Saturday, April 6, 2024

Replay by Kim Grimwood


 

One of my sources for book recommendations is the daily podcast at Commentary.org. The podcast is predominantly political, from a conservative point of view although at the end of most podcasts there will be a Commentary Recommends section which will recommend not only books, but movies, and T.V. programs......sometimes even Youtube videos.

So far this year I've read five books recommended by the podcast. In February there were two - The Wolf Hunt by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen and Budapest Noir by Kondor Vilmos. In March I read The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin and A Brutal Design by Zachary Solomon. I didn't particularly like The Three-Body Problem, but that's neither here nor there.

Number five is a fantasy novel from 1986 - Replay by Ken Grimwood. The novel tells of a 43 year old man who suddenly dies of a heart attack and awakens in his 18 year old body in his dorm room at Emory University in Atlanta in the year 1963. He begins to relive his life with the memories of his earlier life intact. With his knowledge of "the future" he is able to amass a vast fortune thru gambling on sporting events and surefire stock investments. He lives his "replay" slightly different from the first life, but still dies of a heart attack on the same date.

He finds himself returned to 1963, Emory University but at a slightly later date. This cycle continues for several "replays". Always dying on the same date but awakening at later time than the previous replay.

The novel was a bestseller in Japan. Its time-loop concept has been referenced as a precursor of the 1993 movie, Groundhog Day.

As usual, I won't be giving spoilers.

Sadly, Grimwood died of a heart attack in 2003 at age 59 while working on a sequel to Replay. I've only been able to find one other book by Grimwood - Elise. I wish there were more.

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