Review : Replay by Ken Grimwood

One of the Fantasy Masterworks series, originally published in 1986, Replay is an older quiet slice of life fantasy based on a very simple idea.

In 1988, 43 year old Jeff Winston dies of a heart attack. He wakes up shortly afterwards in 1963, as he was at the age of 18, but with all his memories and knowledge of the next 25 years intact.

Think Groundhog Day played out over half a lifetime, with all the sweeping changes that could ensue.

We get love and loss, easy wealth and meaningless relationships. The pain of seeing your child grow and then being taken away from them only to start anew. The ennui of sameness, of reliving the same events.

And then he tries to change things, only for them to recur anyway with different people causing them. Until suddenly on yet another go around he encounters a breathtaking new film, a debut by an unknown writer, directed by Spielberg, effects by Lucas. He isn’t the only one replaying their life. And that changes everything.

This is mostly a quiet book, a simple SF story with no explanations for why things are happening, they simply are. It’s also the story of his relationships - with his wife, his college girlfriend, his newfound love - and with the world around him, as celebrity and recluse, millionaire and farmer. And it is a haunting story, it lingers after the book is closed, especially the epilogue. But at heart it is a compelling and optimistic one.

Recommended.

Winner of the 1988 World Fantasy Award. Slice of Life. Local author (Alabama, California). 2nd chances (for the character!).