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A review by nekokat
From Time to Time by Jack Finney
3.0
The beginning and the end of this book were great!
But in the middle, the protagonist mostly ignores the overarching plotlines in order to wander around in 1912 NYC and basically show us a slideshow of his vacation.
In the first book, it was kind of charming, because it was interwoven with (and helped advance) the plot, but in this one it was frustrating because it was literally the protagonist going sightseeing instead of trying to complete his mission?
Also, McGuffin complaint: I absolutely refuse to believe any New Yorker would have not immediately thought of the Flatiron building. I did. He did not need a plane ride for that.
His refusal to let Helen have an actual name for the whole book disproportionately annoyed me, too. I mean, plus the mild cheating on his wife, but okay, whatever. But like. WHY can't you just call her by her name??
The coincidences of him always just running into people got to be a little much, whether famous people or plot points. He just always needed to meander around and the right stuff would happen to him.
Tessie and Ted was built up into this huge thing and then was really anticlimactic.
I'm mad that nothing really came of all the mysteries and weird artifacts from the first chapter. But the final chapter was incredible.
But in the middle, the protagonist mostly ignores the overarching plotlines in order to wander around in 1912 NYC and basically show us a slideshow of his vacation.
In the first book, it was kind of charming, because it was interwoven with (and helped advance) the plot, but in this one it was frustrating because it was literally the protagonist going sightseeing instead of trying to complete his mission?
His refusal to let Helen have an actual name for the whole book disproportionately annoyed me, too. I mean, plus the mild cheating on his wife, but okay, whatever. But like. WHY can't you just call her by her name??
The coincidences of him always just running into people got to be a little much, whether famous people or plot points. He just always needed to meander around and the right stuff would happen to him.
Tessie and Ted was built up into this huge thing and then was really anticlimactic.
I'm mad that nothing really came of all the mysteries and weird artifacts from the first chapter. But the final chapter was incredible.