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Replay

Ken Grimwood,

陳雅馨 (Translator)

4.16 · Rating details · 26,533 ratings · 3,120 reviews

Jeff Winston was 43 and trapped in a tepid marriage and a dead-end job, waiting for that time when he could be truly happy, when he died.

And when he woke and he was 18 again, with all his memories of the next 25 years intact. He could live his life again, avoiding the mistakes, making money from his knowledge of the future, seeking happiness.

Until h ...more

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Paperback, 311 pages

Published July 22nd 1998 by William Morrow Paperbacks (first published January 1987)

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· 26,533 ratings · 3,120 reviews

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Jan 06, 2014 Jeffrey Keeten rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born,
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.

Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.

God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.

All poetic excerpts in this review are from Auguries of Innocence by William Blake

Ancient of Days by William Blake

October 18th, 1988 is an insignificant date, but for Jeff Winston it is a day that will live in infamy. He i ...more

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Jan 12, 2013 George rated it it was amazing

This book crushed me. It sparked such a deep feeling of loss and regret in me. Made me examine my own life, my own decisions, missteps and regrets and wasted time and opportunities. Life is short, and this book will remind you of that. It will remind you of lost loves and what could have been. It will remind you that life should be lived to the fullest, that you shouldn't ever waste a single day. It will teach you about true loneliness. And finally, it will teach you about acceptance. I loved it ...more

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May 07, 2017 Emily (Books with Emily Fox) rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites

(4.5) One of my favorite premises is a character reliving their life over and over. So this book was on my radar.

I really liked Grimwood's take on it as, for once, I could relate with the main character's decisions and he added a nice twist to it.

It did become more philosophical and would recommend it if, as a literary fiction or contemporary reader, you're trying to get into sci-fi.

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Jan 14, 2008 Nancy rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: fans of "The Time Traveller's Wife"

Shelves: time-travel, waste-of-trees, sf-fantasy

I had very high expectations for this 1988 World Fantasy award winner. The main character, 43-year-old Jeff Winston has a heart attack and dies, only to wake up in his college dorm room 25 years earlier with his current memories intact. He "replays" his life several times throughout the book trying to correct the mistakes of his "previous" lives. After the second "replay", I got tired of reading about Winston's miserable life and sexual escapades and wished he would just die and stay that way. T ...more

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Oct 26, 2008 Stephen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: award-nominee-arthur-c-clarke, audiobook, science-fiction, alternative-history, 1980-1989, award-winner-world-fantasy, locus-all-time-fantasy-poll, award-nominee-locus, award-nominee-world-fantasy, multiple-award-nominee

5.0 stars. I did not go into this book with high expectations, despite the numerous awards this book was nominated for and won. Well I just finished it and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!! Calling it the best "time travel" novel ever does not adequately explain the emotional depth of the novel. This was an incredibly well-written, extremely well plotted novel that is at times both gut-wrenching and uplifting. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!

Nominee: Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Nove ...more

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Nov 15, 2017 Lori rated it it was ok · review of another edition

The horse race was good.

I expect that I am just brimful of wealthy self-centered mediocre individuals undeservedly basking in privilege and power. But, all that irksome name dropping worn thin. I get it. There's a disproportionate lack of insignificant villagers in the past lives of people who claim to remember them. Nobody wants to be part of the three serf families that the Rostov's neighbor traded for a dog.

When I'm disengaged and uninterested in the story, it's awfull ...more

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Jun 26, 2011 Eh?Eh! rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: goodreader-gave-to-me, babble-added

There was a period of time where I made myself think through what I wanted, realistically, and how to achieve them, ultimately. Were you one of those kids who wanted to set the world on fire and initiate changes for the better, if not for fame then for purpose? I was saddened by how scaled back my plans became once I was a bit ground down by circumstances. Then I set it all aside and half-numbly addressed day-to-day tasks.

Recently, I was in a situation where a man-boy poured his litt There was a period of time where I made myself think through what I wanted, realistically, and how to achieve them, ultimately. Were you one of those kids who wanted to set the world on fire and initiate changes for the better, if not for fame then for purpose? I was saddened by how scaled back my plans became once I was a bit ground down by circumstances. Then I set it all aside and half-numbly addressed day-to-day tasks.

Recently, I was in a situation where a man-boy poured his little heart out to me about the woman he hopes will love him back. They'd gone out on dates, although I ascertained that she may not have realized they were dates. Poor lamb. Since the conversation had progressed to the point where I'd become invested in his happiness and wanted this to work out for him, I grilled him about whether he was also considering her interests, if he was more attracted to her looks and common activities than her self, blabbidy blah blah, and what his goals were and whether they meshed with hers. Hey, he seemed to be relieved to unload and I was obliging. Totally not in a twss way. But, the reason I brought that up, he turned the future goals question back to me and caught me flat-footed. I don't think my stammers were a good return answer. I couldn't remember what I'd worked out before, my "realistic" goals. Too much numb trudging.

