating to see what was, and what was not, around back in 1882 New York City.  Ben-Hur (the book, not the movie) was a best-seller at the time, and although the Statue of Liberty wasn’t standing yet in the harbor, her gigantic arm had arrived, and was sitting in a lot (there’s a picture of it in the book) waiting for the rest of the statue.  There's no radio or TV, of course, but you’ll recognize a lot of the songs that the characters sing to entertain themselves, and maybe even have a nostalgic twinge from something called a stereoscope, which used to keep me entertained for hours as a kid, although I’m sure we called it something else.

    I wouldn’t call the ending exciting, but it is realistic (a must for any hard sci-fi story), and has an ingenious twist that I didn’t see coming.  The book is written in the first-person point-of-view (Simon’s), and while the settings are limited to parts of New York City, in both 1882 and 1970, it was neat to see what had changed in those 88 years (lots!) and what was still around (more than you’d think).  Amazon labels Time and Again is considered "classic American literature", and I’ve been meaning to read it for quite some time.

Kewlest New Word ...

Fillip (n.) : a movement made by bending the last joint of the finger against the thumb and suddenly releasing it; a flick of the finger.

Excerpts...

    I’ve always felt a wonder at old photographs not easy to explain.  Maybe I don’t need to explain; maybe you’ll recognize what I mean.  I mean the sense of wonder, staring at the strange clothes and vanished backgrounds, at knowing that what you’re seeing was once real.  That light really did reflect into a lens from these lost faces and objects.  That these people were really there once, smiling into a camera.  You could have walked into the scene then, touched those people, and spoken to them.  You could actually have gone into that strange outmoded old building and seen what now you never can - what was just inside the door.  (pg. 19)

    “A world war?”

    “They called it that, Julia, because … all the world was concerned about it.  It was everyone’s business, you see, and … they soon put a stop to it.  I’d almost forgotten it.”

    How much sense that made to her, if any, I don’t know.  She said, “And what does ‘World War Eye’ mean?”

    “Well …”  I couldn’t think of anything to say but the truth.  “That isn’t a letter of the alphabet.  It’s a number, Julia, a roman numeral.”

    “World War … one?  There’ve been more?”  (pg. 377)

“Are you from the army?  If so, I don’t want any today.”  (pg. 9 )

    There are some nits to pick.  The book opens with us meeting a bunch of Simon’s coworkers (at his then-present job) who thereafter have no impact on the storyline.  The book then plods along, as Simon trains for his new job and we wait patiently for the first time-jump, which doesn’t occur until page 100.  The main plot thread takes its own sweet to emerge, although once it does, things liven up considerably.

    The lengthy and detailed descriptions of 1882 New York City are fascinating at first, but unless that’s your home city, it can eventually become tedious.  There’s also quite a bit of swearing for a book regarded as “classic science fiction”, but I liked the novel rendering of one cuss phrase: “for crysake”.

     But I pick at nits.  Time And Again was a fascinating read for me for several reasons: a.) it’s a refreshing break from the stereotypical classic sci-fi novels, b.) I really did enjoy being immersed in 1882 New York City life, and c.) those 120-year old photographs were absolutely jaw-dropping.

    7 Stars.  Although Time and Again is a standalone novel, Jack Finney did later write a sequel, From Time To Time, which was published 25 years later in 1995, which also happened to be the year he passed away.  It too is described as an “illustrated novel”, which I presume means it too has a bunch of old photographs in it, and it resides on my Kindle, awaiting my attention.