Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Bid Time Return
Book Review: One of the Best Books Written!
Summary: 5 Stars
I could not put this book down! Very well written, all though I did not like the ending very much.Book Review: Outstanding,The most heart capturing romance this century!
Summary: 5 Stars
Set in 1971, Young Richard Collier sick with a brain tumor, takes a trip to an old hotel and soon finds himself in love with a portrait of a young actress Elise Mckenna who starred in a stage production almost a century earlier at the hotel. He soon finds himself so deeply in love with her, he is able to mentally convince himself that he can return to that time to be with her. This whole story had such an impact on me, I can't ever imagine another love story that would ever create such a lasting mark on my soul as this one did.The novel so exceeds the motion picture SOMEWHERE IN TIME, the movie falls short of it!Book Review: Please, read Finney instead!
Summary: 1 Stars
Okay, I haven't read Bid Time Return, so my rating means nothing. But I read several pages exerted in Amazon's Look Inside! And oh my, does Matheson really write like that? A sort of stream of consciousness style, whatever pops into his head? Matheson's writing cannot begin to compare with Jack Finney's, one of the great sci-fi writers of all time, and one who mined the time travel sub-genre well.Book Review: Possibly the greatest romantic tragedy the ever written.
Summary: 5 Stars
It's 1971, and 36 year-old Richard Collier, dying of a brain tumor, decides to spend his final days traveling the country. On the flip of a coin, he travels toward San Diego, and happens upon an old hotel. There he finds the captivating photograph of a young actress, Elise McKenna, who performed at the hotel in 1896. "... the most gloriously lovely face I have ever seen in my life. I've fallen in love with her." He decides to research everything he can about her, and the more he learns, the more deeply he falls in love with her, and the more deeply convinced he is that; he has been to her time, and that he has had a relationship with her. The 1980 movie, Somewhere In Time, starring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, and Christopher Plummer, was based upon this 1975 novel by Richard Matheson. Though the dates and locations have been changed in the screenplay, also written by Matheson, the movie pretty much follows the book. The novel's pulls on the heartstrings, however, is even more intense, and the ending to the novel is much more tragic. For those who like romantic tragedy, this could possibly be the greatest ever written.Book Review: ROMANTIC AND POIGNANT...THE LONGING IS PALPABLE...
Summary: 4 Stars
A terminally ill man falls in love with a famous turn of the century actress. The only trouble is that they are separated by a span of about seventy five years. What is a man to do? Why travel back in time, of course.
That is just what Richard Collier does in order to be with the beautiful Elise McKenna, the woman of his dreams. Or does he? Does he really travel back in time, or is it merely the delusion of a desperately ill man who seeks to find meaning for his existence? Does his tenuous hold on life in the present mirror his equally tenuous hold on life at the turn of the century? Is his death ultimately the only way for these unrequited lovers to be united, at last?
This is a beautifully poignant love story in which the longing the protaganists have for each other is palpable. A bittersweet sadness permeates the pages of this book, as Robert and Elise pass through life, each a shadow on the consciousness of the other. One only hopes that they find in the hereafter, what they were denied in this life.
This wonderfully imaginative and inventive book draws the reader into its fantastical web. A veritable page turner, it is a classic story of a love which will not be denied. Read the book, and then see the movie, "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. You will not be disappointed.