And then this book. A man dies in middle age and wakes up back in college to live his life again. He works his way through money, sex, children, nihilism, and it turns out that he keeps dying at the same time but wakes up older and older, skipping at first days then years ahead. I liked that it's not as flashy as you'd expect. He didn't suddenly figure stuff out or have circumstances that ridiculously fell into place for good or ill, no more than you can kinda reasonably expect if you had future knowledge. There was still an undercurrent of mediocrity, which made the story work for me. I think the conclusion was to love what you have. That's a message that can survive my numb days. ...more

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Oct 03, 2017 J.K. Grice rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dark-fantasy, favorites

It's a shame that REPLAY by Ken Grimwood is not more well known. The writing and story are stellar, and this book is still one of my all time favorites.

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Oct 17, 2010 Welwyn Wilton Katz rated it did not like it

Shelves: spiritual-fantasy, novel-adults, adult-fantasy

I read this book for a book club I'm in, and it surprised me that I hadn't heard about it before. I bought the book and I read it and I wanted to like it. There had been a lot of hype when it came out in 1986 and won the World Fantasy Award of 1988. I like fantasy. I write fantasy. But I don't think this book is actually real fantasy. I don't think it's science fiction either. I think it is a failed attempt to write a story where a human being finds redemption through an unusual method.

I feel i ...more

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Dec 20, 2018 Jeff rated it it was ok

Shelves: scifi-fantasy

This one’s about time travel.

Now, as a reader of comic books, this phrase has a chilling effect on my brain, because time travel stories are usually (but not always) the last refuge of the unimaginative or gassed out writer, but this book has been sitting on my shelf for a while and heck, because Stephen King wasn’t available, even Dean Koontz has some nice things to say about it on a cover blurb.

The story unfolds like so: Henpecked, depressed dude dies in the middle of a phone call with his wife, he wakes up in hi ...more

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Apr 17, 2015 Carol rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2015, time-travel, sci-fi, fiction

I'm a total sucker for time-travel novels, and Replay is a dam clever one filled with unexpected twists and traumatic experiences.

After a fatal heart attack at age 43, Jeff Winston wakes up baffled to learn he is not dead, but a young college student again back in 1963, (no spoiler here) and as he begins to relive his life over and over and over again, he becomes a bit more prepared and curious each time. Wanting to know the cause of this unusual phenomena, he finally stumbles across an interesting clue resulting in an outexperiences.

After ...more

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Nov 30, 2009 unknown rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2010, sci-fi-fantasy, time-travels, audiobooks, fantasy-masterworks

With a setup that recalls Groundhog Day and Back to the Future II (a middle-aged man, Jeff, relives his life from age 18 to his "death" at 43 over and over, able to change things each time but never escaping the loop; going back in time gives him a chance to make a fortune betting on horse races), Replay promises to be a fun sci-fi wish fulfillment story, but winds up something else entirely, a wistful meditation on the relentless passage of time and the regrets we all carry about the choices we ...more

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Jan 10, 2018 Iulia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2018, honorable-mentions

I enjoyed Replay mainly because it is a great example of wish fulfillment. The main character, a middle aged man with a regular job and stuck in a lackluster marriage, gets to go back to his younger body while retaining all the knowledge and wisdom he accumulated during the years. This gives him a huge advantage over everyone else; he has knowledge of the future that can potentially make him rich, he can avoid all the mistakes that lead him to the bleak future he just escaped, and he can enjoy ...more

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May 15, 2012 Algernon (Darth Anyan) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2012

Jeff Winston is a 43 years old radio journalist, trapped in a tedious job and a dysfunctional marriage, when he gets the chance of a lifetime: when he's having a heart attack, instead of dying he wakes up 25 years earlier, in 1963, with all his memories intact. I don't think there's any person on this planet who, approaching the 50 years milestone, has not fantasized about starting over with the wisdom that only age and experience can grant, and enjoy all the perks a young body and financial for ...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Mike (the Paladin) rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fantasy, science-fiction

Well see Bill Murry is in this small town and for some reason he wakes up there every day and it's the same day. He's living Ground Hog day over and over and he needs to learn....

No wait, that's a movie this is a book. Okay Jeff Winston is 43 years old and he apparently has a heart attack...and wakes up in his old college dorm room 25 years before. He died in 1988 and woke up in 1963.

