Product Description
Jeff Winston, forty-three, didn't know he was a replayer until he died and woke up twenty-five years younger in his college dorm room; he lived another life. And died again. And lived again and died again -- in a continuous twenty-five-year cycle -- each time starting from scratch at the age of eighteen to reclaim lost loves, remedy past mistakes, or make a fortune in the stock market. A novel of gripping adventure, romance, and fascinating speculation on the nature of time, Replay asks the question: "What if you could live your life over again?"
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 Haven't I met you somewhere before? ( paulweiss4 )
Jeff Winston, a 43 year old radio journalist of (at best) modest accomplishments going through the motions of a lack-luster marriage, dies of cardiac arrest in 1988. To his shock, he opens his eyes and returns to consciousness in 1963 in the very healthy young male body of his former 25 year old self. Without ever knowing the reason it has happened, he comes to grips with his situation and realizes that all of his adult experience, his adult wisdom and his awareness of events to come remain intact.
Of course, with that advance knowledge of the outcome of major sports events and the growth of companies such as IBM, Apple and Sony, Jeff finds it simple, through strategic gambling and investments, to quickly amass a spectacular fortune and become one of the wealthiest men in the world. After his attempts to "re-meet" his wife fail, Winston simply opts for a life of sexual decadence with someone he meets in one of the Las Vegas casinos. Despite the high life he is now enjoying, Jeff clearly recalls the pain of his "death" by heart attack and so he is also most careful to hold himself to the highest standards of cardiac health. But, like the events around which he accumulated his wealth, Jeff discovers that the event of his death in 1988 is also unavoidable and he again dies with a painful heart attack.
Awakening again in 1963, Jeff realizes that he is trapped in an endless cycle of death and re-birth and that, yet another time, he is faced with the choice of how to live the next 25 years of his truncated and ever-repeating life. In his second life (or was it his third or fourth cycle?), he meets Pamela Phillips, a world-acclaimed film-maker. Because of certain anachronisms that don't fit with his knowledge of how world history unrolls in the turbulent decade of the 1960s, Jeff realizes that Phillips is also a "re-player", another person trapped in her own cycle of death and re-birth. Pamela and Jeff discover their love for one another, re-discover that love in one "replay" after another and attempt to make the best of the opportunities offered them to improve their lives and the lives of those around them!
The subjective moral of Grimwood's text in "Replay" is clear enough! Strike an appropriate, comfortable balance between a purely hedonistic self-centered life focused on the present and a life focused on what might be, what is yet to come and the benefit of family, friends and the world around you. The difficulty with this balance rests with the realization that life is both tenuous and finite. We never know when the ending will arrive. The objective message, much easier to understand but perhaps equally difficult to implement in a real world setting is to twist your knickers only around those issues over which you actually have control. Nothing else is worth dwelling upon in terms of mental or physical stress and effort!
There has been much debate over whether it is more appropriately labeled "sci-fi" or "fantasy". Personally, I'll opt for fantasy as Grimwood made no attempt to discuss or hypothesize a mechanism for the re-playing phenomenon. At the same time, I'm going to deduct one star from its rating for a sci-fi quibble. Grimwood chose to fix Winston's and Phillip's baseline of experiences, knowledge and history at the level of their first life. As a sci-fi fan comfortable with the multi-worlds concept, I didn't see any reason to favour one world over another. As both Phillips and Winston re-played their lives in a linear fashion, there was no obvious fundamental reason to suggest that, of necessity, they would be re-born in their "first" universe. Why not their second, third or indeed a universe that they had yet to experience?
Small potatoes worry about a wonderful story! "Replay" is a heart-warming thought-provoking morality tale that will resonate with any thinking reader. Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
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 The Finest Speculation. REPLAY Has it All. ( plantsandbooks )
Replay, by Ken Grimwood, is a miraculous journey through time and the human spirit. Grimwood wonderfully exposes the possible outcomes of having advanced knowledge while leading life. What happens when you live the same thirty years over, and over, and over? What makes a life worthwhile? Is it a lifetime of money, fame, or positive interactions with others? What does anything matter if at the end of the "replay" everything just gets erased, except in your memory?
