Breakaway Books

Authored by Jack Finney; Published 1970; Science Fiction

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️🏖️

The more classic science fiction I read, the more enthralled by it I become. There is something to its simplicity, to not letting too many gadgets and gizmos get in the way, that adds to its appeal. Time and Again, in particular, stands out in eschewing the technology normally associated with time travel fiction

In Time and Again, Simon Morley is an artist working for an advertising agency until he is approached out of the blue by a government official and asked to participate in a top secret project. While skeptical, Simon agrees and is introduced to their seemingly impossible mission: to travel to the past through hypnosis. In a bid to help his girlfriend untangle a family mystery, he bargains with his government contacts to choose his own destination and travels back to 1880s New York, quickly becoming embroiled in a blackmail scandal and engaging in a new romantic relationship.

This concept of time travel fascinates me. No fancy machines, just the idea that what ties us to the present is solely our minds, and by convincing our minds that we are in the past, we somehow actually do travel there. Leveraging this concept of time travel in the narrative strips away the technological hurdles in order to focus on the philosophical ones: How small of an action in the past can affect the future? Is it possible to go back in time and simply observe events without affecting them? Is it ethical to change a horrific wrong in the past regardless of the consequences for the present? I enjoyed the way that the novel deals with these issues, with healthy debate sparked between the scientists who run the logistics of the project and the politicians who fund it (and want to see results). I was struck by how cavalier some politicians were about changing the flow of time and wondered if, when this novel was initially published, there had been the plethora of media in the world that warned about the unintended consequences of changing the past.

So, the concept of the novel is fascinating, but I couldn’t help but scratch my head at a few elements of the execution. The level of nostalgia that Simon has for the 1880s for example—he spends quite a bit of time emphasizing just how wonderful it is—does not seem entirely deserved. Simon is a white man, so it is possible that things really are that good for him in this sliver of the past, but I am not convinced that the removal of modern hygiene and medicine would be unnoticeable. The 1880s is simply not the time period I would have chosen to return to, so Simon’s enchantment with it is baffling to me. The romance elements of the novel lack a certain amount of verve as well, with both female love interests striking me as somewhat bland. I can’t say either romantic relationship caught or maintained my interest. Nonetheless, the romance is undoubtedly not the focus of this novel, and I was more than ready to overlook its weakness for the strength of the main plot.

Time and Again is a fascinating retro look at time travel. If you want to step away from the technology of the modern age for a second, this is a good choice that will keep you engaged from start to finish.