We now follow the story of his life...his redeath and his reawakening again, and again. W ...more

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May 28, 2008 Chloe rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Anyone who has ever wanted a do-over

Recommended to Chloe by: Seth Ball

Shelves: scifi-fantasy, time_is_a_flat_circle

Replay is a book that had been lingering on my to-read stack for well-nigh three years before I finally got up the gumption to actually crack the cover. Once again I find myself a victim of the too-many-books-too-little-time syndrome which seems to plague all of us various Goodreaders and am kicking myself for waiting so long before reading this eminently enjoyable time travel romp.

I think that one of the reasons I avoided reading this for so long is that it is saddled under the unfortunat Replay is a book that had been lingering on my to-read stack for well-nigh three years before I finally got up the gumption to actually crack the cover. Once again I find myself a victim of the too-many-books-too-little-time syndrome which seems to plague all of us various Goodreaders and am kicking myself for waiting so long before reading this eminently enjoyable time travel romp.

I think that one of the reasons I avoided reading this for so long is that it is saddled under the unfortunate umbrella of time travel fiction. Often this means a lot of obtuse descriptions of quantum mechanics and the paradoxes of accidentally meeting yourself in the past; Time Travel 101, if you will. Fortunately, Grimwood plays upon the well-worn theme with a unique twist.

Rather than jumping in a machine and galivanting into the future to romp with the Eloi, Grimwood has his hero Jeff die one chill October evening in 1988. Yet, instead of pearly gates and St. Peter, Jeff awakens to find himself in his college dorm in 1963 with full knowledge of the future to come, from the fall of Saigon to the horse that will win the Kentucky Derby. With this premise Grimwood has tapped into one of the most fundamental wishes of humankind: the desire to do things differently now that you know how it will play out.

It's thrilling to watch as Jeff relives his life, testing out various professions or challenges, finally having the children that he longed for in his first life, attempting to stop the Kennedy Assassination, investing in Apple when Jobs and Wozniak were still tinkering in their garage, reveling in the reckless hedonism of early 60s Paris. As he plays through each iteration, though, Jeff realizes what a lonely existence he lives as the only one who seems to realize that everything that happens has already happened before, until he sees a film that he had never heard of before and stumbles across a woman who is also trapped in a historic loop.

This was an incredibly fun read that I never wanted to put down. Jeff isn't perfect, which makes him more fun. He wastes several of his lives and inadvertantly ends up with much blood on his hands when he tries to alter the course of history, but it is this that makes him relatable. He may be forewarned, but that does not always equate to being forearmed and I would often find myself agreeing with several well-intentioned decisions he makes that inevitably blow up in his face. From a fantastic premise through a great follow-through, Ken Grimwood has crafted a story that will stand the test of time, even if it's on repeat. ...more

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Jan 20, 2014 Mark rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Reading this on a train journey where I was travelling to meet up with a friend and was very excited about seeing him could have meant that this book would rather have been like 'musac' going on in the background and ought not to have made any real impression but it did. It was a really clever concept of one man who dies of a heart attack at 43 but then keeps reliving the decades leading up to that moment. And each 're-life' is informed by what he has been and done in all his previous incarnatio Reading this on a train journey where I was travelling to meet up with a friend and was very excited about seeing him could have meant that this book would rather have been like 'musac' going on in the background and ought not to have made any real impression but it did. It was a really clever concept of one man who dies of a heart attack at 43 but then keeps reliving the decades leading up to that moment. And each 're-life' is informed by what he has been and done in all his previous incarnations.

In different lives he seeks to correct or change, remould and remodel who he is and how he works and Grimwood cleverly captures the frustrations and confusions, the anachronistic bombshells or blurted non-sequiturs which must arise. Each time he returns to himself after his 'death' he is older and thus he is not repeating the same life over and over again. Opportunities missed, meetings passed mean that necessarily there is a newness to the life he leads even in amidst the same-old-same-old.

After a while, there is the added frisson of a romance that spans the lives as Jeff encounters another person undergoing the same horror/excitement, (and it is sometimes a joy and sometimes deathly; the groundhog day stuggle writ large) and then the two of them together encounter a third who, instead of seeking ways in which he can improve the lot of the world, uses his re-life for murder and mayhem.

I rally loved the book and the tension and sadness inherent in the plot. There was humour, there is challenge but over-riding it all there is a sense that we cannot remake ourselves differently to how we are, we cannot scale an impossibly high wall just by virtue of having a lot of runs at it. We are who we are and all we can do is begin to find a way to be that person more happily, more honestly, more real-ly.

The denoument was surprisingly undramatic and unresolved but,in the context of the weirdness and unnerving experience that the two main protagonists had had and that we the readers had shared with them over countless lives, it rang true.

