| The great thing about _Replay_ is that it starts with a common
fantasy and then pulls the rug out. This is not a spoiler (or
if it is, it was spoiled in .1):
Haven't you often wondered what you'd do if you woke up one
morning and it was many years ago, but somehow you had all your
current memories? I remember thinking about how to make giga-bucks
based on my memories of stock market moves, and how to run my life
better the second time, etc.
Well, the first chunk of Replay is this fantasy: a middle-aged man
replays his life from 19 and becomes rich, with a beautiful wife and
so on.
Then he wakes up 19 again.
-John Bishop
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| Article: 674
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
From: [email protected] (Doug Ingram)
Subject: "Replay" by Ken Grimwood
Sender: [email protected] (Michael C. Berch)
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 1994 23:59:46 GMT
Replay
by Ken Grimwood
Review copyright (c) 1994 by Doug Ingram
I was first loaned a copy of Replay about 7 years ago from a
good friend who often had recommended books to me. I read through it
very quickly...it's a real page-turner...and then, a while later, when
I wanted to tell someone else about it and loan it out, my friend had
lost his copy. In addition, it had completely disappeared from the
bookstores. About six months ago, Replay resurfaced somewhat
prominently in paperback and is now fairly easy to find even in most
mall mini-stores. So I finally bought my own copy and reread it.
Replay begins with the death of Jeff Winston. He dies in
October 1988 of a heart attack. He then wakes up about 25 years earlier
sitting in his dorm room across from his college roommate. It takes
a while for Jeff to figure out what is going on, and pretty soon he
convinces himself that it isn't a dream. He soon drops out of his former
path of life and decides to do it all over again, but this time with a
real appreciation for life and all it has to offer.
He makes a few bets, knowing how the sporting events will turn out,
and pretty soon, he is financially well-off. He tries making some contacts
with his former life, but he is too different now to make it work. He
eventually gets married, has kids...and dies in October 1988. Then he wakes
up again, a little bit later but still in 1963. By this time, he's not
very appreciative of his fate, but he decides to give it one more go and
tries some new things in life, eventually meeting up with another replayer
and falling in love with her.
These two go on to live their multiple lives together, as much as
possible, and their cycles get shorter and shorter. All the while, each
is trying to figure out what is really the best way to live their lives
and what it all means. The shortening of the cycle is an ever-looming
crisis in both their lives and is resolved by the end of the book.
Grimwood does a wonderful job with all of the different alternate
histories he must keep track of, including a chilling sequence that
describes what happens to the replayers when they try to tell everyone
just what is going on. He also writes his characters very well, and the
reader never grows tired of finding out what will be new this time. Part
of this is due to the fast-paced plot, and part is due to the always
interesting philosophical ground covered in the novel.
I found the overall message of the book to be very inspiring. If
this isn't a case for living life to the fullest, I don't know what is.
Not only is it a powerful book on an emotional level, it is an excellent
read...one of those books you just cannot put down. The genre of time
travelling is rather limited, and this is one of the few such books that
deals with the phenomenon on a reasonable level (without a lot of extra
science fiction ideas thrown into the mix and set in the present day)
in a way that makes it easy for the reader to empathize. A real gem.
%A Grimwood, Ken
%T Replay
%I Ace Books
%C New York
%D 1992
%G ISBN 0-441-71592-3
%P 313pp
%0 pb, $4.99
Doug Ingram -- [email protected] // "Carpe Datum"
http://www.astro.washington.edu/ingram (lots more reviews here)
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