Helpful Score: 5
WOW! This is an utterly amazing book. In more ways than one it transcends time. Though it originally was written a while ago, it remains a timeless story, about time and the possibilities of a life lived over and over again and the search for the one person in time you are to love. This tale will keep you guessing what's going to happen next, and hoping for the best whenever the right time comes along.
Helpful Score: 4
This was a great book! I think everyone wonders how they would play a "do-over" on adulthood. It was also quite interesting to read this book in 2009, knowing that it was written in 1988--it felt a bit time travel to read a book about reliving the past that was written in the past. There were fleeting references to the technology of the time or to OJ Simpson as a football star that were sort of amusing to be reading now. Great book and worth the wait if it's not currently available at PBS.
Helpful Score: 2
Wow! I REALLY loved this book - _Groundhog Days_ meets _Back to the Future, Part II_. It was just SO much fun to read and a really great way to finish out my book journal. I really liked the writing, the plot and the fun of it all! What is really sad though, is that according to Wikipedia, Ken Grimwood died in the midst of writing a sequel! But I am excited to have a project in finding his other out-of-print books - one of them is already on its way from Paperback Swap! And it's about dolphins!
Helpful Score: 1
One Word. Amazing. I loved this book. I was so into Jeff and all of his choices that I found myself thinking what I would do, if I were a re-player. I thought this was a very interesting concept and I loved the book all the way through. I highly recommend.
Wasn't sure what to expect, but I really liked this book. Nice take on a reincarnation theme. Worth the read!!
If you enjoy books about time travel you'll LOVE this one.
An intriguing idea, well thought out. After Jeff relives his life the second time and starts on round #3 I thought it was going to get boring, but the author throws in a new twist and it keeps your interest.
In this intriguing fantasy adventure, Jeff Winston, a failing 43-year-old radio journalist, dies and wakes up in his 18-year-old body in 1963 with his memories of the next 25 years intact. He views the future from the perspective of naive 1963: "null-eyed punks in leather and chains . . . death-beams in orbit around the polluted, choking earth . . . his world sounded like the most nightmarish of science fiction." But Grimwood has transcended genre with this carefully observed, literate and original story. Jeff's knowledge soon becomes as much a curse as a blessing. After recovering from the shock (is the future a dream, or is it real life?), he plays out missed choices. In one life, for example, he falls in love with Pamela, a housewife who died nine minutes after Jeff; they try to warn the world of the disasters it faces, coming in conflict with the government and history. A third replayer turns out to be a serial killer, murdering the same people over and over. Jeff and Pamela are still searching for some missing part of their lives when they notice they are returning closer and closer to the time of their deaths, and realize that the replays and their times together may be coming to an end.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
Fantastic story concept. Original at the time, and swiped many times over since it was written. Still good though. Worth reading.
Picked this book up last night, sat down, and stayed up far past my bedtime, reading until I finished it. Fascinating story, well-written, with love, hope, and heartaches throughout. Will make you look back on your own life differently, whatever your age. Thought-provoking and inspirational.
Great read! Won't disappoint.
Not just a time-travel novel. Also a meditation on life, mortality, lost opportunity . . . Generally speaking, well-done, but somehow . . . the novel doesn't quite live up to its ambitions. Grimwood seems to have a grasp on some of the central problems of modern life, but he doesn't seem to have much insight into how to resolve them. The novel is pretty honest in this regard, but there really seems to be another corner that we might have seen around, which made the book slightly disappointing in the end.
Grimwood was apparently working on a sequel when he died, which is a shame. I expect it would have been quite interesting.
Grimwood was apparently working on a sequel when he died, which is a shame. I expect it would have been quite interesting.
I got this book from the library years ago. Loved it enough to read it 6 more times through the years.
Great book
Great book
This was an awesome book. Some of the best reading that I have done since reading a Jack Finney novel.
A time travel, or is it? Not like any I've ever read. Jeff doesn't just whiz through time and back, he has to die first. No, he isn't then re-incarnated, he comes back as his original self, over and over again. While his death date and time remain constant, the time of his coming back changes and he finds himself in his body at different stages in his lives.
How much do you dare change? That is always a question. And of course, the Kennedy killing is visited with strange results. How much do you tell others, your family and friends? Are there others out their like him, a "replayer?" Which wife do you look for, which do you avoid? How much money do you allow yourself to make without arousing the government. And speaking of the government, there is the life where he decides it is time to try to save humanity and he goes public with devastating results.
I give this 4.5 stars, only because the very ending dragged a bit for me. But there many 5 star ratings out there, more than I've ever seen today for a book written in 1986. Highly recommended.
How much do you dare change? That is always a question. And of course, the Kennedy killing is visited with strange results. How much do you tell others, your family and friends? Are there others out their like him, a "replayer?" Which wife do you look for, which do you avoid? How much money do you allow yourself to make without arousing the government. And speaking of the government, there is the life where he decides it is time to try to save humanity and he goes public with devastating results.
I give this 4.5 stars, only because the very ending dragged a bit for me. But there many 5 star ratings out there, more than I've ever seen today for a book written in 1986. Highly recommended.
I've waited since November for this book on paperbackswap.com and I finally made it to the front of the line.