A clever concept, well executed, or at least, I thought so. ...more

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Sep 19, 2009 Ben Babcock rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, time-travel, 2015-read, audio, from-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. For the first time in a while, I actually regret sticking out this book instead of DNF-ing it. It was bad. Just as I was starting to lose all hope, there was a glimmer a couple of hours in that made me hang on a bit longer. And then I figured I might as well finish the whole thing just to learn why Jeff keeps replaying parts of his life. Because when you get right down to it, Replay has a sick and amazing premise, but Ken Grimwood's writing leaves much to be desired.

Grimwood's prose is so purple I'm surprised it's not ...more

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Jun 26, 2017 Bill Jr. rated it it was amazing

Replay one of most interesting and compelling science fiction novels I've ever read. It's cleverness is only exceeded by the book's probing insights into love, values and the human spirit. Replay is a page turner, so be prepared to miss meals and train stops.

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Mar 08, 2008 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone aware that their future self is trapped in the past

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Right from the back of the book: “As exciting as ‘Back to the Future’, As romantic as ‘Peggy Sue Got Married’, a phenomenal time-tripping adventure.” Well, in the spirit of a little ‘time-tripping’ let me bring these comparisons slightly up to date; Replay certainly has a quaint combination of elements from the aforementioned films, but it most resembles ‘Groundhog Day’. Any fan of the three previously mentioned films would find it difficult to be disappointed by Replay.

Beginning wi Right from the back of the book: “As exciting as ‘Back to the Future’, As romantic as ‘Peggy Sue Got Married’, a phenomenal time-tripping adventure.” Well, in the spirit of a little ‘time-tripping’ let me bring these comparisons slightly up to date; Replay certainly has a quaint combination of elements from the aforementioned films, but it most resembles ‘Groundhog Day’. Any fan of the three previously mentioned films would find it difficult to be disappointed by Replay.

Beginning with the first sentence of the book, author Grimwood makes it obvious that something spectacular is happening to the protagonist, Jeff Winston. Jeff is in the throes of death before we truly know anything about him, and in his final seconds under the strain of a heart attack, the little that is related is that his marriage to his wife Linda has become unfulfilling and is headed towards divorce, his dream of moving from radio station management to a job in television has been unsuccessful, his efforts to have a child with Linda have failed, and money is tight. Basically, Jeff Winston is a man with many regrets as to which fork in the road of life he’d followed on numerous occasions, and just after 1PM on October 18th of 1988, his life stops and he falls face forward on his desk after another tedious and routine staff meeting.

Jeff suddenly comes to, and after a short time of trying to piece together what the hell has just happened, he’s rather shocked to discover he’s now back in 1963, at Emory University, eighteen years old and still possessing all the knowledge of his previous life and world events. Naturally, he has some serious questions as to what is going on; could the ‘life’ he’d experienced have been a nightmare brought on by a serious bender, is this really what the afterlife is like, can he effect any changes in this alternate reality? Luckily, Jeff doesn’t play around, once he’s reasonably sure that this is for real he goes about using his foreknowledge of events to come to his advantage, beginning by rounding up every dollar he can get and placing a bet at 11 to 1 odds on Chateaugay at the Kentucky Derby. In doing so, due to his age, he has to get an older student to place the bet, and that person is Frank Maddock, who meant very little to Jeff in his original existence. At this point, I was sold on the book, one of my best friends lives on a street called Chateaugay (all the streets in his area are named after successful racehorses like Man O War and Dark Star) and every time we’d have a crazy-ass party there and call Hungry Howies pizza to make a delivery at 1AM while trashed was extremely interesting. “Chateaugay. Yes, GAY, G-A-Y…no, this isn’t a joke, it’s the name of a champion racehorse.” Well, after the success at the Derby, Frank assumes that Winston is a mastermind handicapper, and they head off to Vegas increasing to their roll. Jeff meets Sharla Baker, a rough-around-the-edges nymphet with an insatiable sexual appetite. His partner in the whole affair, Frank, is pushing for him to prove his gambling prowess again, and here is where they make it big, Jeff tells him to lay all their previous winning on the World Series, claiming the Dodgers will sweep the Yankees 4-0. This bet pays out over 12 million in cold, hard cash, but also succeeds in making sure no reputable bookie is ever going to do any business with them again, so they begin Future, Inc, and start making some honest money by snatching up stock which Jeff knows will experience phenomenal growth.

