I'm back and I’ll continue to rate reviews according to how helpful I find them. I'm not here for th...
I'm back and I’ll continue to rate reviews according to how helpful I find them. I'm not here for the mutual rates.
Member since:20.09.2005
Reviews:43
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Replay by Ken Grimwood is my all time favourite novel.
It begins with the death of the main character in the book, a guy by the name of Jeff Winston, a 42-year-old newsreader for a local radio station. On the 18th October 1988 at 1.06pm Jeff suffers a heart attack whilst sitting at his desk on the phone to his wife.
This rather odd start to this novel takes a dramatic turn when Jeff wakes up again in bed. Realising that he hasn't died after all he looks around at his surroundings, which look oddly familiar. There's an old song playing on the radio and a poster on the wall that Jeff recognises as being similar to one that he'd bought when he was at college. It's at this point that it dawns on him that he is in fact in the same room that he stayed in at college. His immediate thoughts are that this must be some extremely elaborate joke being played on him, but then his roommate Martin walks in. Martin had committed suicide 7 years previously in 1981 and yet here he was standing in front of him looking the same as he did back in the old college days.
Jeff finally realises that he has woken up in the year
1963. He realises that not only has he been impossibly transported back in time but that he remembers everything that is going to happen for the next 25 years too. All sorts of possibilities occur to him. Can he change history? Can he use his knowledge to his own advantage? Can he make himself rich and powerful? It seems that the possibilities are endless. If indeed he is about to relive the last 25 years of his life then this is a perfect opportunity to do things right the second time around. The first thing he does is to make a number of bets on a number of major sporting events. Knowing in advance the outcome of events like the World Series means that he is quickly able to amass a small fortune. He uses this money as starting capital to invest in stocks and shares and within a few years is one of the wealthiest people in the country. He continues in this new life and in 1988 on the 18th October at precisely 1.06pm he dies again only to reawaken in 1963 again.
In each replay Jeff attempts to live his life in a different way and aspires to achieve more than he had in his first and previous lives, never knowing for certain whether the current replay of his life will be his last. Even though he knows in general terms what the future has in store for the world at large, Jeff finds that fundamentally the events in his life or lives are as uncertain as they were in his first. In trying to understand the inexplicable process by which he comes to relive his life again and again he comes instead to a better understanding himself. He finds that his predicament is essentially no different to any other person on the planet in that like everyone else he is looking for the reasons for his existence and trying to find meaning in his life.
Replay is the ultimate fantasy about what we could do if we were given a second (or third) chance to live our life. It's a novel that contains many messages. It tells us that we all have one chance at life and that we should spend it looking forwards to the future instead of dwelling on the mistakes of the past. It tells us that whilst we can control certain aspects of our destiny, not every event can be foreseen and hence our lives will always contain an element of risk, of surprise and of uncertainty. It tells us to live in the moment and to enjoy each day because each day is a new opportunity to change the path that we are on. Finally it reminds us that we all have to make choices and that the choices made are what define who and what we are. Although sold/marketed as a Sci-Fi novel, readers who do not like the Sci-Fi genre shouldn't be put off by this as the 'science fiction' part of it probably only accounts for about 5% of the novel. Instead this book is about a spiritual understanding of the human condition with philosophical undertones and a bit of romance thrown in for good measure.
Replay was Ken Grimwood's most successful novel. Written in 1988 it quickly gained cult status and was the inspiration for the Harold Ramis comedy 'Groundhog Day' staring Bill Murray and the 2004 thriller 'The Butterfly Effect'. It was voted 'Best Science Fiction Novel' in 1988 and in 2000 Replay was voted 43rd on the list of the Internet top 100 SF books and as more and more people have become aware of the novel it has slowly moved up the list. In 2003 it had reached 19th place. The premise of the book was so original and the story at times so heart-rendering that the paperback copy of the novel is the most prized possession on my bookshelf.
Rumours of a film version of this have been going around for years with Brad Pitt in the lead role, but so far nothing definite has ever been announced.
Sadly, Ken Grimwood died in 2003 aged 59 and was working on a sequel to Replay at the time.
The book is unlikely to be in your local bookshop but can be ordered online from Amazon at a cost of around $10
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