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Imagine Bill Murray's "Groundhog Day" written a decade before.add a series of unexpected twists (which cannot be imagined, good luck).and top it off with that when you are done reading the book, you are left feeling enriched.
I don't usually like Science Fiction, but strangely enough, I love time travel books. The main character goes back in time in his own life, from middle age to his life in college. One of the books that I read in past months that made an impact is "Replay" by Ken Grimwood. This creative book has not received the attention it deserves. In fact, he does this a number of times, each time "replaying" his life, each time making very different decisions with interesting outcomes. This is the best time travel book I've read.
I've spend lots of time reading reviews looking for recommendations.I've read The Time Travelers wife, it was ok, not bad just ok. I've spent a lot of time since I read this book looking for more, but nothing really touches how great this book is.The story itself people have made points about things not being to their liking are valid. I am a huge sci-fi fan. Time Lottery was fun but I lost interest at the end. But I've never thought about a book so much after reading it. And I read it all the way through, I typically get bored & never finish or skip around until the end.It's a really interesting idea, a really interesting idea that sticks with you.I wanted to talk to people about, I've recommending it & got only positive feedback. Door Into Summer had a weird creepy twist at the end. I just couldn't get past the first 20 pages of Time and Again.So if you have any tips for other book in the same genre, please send them over.
Halfway through the book I began laughing aloud, and it wasn't during any intentionally funny parts. The basic plot is interesting enough, and there are plenty of reviewers who described it well enough. It's as if Mr. my beef is with the characters' dialogue. Much of it could be right at home in a paperback romance. Grimwood intermittently handed his manuscript over to a 16-year-old wannabe soap opera writer and said, "Take it away." Stuff like, "He breathed into her tawny hair," and the woman coyly asking the main character, "Why aren't you looking at the scenery," followed by his ogling, "I AM." Ugh. After that I pretty much skimmed through the rest of the book to get to the resolution without my eyes rolling out of my head.
(3) In replay #3 (I think), why would Jeff try to change the historical past (i.e., the Kennedy assassination) when his memories were a product of that past, and to change the historical past would render his memories irrelevant, and, thus eliminate his personal "competitive advantage". I found that to be VERY unbelievable.
What surprised me even more was the fact that many readers apparently regarded the book as some kind of quasi-religious or mystical experience. I am NOT one of those people.I'm not one of those people who demand that all questions be answered by the end of the book, and I most certainly do not insist upon a happy ending.
I am very strongly drawn to time travel stories of all kinds, so naturally, when I heard about Replay I jumped right on it.I am aware that most book or movie reviews are skewed toward four- or five-star ratings, but I was still surprised to see that 78% of the reviews for Replay were five-star, and the combined four- and five-star ratings totaled 92%. suddenly decide to leave him when they were making huge amounts of money and had every prospect of making even more.
Still, there were some points that I either questioned or that I found to be unbelievable. (1) In replay #1, why would the college senior whom Jeff initially recruited to place bets for him and who subsequently became his partner in his investment firm Future, Inc.
(2) In replay #2, why were the episodes of sexual excess happening in France - almost as if they couldn't possibly happen in the good ol' USA. (4) And, as has been said by others, I found Jeff going public to be TOTALLY beyond believability.All in all, however, I found the book to be fairly decent; I'll probably even read it again.
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