Jeff is soon faced with some dilemmas, despite what appears to be a far more fortuitous existence than he could have ever counted on, as he’s now changed his own history, and the events in his own future are no longer so predictable. Frank has become suspicious of the accuracy of Jeff’s investments and apparent knowledge of things to come and breaks off their partnership. Sharla has also become tiring, he also misses having a meaningful companion and he kicks her slutty ass to the curb with a parting gift of 200K. But the real mind-boggler is his inability to change a single world event: he tries to stop the JFK assassination by getting Lee Harvey Oswald arrested, but on that fateful day in Dallas the deed is still done, this time by some chump called Nelson Bennett. This is obviously bothersome, as it means that this JFK shooting was either much more involved than he thought (perhaps Bennett had always been a back-up should Oswald wind up arrested or perhaps throw his back out laying the wood to his old lady) or can there be events which he is simply powerless to change? These questions are enough to make him start doubting himself, but the most devastating event occurs when he goes to meet Linda, his former wife, at the same time and place he did in his original life, but this doesn’t work out so well, he’s too full of himself and his intimate knowledge of her (as a total stranger) freaks her out and chases her off. He’d thought that with his wealth secured and having a comfy job he could make their relationship work this time, alas, she ends up threatening to call the police on him. He ends up in yet another unfulfilling marriage, this time to a snobby socialite named Diane. The only good thing to happen in the coming years is finally having a child, a daughter named Gretchen, the light of his life. But before she enters womanhood, despite his routine medical check-ups and all the precautions he takes concerning his health, he still kicks the bucket on the same day, at the same time, when Oct 18 1988 rolls around.

But, he wakes up again in 1963, and this is destined to keep happening to him, but with a minor variation, each time he begins life anew, he starts a little later in time, the next replay begins a matter of hours later, but the pace increases, and soon he’s starting month later, then years later.

Seems like I just ruined the book, eh? Far from it. This isn’t even the first third of the book. It only gets better from here. His first replay is exactly what you’d expect someone to do, hook themselves up and live the good life. With each successive replay, Jeff approaches his course of events from a different angle, with wildly varying results for good and for ill.

Over the course of his next lives he’ll end up spending one with his college sweetheart, Judy, serene, loving, and peaceful, in another he just goes apeshit, once more hooking up with Sharla the floozy before living in Paris, where they spend years having wanton group sex while smoking pounds of opium.

However, when a movie called ‘Starsea’ becomes the highest grossing film in history something is awry and after seeing the film, he realizes that only another Replayer could have made such a stunning allegorical work; when he meets producer Pamela Phillips, his suspicions are confirmed. Pamela, however, is determined to use her experiences replaying to heighten the collective consciousness of mankind, and they immediately clash over how to use the unnatural influence they have. When Pamela’s sequel to Starsea is a dismal failure, she returns to Jeff and they fall madly in love, until 1988, of course.

More replays; one with a common goal, to seek out other replayers. Now that they know their situation isn’t quite as unique as they once suspected, they begin putting ads in major newspapers asking anyone who is familiar with obscure references to the future to reply. Another to try getting help in understanding their situation; they go public with their knowledge of the future, in an effort to get some help or explanation from the scientific community as to what is happening to them, and, more specifically, what might be the cause of the ‘skew’, why are they beginning each replay later and later, and will the final one result in permanent death?

This is where it gets sentimental and begins making the reader question what they might do in this strange circumstance. When Jeff begins a replay in which he’s already with Linda, back when they were still passionately in love, can he bring himself to go to Pamela now? As bad as he knows his relationship with Linda will end, he’s lived almost 100 years without her, having failed to win her heart in the first replay and not seeing her since. So, what do you do? Do you go and try making the best of the life you originally lead? Do you go and try spending that precious little time left with a new love that has proven to have varied results? The remainder of the book, with Jeff and Pam forced to make these decisions, is definitely worth the price of admission.

...more

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Apr 21, 2008 Rachel rated it liked it

Recommends it for: adults wanting a quick, easy, thought-provoking read, but especially American Baby Boomer MEN!

The author does a great job of illuminating the main character's inner dialog and questions about his predicament. At each point in the novel, the protagonist responds to his situation sensibly and/or understandably, demonstrating smarts, will-power, perseverance, and human fallibility (his patience can and does reach a limit). I liked the plot twists and turns ... at least for the first 2/3 of the book, I really had no idea WHAT was going to happen next. I was hoping it wouldn't end the way it The author does a great job of illuminating the main character's inner dialog and questions about his predicament. At each point in the novel, the protagonist responds to his situation sensibly and/or understandably, demonstrating smarts, will-power, perseverance, and human fallibility (his patience can and does reach a limit). I liked the plot twists and turns ... at least for the first 2/3 of the book, I really had no idea WHAT was going to happen next. I was hoping it wouldn't end the way it did, simply because that's what I was guessing might happen ... but the author did keep me guessing for the majority of it, so I am mostly satisfied.

This book makes you think of a lot of questions about your life and what it means, and how "REAL" any of it is. Kind of like the Matrix movie. Also, in terms of its mass-market appeal to Americans and its page-turnablity-index, I thought it was on par with the DaVinci Code. Both books are mass-market thriller/fluff pieces on the one hand, but on the other hand, they really get you thinking. And both are very easy and fun to read.

I'm not sure why "Replay" doesn't seem to be famous at all, while the DaVinci Code was this big inflated international phenomenon. Hmmm. Perhaps the DaVinci Code benefitted from the free press due to its controversial religious themes (Whaddyamean, Jesus wasn't a virgin? And he had kids of his own!??!? How could this be? He was GOD, he was perfect! Perfect people don't have SEX! Let's make a big fuss and ... whoops, now the blasphemous author has sold tons of books! Oopsie!!!).

By contrast, there is very little discussion of religion or politics or anything that would get people all "RILED UP" in Replay. So ... maybe that's why this book didn't become an "international sensation" like the DaVinci Code.

One thing about "Replay" which is either positive or negative, depending on who you are, is that it is closely tied to American sports, popular culture, and political events from 1963 to 1988.

Americans of baby-boomer age (and older) will probably personally remember all the historic references and follow along with the book as if re-living their own lives. I grew up in the 80s, so I didn't have THAT feeling reading the book, but at least I was familiar with the goings-on and could imagine what it would have been like. But, as these events recede further and further into the past, I'm not sure how much these "what-once-were-current events" will resonate with people.

Then there's the geographic angle. I'm guessing most people in the world have only vaguely heard of (if at all) the Kentucky Derby or the World Series. (Seriously .... these are purely American things that a busy housewife in Laos probably never had a reason to ever hear about. Know what I mean?)

And I don't know how well the book will translate across time, to readers 100 years from now, when names like Dustin Hoffman will probably no longer mean anything. (No offense to Dustin, but how many great actors can we name from 100+ years ago?) I'm hoping that readers from other places and other time periods will be able to enjoy the thought-provoking themes of the book while using context clues to fill in their mental question marks on names/places/events. Still, the close ties to American events from 1963 to 1988 may create some barriers for some readers.
...more

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May 22, 2019 Metodi Markov rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: with-english-review, sci-fi, usa, favorites, linz

Review on English, followed by the Bulgarian one. Ревюто на английски е първо, следва това на български.

I had read it twenty years ago, and I did not remember anything about "Replay" except that I did liked it a lot.

Now, after rereading it, I can say with a clear heart that Ken Greenwood's book is great.

How would you live your life if you can start it again at the very beginning of it? Combined with the knowledge and experience accumulated during your previous lives? Will this be an obstacle or will be a priceless help whe ...more

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Jul 12, 2015 Hayat rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: repeat-read, award-winner, freak-out-all-time-faves, romance, time-travel, science-fiction

5+ life affirming Stars
Replay is winner of World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (1988)

I absolutely loved this mesmerising book with it's unexpected twists, beautiful romance, intelligent plot and incandescent characters. I read Replay on a whim, without knowing what it's about except that it has something to do with time travel, and now I'm so glad I took a chance on it this summer.

“All life includes loss. It's taken me many, many y ...more

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May 29, 2013 David rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, audiobook

This book is pure fun. It is a fantasy about Jeff Winston, a middle-age man with a marriage that has turned sour. He suffers a heart attack, and wakes up to find himself 18 years old again, in his college dorm room. He has retained all his memories. He figures out how to relive his life--differently. The story is sort of reminiscent of Groundhog Day, but instead of reliving a single day over and over, Jeff relives many years of his life, again and again.

With each replay of Jeff's life, h ...more

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Feb 23, 2014 Leo rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014, favorites, science-fiction, read-in-english

Jeff Winston, age 43, dies in 1988 at the start of this book. But he doesn't really. He awakes in his college dorm being barely 18 again. Ahead lies the chance to relive his life, change the things that went wrong, all with the future knowledge of what he has lived throughout the years. But 1988 comes again and Jeff dies again. And again and again. And the things he keeps doing in previous lives stop counting. Only he remembers them, but not the people he shared them with. He has to deal with th ...more

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Sep 09, 2013 Andrew Smith rated it really liked it

Shelves: time-travel, science-fiction

Ok, so I'm a time travel novel addict. This is my tenth in a little over two years and I'm still on the lookout for more! This one is pretty good: the narrative has elements in common with other books I've read (the JFK assassination, how to make money quickly & well, if you get it wrong this time there's always next time...) but, in truth, it never really feels believable in a way the King novel, 11/22/63, does. Still, it's pacy, there are plenty twists and, like all books of this genre, it ...more

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Apr 16, 2019 Patricija - ReadOff rated it really liked it

I liked it, but I can't say much or otherwise I'll spoil too much.
Loved the second half of the book and how its explained

More on: https://readoff.wordpress.com/2019/04...

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May 10, 2013 Stuart rated it really liked it

Shelves: humanistic-sf, favorites, time-travel

Replay: Imagine reliving your prime years over and over
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
Replay is a story that every reader can empathize with. Who wouldn’t want to relive their best years over again, with all their memories intact? Fixing all the mistakes, seizing all the missed opportunities. It’s an irresistible thought, a fantasy of “what ifs”. Replay predates Groundhog Day (1993) by 7 years, and explore the concept in far more depth, taking it to the extreme to examine what gives our lives me Replay: Imagine reliving your prime years over and over
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
Replay is a story that every reader can empathize with. Who wouldn’t want to relive their best years over again, with all their memories intact? Fixing all the mistakes, seizing all the missed opportunities. It’s an irresistible thought, a fantasy of “what ifs”. Replay predates Groundhog Day (1993) by 7 years, and explore the concept in far more depth, taking it to the extreme to examine what gives our lives meaning. It’s a very appealing story, and delivers some powerful moments in the latter half.

Replay is about 43-year old Jeff Winston, who dies of a heart attack and finds himself back as an 18 year old student at Emory University with all his memories intact, reliving this 25 year period over and over. This could easily be simple wish-fulfillment fantasy, and it starts out that way, as Jeff pursues wealth, women, and success using his knowledge of the future. But as the story progresses, Jeff realizes that no matter how he relives his life, making improvements and avoiding past mistakes, he cannot escape that fatal heart attack, and is mercilessly sent back to his past again and again.

The pacing of the story is well-handled, as Jeff goes through numerous iterations of his prime years, each time with his previous memories intact, always taking a different approach and focus to his life. Initially he pursues the most sexually-appealing women his wealth can attract, but later he begins a new family, courts his first wife again, approaches his college sweetheart, and finally he meets a woman named Patricia who is also going through the same replay cycle. Their relationship is explored in great detail, as the only two people who understand what it’s like to live their lives over and over again. They think they have found a way to make this strange existence worthwhile, until they discover that the replay cycles are getting shorter at a accelerating pace…

The choices that Jeff makes are understandable, as he faces the double-edged sword of immortality but continually having to restart from scratch. Sometimes he reacts negatively and descends into hedonism and drugs. In other cases he tries to do good for society. The most chilling episode involves when he and Patricia try to locate other “replayers” and encounter a monster.

I did find the story quite sexist for the first half, as almost all the women are sexual conquests for Jeff, and only Patricia takes on equal status in the latter part of the story. In the early going, Jeff is fairly callow and seeks only to pursue his own pleasure. I didn’t like the suggestion that Grimwood thinks any guy given this opportunity would focus so intently on pursuing women. Perhaps he means that we always seek out companionship in life. In either case, after many iterations Jeff matures, much the way we all gain perspective over time without the benefit of reliving the past. The period details of the conservative early 1960s, tumultuous late 1960s, troubled 1970s, and materialistic 1980s are nicely described. It would be interesting to see how this story might be written now, shifting the start-point to the 1990s and ending today, for instance.

In the end, it’s a thoughtful fable that encourages the reader to imagine how they might behave in Jeff’s position. While the details would obviously differ, I think most would likely progress from from basic wish fulfillment to more meaningful goals. The narrator of the audiobook is veteran William Dufris, who does an excellent job. Replay was Grimwood’s best-known novel, winning the 1988 World Fantasy Award and being chosen for David Pringle’s Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels. ...more

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Oct 23, 2008 Jacob rated it liked it

Shelves: 2007-2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. July 2009

Groundhog Day is more like Groundhog Quarter-Century for Jeff Winston. Dead of a heart attack at 43, he suddenly wakes up in his old college dorm alive, healthy...and 18 years old. It’s 1963, and Jeff has been given a second chance in life. His dead-end job? His dead-end marriage? Haven’t happened yet, and they don’t have to. Because Jeff also remembers other things: Baseball scores, Kentucky Derby winners, all of the good stock options. Doesn’t take him long to amass a fort July 2009

Groundhog Day is more like Groundhog Quarter-Century for Jeff Winston. Dead of a heart attack at 43, he suddenly wakes up in his old college dorm alive, healthy...and 18 years old. It’s 1963, and Jeff has been given a second chance in life. His dead-end job? His dead-end marriage? Haven’t happened yet, and they don’t have to. Because Jeff also remembers other things: Baseball scores, Kentucky Derby winners, all of the good stock options. Doesn’t take him long to amass a fortune and live out his life in luxury...until he dies again and has to start again. And again. He finds some comfort in meeting someone like him, another replayer, but even together their lives (re-lives?) are a frightening mystery. How is this happening? Why them? What happens when they run out of time?