The premise is fascinating. A man dies while sitting at his desk at work, talking to his wife on the phone. He wakes up back in college, in his 18-year-old body but with all his memories of a life lived. Does he attempt the same disappointing existence or does he try for everything he dreamed of? But that's not the end...on the same day, same time, he dies again. And again, he is back in his college days, replaying his life once again. Then he discovers he is not alone. He's not the only one stuck in a replay.
Jeff dies in 1988 and replays his life beginning in 1963, focusing mostly on the 70s. Its not really my era and there was a little too much of the politics from that time. I'm not sure what I was expecting...perhaps a little different perspective or maybe a more modern tone.
The premise is fascinating. A man dies while sitting at his desk at work, talking to his wife on the phone. He wakes up back in college, in his 18-year-old body but with all his memories of a life lived. Does he attempt the same disappointing existence or does he try for everything he dreamed of? But that's not the end...on the same day, same time, he dies again. And again, he is back in his college days, replaying his life once again. Then he discovers he is not alone. He's not the only one stuck in a replay.
Jeff dies in 1988 and replays his life beginning in 1963, focusing mostly on the 70s. Its not really my era and there was a little too much of the politics from that time. I'm not sure what I was expecting...perhaps a little different perspective or maybe a more modern tone.
Interesting sci fi tale of the pros and cons of time travel, as told by a man and woman who experience several lifetimes together.
Excellent book about endless possibilities. What would happen if when you died, you went back into your own timeline? Multiple times...
really good science fiction book that tries to answer the question "what if you could live your life over again"?
From the cover:
"Part fantasy, part romance, and part nightmare."
That's a good description. An enjoyable read.
"Part fantasy, part romance, and part nightmare."
That's a good description. An enjoyable read.
I had read this book when it came out in 1986, but had forgotten I read it. No matter!! I enjoyed it again. It really makes you think about "If I could go back...." Very entertaining tale.
Interesting time travel novel that wanders for too long in the middle but delivers an ultimately satisfying tale.
Who hasn't had this fantasy? The book does a good job saying "Be careful what you wish for."
At 1:08 on Oct. 18, 1988 Jeff Winston dies. Jeff wakes up in 1963 back in his college dorm. He did die, but now he is alive again but back when he was in college. Jeff spends the next 25 years doing things differently till Oct 18, 1988 at 1:08 pm where he dies again. Again he wakes up in 1963. Jeff is what is called a replayer and he is not the only one.
The first 3/4 of the book was pretty good. The last 1/4 was overdone and replayed way to much. No pun intended. This is one of those books where it needed to really end about 50 pages before it did.
The first 3/4 of the book was pretty good. The last 1/4 was overdone and replayed way to much. No pun intended. This is one of those books where it needed to really end about 50 pages before it did.
I wish I could give this book 6 stars. Could be the best sci-fi/fantasy ever written. I remember reading it when it came out in the late '80s and loved it then. Now in my mid-thirties, I just read it again. It's better than I remembered. This book will stay with you long after you've turned the final page.
This is the kind of book that if you lend it to a friend to read, you won't get it back. It's a classic time-travel book that is especially appealing if you are over 40 years old and often wonder "what if?" Replay is a book that I never get tired of reading - I probably read it again every few years. You can't put it down and it never gets old. Love it. It's a classic.
Science fiction, time travel. 2 stars.
An interesting, exciting and very original twist in the alternate world of Jeff Winston. Jeff lives his life over and over and over again, and learns how to manipulate everything in each reincarnation of himself. That's a good thing, but it is also a bad thing. This was one great read!
I really enjoyed this book. It has been one of my favorite subjects for a long time, wondering what I would do differently if I had it to do over. Made you think about your past.
This is one of my all-time favorites! Imagine the possibilities of getting a life "do-over", yet retaining all your prior memories! Amazing, thought-provoking, unforgettable!
---This book won the World Fantasy Award---
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?"
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?"
Loved this book! It was very unique, I never read anything quite like it. I highly recommend it!
I loved this book! I've always thought, if only... if only.... well this book just goes to show what "could" happen if you had it to do over again, and again, and again. I recommend this book!
This book was written back in 1986. I have no idea how this one managed to evade me for 25 years. A very well written and thought provoking book.
Really good book. I liked the whole idea of living your life over with all your memories intact.
This book originally came out in the mid-1980s and remains one of my favorite books. If you enjoyed "Time Traveller's Wife" try this!
This is not a GREAT book but is so thought-provoking that several years after reading it for the first time, it still makes me think...what if I knew then what I know now and could live my life over? Would I make the same mistakes...or new ones? The plot is riveting. It is not meant to be inspirational but sci-fi, still...what if...?
read this one fast in a whole evening, fast paced and makes you think.
Loved it! For anyone that has fantasized about being able to go back and relive your life with your memories intact, this is a book for you.
This was a GREAT book! The main character keeps waking up during an earlier time in his life, allowing him to change events in his life and alter his life by doing this.
Jeff Winston didn't he was a replayer until he died and woke up 25 years younger to live another life. Again. Again. Again. And Again. Maybe one of these times, he'll get it right.
Intriguing read!!
Intriguing read!!
Excellent book, along the same lines as 'The Time Travellers Wife' but much more intricate.
trippy! good book, makes you think!
