This was recommended to me long ago, and has sat on my book shelf collecting dust for years. I regret not picking it up until now. I love time travel books, and this one is a winner. Although it dragged in parts with way too much description, especially as to what folks were wearing, it eventually took off and had a great ending. ( )

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!) ( )

Simon Morley roza la treintena y trabaja como ilustrador en una agencia publicitaria de Nueva York, ocupación más cercana a la rutina que a la creatividad. Su relación con Katie está muy lejos de ser apasionada, pero la tienda de antigüedades que la muchacha posee es una fuente inagotable de rancias fotografías y objetos variopintos que fascinan al joven y lo sumergen en el encanto del ayer. Su imaginación, su carácter y la devoción por la Historia lo convierten en el candidato idóneo para llevar a cabo un experimento planeado en secreto por el gobierno de Estados Unidos: un viaje al pasado. Después de trabar relación con los singulares personajes que intervienen en el proyecto, y tras sufrir una instrucción rigurosa, Simon acepta involucrarse a condición de visitar el Nueva York de finales del siglo XIX. Su despertar en una fría mañana de enero de 1882 marca el arranque de una aventura insólita en un tiempo que no conoce todavía el uso de ordenadores o el poder de las armas nucleares, un mundo fascinante donde todo parece nuevo y sin embargo familiar.
Simon anota, dibuja, fotografía y descubre qué hay de cierto en el pasado y qué de falso en las palabras del gobierno de su país. Con este bagaje volverá a nosotros y a las páginas de esta insólita novela que Jack Finney ha escrito con talante de buen conocedor de la Historia y gran escritor.

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. ( )