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 chunks 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 story.
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.
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 story.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment