Replay
Ratings139
Average rating4
Very enjoyable story, but for me the ending was predictable. The last few chapters missed the excitement I felt with the previous ones.
Congratulations, Audible. Your marketing worked. You figured out I'm hot trash for any story involving time loops, and you found a book to put in front of me for $3. Well played.
Replay by Ken Grimwood follows a man who dies of a heart attack in 1988. He was only 43 years old. Luckily for him, he wakes back up in his college dorm as an 18-year-old boy in 1963. All of his memories are intact, and he has his entire life ahead of him... again.
Sound intriguing? I thought so too. If you'd like to dive into this book spoiler-free, stop reading here. Major spoilers to come.
There's so much to explore with this concept, from the protagonist having fun exploiting future knowledge to the philosophical implications of this endless cycle of time. Jeff Winston, our plucky time looping hero, decides to make the most of his lives by exploring an ageless, time-honored tradition espoused by philosophers throughout history: fuck bitches, get money.
Jeff quickly breaks up with his college sweetheart when she fails to understand the sexual prowess he's gained from his past life. He then exploits every friend and family member he has to borrow money to bet on the Kentucky Derby. You know, because he happened to remember the winning horse from 25 years ago off the top of his head. As one does.
Once Jeff has secured his fortune and started his own highly successful company (creatively named Future, Inc.), he dedicates his numerous lives toward pursuing sexual pleasure. In one cycle, he tries out the Party Girl experience. When that fails to satisfy him because the party girl checks notes likes to party, he attempts to woo his former wife as a young woman. But alas, his would-be lover fails to succumb to his constant bragging about how rich he is. Light stalking follows.
From there, Jeff cycles through a handful of women throughout his lives. Sometimes he cheats on one love interest with another from a previous life. Most memorably, perhaps, is his decision to buy original Party Girl a plane ticket to Paris to join him in a year or so of wild sex parties. After two of his partners finish competing to see who could sleep with twenty men in the same orgy, Jeff has a moment of profound vulnerability. He opens up to one of the women and admits he knows the future.
His swinging buddies have the gall, the pluck, the sheer audacity to make fun of him for this unasked for round of sharing. So, like any rational man, Jeff angrily returns to the U.S. with Party Girl in tow. They nearly die in a plane crash on the way—after all, Jeff's remarkable memory only extends to horse races and investment opportunities, not things that could kill him. Jeff comforts Party Girl by abandoning her on the runway after a rough crash landing. Before you judge Jeff too harshly, remember that Party Girl had this coming. She made fun of Jeff.
There is eventually a semblance of plot. Other than the awkward moments where Jeff fondly remembers destroying a bridge as a 12-year-old because his hot teacher loved her husband more than him, the time he had sex while tripping on acid and imagined he was sleeping with his daughter, and coming onto his former lover when she's only 14 years old, the book does improve in the second half. Things get interesting when Jeff meets a woman who is also replaying her lives. The two of them contemplate the nature of the time loops, impacting the future, and finding other replayers like themselves. Oh, and they fuck. A lot.
Meeting this fellow time looper has a profound effect on Jeff. To take a direct quote from the book:
Her wet inner flesh was like something ancient, something proto human.
This scratches my sci-fi itches both in fully exploring a “What If” premise with further and further “What If” questions, and uses the premise to examine different elements of our humanity.
I thought some of the characters behave a bit inconsistently just for the melodrama of it, and it's a bit sex obsessed at times, but overall the world and characters are very engaging and kept me guessing.
This book was recommended to me as a read-a-like for Stephen King's 11-22-63. It did have similar vibes but added a few twists. I found the story of a man reliving his life over and over again fascinating and was so curious as to how the story would end. I found the novel to be well written and well thought out. Highly recommend!
Gripping. Understated. Deep.
These are just a few of the words I could have chosen to describe this story. Forget being well written; it was. Put aside an evaluation of characters; they were right on point. Don't worry about deconstructing the world building; history is hard to argue with. This story goes deeper into the heart and mind of the reader than any superficial criticism can account for.
I lived vicariously through Jeff's character. I feared his fears, hoped for the things he hoped for, and my soul longed for things of which I have not yet known the pain. Together we partied, traveled, experimented, lost and won and lost again.
Let this story carry you away. Then, when it's over, take an honest accounting and make a plan. You'll understand what I mean when you get there. Oh...then email me and let's talk about it!
I NEVER give a story a 6th star immediately after finishing. I did this time.
nem tökéletes, de nagyon jó.
ha a megjelenésének évét nézzük, nem meglepő, hogy finoman körüllengi egyfajta szocreál büdöskönyv* hangulat, de a nagy ritkán kissé unalmasan részletekbe vesző stílus ellenére is remekül járja körbe az időhurok témakörét. mindenképp mérföldekkel jobb annál a bénaságnál, amit nemrég próbáltam elolvasni és a címére sem emlékszem, de a kritikái között bukkantam rá a replay ajánlására. ebből kellett volna trilógiát készíteni! szívesen olvastam volna tovább.
*tudjátok, az a gyomorforgató dohos könyvszag, amivel nem tudom, ti hogy vagytok, de az én agyam elsősorban a szocializmusban kiadott rusnya könyvborítókkal kapcsolja össze és egyből dögunalmat föltételez. (mert ilyen felszínes vagyok, hogy a ronda borító csakis rossz könyvet takarhat.)
My Amazon review -
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1DZK4OQNTKS44/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
This book isn't perfect. Sometimes it glosses over events that would be hard to explain convincingly. Other times it jumps forward too abruptly. But I loved it despite the flaws. It tells the story of a man who dies of a heart attack at 43, then wakes in the past at 18, with all the memories he had before he died. This beginning unfolds in many unexpected ways, but ultimately it is a life-affirming and moving story, one I wish I'd read when I was younger, so I could benefit from the insights and even wisdom it contains. If you have ever wondered what it might have been like, if only...–then read this book.
Really a 5.5/10. Well done and everything, but strikingly unoriginal. This type of story is part of modern culture, sufficiently similar to Slaughterhouse Five (1969), Groundhog's Day, and The Time-Traveler's Wife. This version is probably the weakest out of all of them, despite being the most different. For instance, the romance in The Time-Traveler's Wife was extremely potent, markedly distinguished from the matter-of-fact relationship in “Reply”.
Not terribly recommended, except if you literally run out of all other books. Was surprised to see it included in the Fantasy Masterworks collection.
Wow. Just a remarkable little science fiction story - although only science fiction in terms of including unexplained time travel. The main character dies on the first page of the novel at 43 and reawakens at 19 in his dorm room at Emory University in Atlanta. After puzzling out what the hell happened he leads his life with his consciousness intact from this last life. He then dies again on the same day at the same time and comes back again...and again. Each time he retains his memory of his many lives. What is happening and why? Does it matter? What does it mean to lead a good life and does having multiple shots at it make it better.. or worse? What would we do different if given a second chance and why don't we do it differently when we do have a chance? And...is there anyone else out there having this same experience? This book was apparently the inspiration for the screenplay for “Groundhog Day”. So read it just for that if you want but its definitely worth reading. Not a long book - despite the repeating lives - and interesting throughout. Will have to read another from this author.
one of those don't-want-to-finish books. very glad the ending didn't disappoint me in the slightest.
This is a completely engrossing story. The two main characters each dies in 1988 only to awaken as a teenager in 1963 with adult knowledge and wisdom intact and the ability to make a new set of choices. Different spouses, lovers, children, careers, await them in each go-round of the past 25 years, as well as slightly altered versions of world events.