Reviews for Time for Andrew

The average rating for Time for Andrew based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-03-31 00:00:00 Willis Conley Oh, the dimensions we delve into! You feel a full-circle journey! I equate it with a “Star Trek, The Next Generation” storyline. In “The Inner Light”, the crew passes an expired planet and experiences the lifetime of its citizens. Memories are impressed upon them. “Time For Andrew” doesn’t resemble that, except in the scope of a stunning emotional journey. It has the beginnings of a ghost story, that plunges into a time travel trade. I couldn’t have guessed how much I would be enthralled by it. ‘Drew’ spends a summer posing as his great-great-uncle, ‘Andrew’, at the same house in 1910. Historically he died; with his elder sister, ‘Hannah’ watching over him in the bedroom Drew is using. Drew is visiting his great-aunt while his archaeologist parents are in France. Great-Aunt’s Father (his Dad’s Grandpa) lives with her. It is fascinating to find so many things recognizable in 1910: the land and small details like dusty attic discards, suddenly seen around the house in full use. Experiences with a far greater impact are unforgettable. Drew learns the joy of siblings and also loves his temporary parents, even though he’s desperate to return to his decade. He agreed to stay long enough for modern medicine to heal Andrew. The look-a-likes traded beds at a critical moment, to save him. The novel centers around Andrew’s refusal to leave 1994, insisting he will switch back only if Drew beats him at marbles. It becomes urgent that they do. Each is forgetting the details of their worlds. Also pivotal is Andrew’s need to outgrow aggression, while Drew needs thicker skin. There comes the most satisfying conclusion imaginable. Also poignant is that Andrew wonders a long time, whether or not he was meant to die and this question dogs readers too. Please read this masterpiece.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-03-22 00:00:00 Bret Barnier I had read a number of Mary Downing Hahn books before reading Time for Andrew, so imagine my surprise when I realized that Time for Andrew isn't really a ghost story at all - it's a timeslip story. There are some scarier elements to Time for Andrew, compared to most timeslip stories (think Tom's Midnight Garden or Charlotte Sometimes), but it's not scary like many of Downing Hahn's ghost stories. In Time for Andrew, Andrew goes to visit his Aunt Blythe who lives an old house that his family has lived in for decades. While Andrew is there, he meets a child version of his great-great-uncle (who looks eerily like Andrew) and is transported into the past. I like timeslip stories, so I did like Time for Andrew, but a reader looking for more like Wait Till Helen Comes, Deep and Dark and Dangerous, or The Old Willis Place may be disappointed. Of the Downing Hahn books I've read, Time for Andrew is probably most like The Doll In The Garden, but it's not even as creepy as that one. Still, I enjoyed Time for Andrew and I think others will too, just as long as they don't go into it expecting a scary ghost story.