It’s a fascinating story with a great premise: what would you do if you could live your life again? I know what I’d do, which is annoying, because I had an idea for a story like this once and I was disappointed to see it’s already been done, but enough of that. Grimwood does it well. Jeff is understandably curious about this new power, and does what any excitable person would do: make money, have fun, seek love, lose it all, get desperate, make money, live shallowly, hate the world. The elation (and later, despair) soaks through the page.

I do have some problems with the story, though, hence the less-than-stellar rating. The replays themselves are left mysterious and unexplained, and the rules are inconsistent: in his first replay, Jeff attempts to stop JFK’s assassination and fails (more on that below), thus realizing he can’t affect history (even as he makes millions from bets and investments); yet later, when he goes public about the replays in order to find answers, the consequences are horrific and history is altered in nightmarish ways. So which is it? You can change history, or you can’t? You can’t stop the small things but you can cause big events? It may not be a big deal, but it bothered me.

(Aside: the Kennedy thing. In his second life/first replay, Jeff manages to get Lee Harvey Oswald arrested for threatening the president, supposedly making Dallas safe for open-air motorcading. But somebody else shoots Kennedy instead and Jeff gives up, thinking that he can’t change history. That’s it? One try? “Oh, well, maybe there really was a massive conspiracy in place to kill Kennedy after all, and Oswald was just one of the players, dur hur!” Me, I would’ve taken a sort of perverse pleasure in the attempt: On the next replay, I’d get Oswald and the other guy arrested, see if a third gunman shows up, then get him the next time around, and so on. Or just grab a camera and capture it better than the other guy did. I’d probably run out of replays soon, but c’mon, where’s the fun in quitting?)

The second problem, far more important: as I said, the replays are unexplained, but worse, they don’t change anything. It’s one thing to leave the entire plot a mystery, but it’s quite another to end the story with no resolution. I mentioned the film Groundhog Day earlier, and it makes a good comparison. In the film, the reason Bill Murray was stuck repeating Groundhog Day for years on end was left unexplained too (I always suspected the bartender was behind it, given Hollywood’s love of the magical negro stereotype), but when February 3 rolled around, it was clear that those thousands of February 2nds had mattered. Here--and I don’t really want to give too much away--we’re left with a sense that those four or five replays, well over 100 years worth of time, were just...nothing more than a dream. I gotta say, that’s not a very satisfying ending.
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May 03, 2013 Terry ~ Huntress of Erudition rated it really liked it

2/9/16
Very interesting, just a little confusing -
I didn't realize when I started reading this book that it was written in the 1980's - that is the current time, according to the book. When the protagonist wakes up, he is 20 years earlier, in the 1960's.

2/12/16
Wow, just finished. Ken Grimwood makes time travel seem so real, yet haunting. Do we really want to go back and live our lives over again and "fix" what we thought was wrong the first time? The idea is very tempting, but ...more

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Play Book Tag: Replay by Ken Grimwood -- 3.5 stars	2	12	Sep 13, 2019 01:07PM
Replay	26	261	Apr 04, 2019 11:39AM
Time Travel: REPLAY: December 2014	113	188	May 09, 2017 07:39AM
Francophonie: CLUB DE LECTURE Avril 2015 - Replay, Ken Grimwood	24	63	Apr 30, 2015 10:20AM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. 1980's novel [s]	5	76	Dec 24, 2014 06:31AM

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About Ken Grimwood

Ken Grimwood

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Ken Grimwood (1944–2003) worked in broadcast journalism for a number of years before retiring in 1988 to write full-time. He wrote five novels, including the award-winning Replay, Breakthrough, and The Voice Outside.

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Quotes from Replay

“All life includes loss. It's taken me many, many years to learn to deal with that, and I don't expect I'll ever be fully resigned to it. But that doesn't mean we have to turn away from the world, or stop striving for the best that we can do and be. We owe that much to ourselves, at least, and we deserve whatever measure of good may come of it.” — 46 likes

“Jeff," she said, sobbing, "I'm scared! I don't want to die! Not … die forever, and—"
He hugged her tightly, rocked her in his arms and felt his own tears trickle down his face. "Just think of how we've lived. Think of all we've done, and let's try to be grateful for that."
"But we could have done so much more. We could have—"
"Hush," he whispered. "We did all we could. More than either of us ever dreamed when we were first starting out."
She leaned back, searched his eyes as if seeing them for the first time, or the last. "I know," she sighed. "It's just … I got so used to the endless possibilities, the time … never being bound by our mistakes, always knowing we could go back and change things, make them better. But we didn't, did we? We only made things different.” — 16 likes

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