Replay is at times an emotional ride of personal reflection while still maintaining a level of intrigue and curiosity that awaits the protagonist. While only science fiction on a basic level (time traveling), there is a incredible amount of speculation about human motivations, given the frame of reference for the characters. This speculation is what truly makes Replay a gem.
There is something for everyone in this book. Replay is one of those rare books that captures the imagination, the mind, and the spirit of humanity.
J.Stoner
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Fun! ( turner410 )
Ok - I have not read any other modern time travel novels so I can't compare as some other readers here have done.
However, for me, this has been one of those books I've just picked up at every opportunity to see what happens next.
While technically this is science fiction, it's not a "fantastic" type of science fiction.
I think the device that kept me picking it up was that the protagonist's actions were pretty believable and generally made sense. What enrichened this quite a bit was the distinct tone each "trip back" was allowed to take, and while the earlier Replays are longer than the later ones, the author tells the story in a way that doesn't rely on needing to hold your had the whole way through.
Obviously I don't want to give much away here, but there are some brilliant "a-hah!" moments as well as a few thematic let-downs, but generally, I'd recommend this book to any fan of interesting fiction.
I took this book to a week's beach vacation with my family and found myself reading it in the lulls of activities and bringing it to the beach; also, I found myself picking it up in the early morning while the house was still quite and just really enjoying it.
My wife read this as well, a few weeks after the trip at home, and I found her reading it when she got a chance, as well.
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Read it, you will not be sorry.
In my humble opinion, if Ken Grimwood or the publisher would have changed the title to something more prolific then this book would have been considered a great American novel. It is the classic story of what would you do if you had to live your life over again, and again, and again, etc. This novel was published in 1987 and was an obvious influence on Harold Ramis' comedy-drama Groundhog Day (1993) with one important difference, the main character relives entire chuncks of his life (around 25 years) before replaying.
At age 59, Ken Grimwood died of a heart attack in his home and at the time of his death, he was writing a sequel to Replay. It is a real shame, it would have been a great sequel.
Dust Jacket Summary: Jeff Winston, forty-three, didn't know he was a replayer until he died and woke up twenty-five years younger in his college dorm room; he lived another life. And died again. And lived again and died again -- in a continuous twenty-five-year cycle -- each time starting from scratch at the age of eighteen to reclaim lost loves, remedy past mistakes, or make a fortune in the stock market. A novel of gripping adventure, romance, and fascinating speculation on the nature of time, Replay asks the question: "What if you could live your life over again?"
What I liked: This story will draw you in slowly and by end you will be brought to tears. I like the fact that Ken Grimwood took some chances, such as, having his characters attempt to change history (instead of debating the space-time continuum ad nauseam). For example, Jeff Winston attempts to stop JFK's assassination but the results aren't quite what he expects. The story really takes off when he discovers other characters and then they begin to "team" up. Ken Grimwood plots his story with intelligence by having his characters use their knowledge of future events to their full advantage, just as anybody would. By the last act of the book the reader is captivated by "what happens next?" and that is a sign of a great book. In the end, Jeff Winston finds a deep appreciation of life itself and the choices he made.
What I didn't like: The title is horrible.
Last word: This is a great book and easily fits in "The best book nobody has heard about" category. Read it, you will not be sorry.
Reviewed by Matt
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The many journeys of one man's life ( bibliofiend114 )
I first encountered this book years ago while browsing the dusty shelves of a local bookstore. Though I left it behind after reading it, like any good book it stayed with me long afterward, and when I found a copy recently at a used book sale I decided to buy it. Reading it again after all this time reminded me of just how engrossing of a work it is. At its most basic level the book examines a question many people ask themselves: if I could go do it again, how would I do it differently? Through the mechanism of resetting Jeff Winston's life, Ken Grimwood explores the various possibilities in life, as his protagonist experiences the prospect again and again. In doing so, the novel uses its premise to tell a story about love and loss and the lessons we learn from them, one that will disappoint few who read it.
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