Time Travel discussion

I'm another latecomer who has just finished chapter 10. I agree with the Groundhog Day comparison. Both Jeff and Bill Murray's characters go through different stages of dealing with reliving the same live/day over and over again. As I read Replay it's interesting to see how he approaches each life differently. 1 - Make lots of money. 2 - Try to be happy. 3 - WTF! Party down! I'm curious to see what's going to happen next.

One thing I've found interesting is his choices of reading material from live to life. It's like the author indulged his own fantasy by asking 'If I had multiple lives to live, what books would I fill them with?' After all, the adage so many books, so little time does not apply.

Beth Sniffs Books wrote: "Tom -- Embarrassed to say that I don't recall Jeff's reading material from my re-read but how fascinating! If you remember any of the titles Jeff reads during his various Replays could you please ..."

In replay 2 he would go the the office, lock the door and read "Sophocles, Shakespeare, Proust, Faulkner...all the works he'd meant to absorb before but never had the time to read.' When he was in the hospital his wife brought him [Travis McGee|761806] and Dick Francis mysteries along with an André Malraux biography and a book on the history of the Cunard Shipping Line. He said then that 'For all she'd never learned about him, Judy certainly understood the eclectic nature of his interests.'

His next life didn't have too much in the way of intellectual pursuits but he did mention reading Tom Wolfe's Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.

In the beginning of chapter 12 he talks about reading The Life of the Mind and A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century.

Tom wrote: "One thing I've found interesting is his choices of reading material from live to life..."

Very cool point! Book nerd that I am, I never picked up on that. Now I want to go back through and make a list.

I have always told my friends and family that I refuse to die until I have finished every book on my to-read list :)

The dad in the film About Time used his time travel abilities to read more books also. Definitely a great fringe benefit of time travel.

Finally got my copy today and dove right in. I love that on his first time back Jeff stops to consider whether his future he remembers could be a fabrication of his mind and that he has never been anything other than 18. A very Phillip K. Dick type of self doubt.

Just finished the book yesterday. Very much enjoyed it overall, although I found the level of philosophy about how to live you life, and seize the moment because time is short, etc was probably a little bit overdone. Having said that though, the book was a great read overall! I still need to digest it a bit.

I'm getting close to the end. This could well become my favorite time travel book, assuming you can even call it that.

This has been on my shelf for years. After I read The Carpet Makers I will be reading this next. What a great last book to read for the year.

I have to agree with the kudos, as it's a brilliant, totally enjoyable, read. And given Jeff's incredible circumstances and understandable desperation at some points, I find no fault with his "philosophizing." I remember when Grimwood passed away and people were speculating that he'd be back. Maybe he is, though in another Timeline, as Jeff would be.

I'm just reading The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel. It's about a widow who's husband died 12 years previously and after finally accepting a new marriage proposal, she finds herself waking the next day with her appropriately aged (now very much alive) husband and daughter remembering things she never lived. All that in the first 40 pages.

Looking forward to reading more. :-)

While I'm really liking this book, I haven't rated it yet. However in the bar beside my name it is showing a 4 star rating! This is what the rating average is for this book Hhmmmmmm

That does sound like the book to read next, after Replay, Reva, thanks.

Just joined the group as I love time travel stories and Replay is my favorite(I even have a signed copy). Thanks for starting this group and to the person who suggested Replay, it gives me a reason to re-read it.

(Reva, according to your bookshelf you gave Replay 4 stars already, maybe back when you added it in July.)

Cheryl wrote: "(Reva, according to your bookshelf you gave Replay 4 stars already, maybe back when you added it in July.)"

Duh, Thanks Cheryl. I wasn't thinking of Replay. I need more sleep.

Tom wrote: "I'm getting close to the end. This could well become my favorite time travel book, assuming you can even call it that."

I have been facing the same question. My book features the same kind of "time travel" and I have always been reluctant to call it that. The repeated shift in time is more a vehicle for the story than the focus of it.

I'm about half way through and find it interesting how many of the same ideas this book tackles as I found myself entertaining. I can't wait to see how it wraps up.

One of the things that interested me was how long it took Jeff to try to tell someone about his situation. It gets dealt with eventually, but I would find it difficult to keep a secret like that for even a few years let alone a few lifetimes.

And you would think it would be trouble-free. Tell the whole story to the NY TIMES, sure -- next life it'll all reset and you won't have to worry.

I wondered why he and Pamela didn't prearrange some way to convince her parents of what was happening. I would think a combination of corroborating stories and prediction of future events would do the trick.

Nathan wrote: "One of the things that interested me was how long it took Jeff to try to tell someone about his situation. It gets dealt with eventually, but I would find it difficult to keep a secret like that fo..."

I can understand Jeff's need to share his story, given his loss and loneliness in a predicament he still couldn't comprehend. And when he did (view spoiler)[confide in Mareille in a weaker moment, her betrayal pushed him into the further seclusion of backwoods Northern California. (hide spoiler)] He realized he could only rely on himself. Or as Grimwood described it, it left him "more alone than before."

At the end of one life I thought that Pamela and Jeff should have written memoirs and arranged for them to be opened in the event of my death. They might have provided some comfort and understanding to those they left behind.

Tom wrote: "I wondered why he and Pamela didn't prearrange some way to convince her parents of what was happening. I would think a combination of corroborating stories and prediction of future events would do ..."

That might work if (view spoiler)[ both their replays kicked in at the same time and Jeff wasn't arrested for stalking a 14 year old. (hide spoiler)] But it seems that with replays, everything can go wrong!

The reset eliminates opportunity cost, but not the interim pain of poor decisions. There has to be some pain and culpability (kryptonite and mate-rending ecstasy) or we feel jealousy rather than empathy.

David wrote: "...There has to be some pain and culpability (kryptonite and mate-rending ecstasy) or we feel jealousy rather than empathy."

I don't know about you, but I feel jealousy no matter what. I'd love to have the chance to live a dozen or so different lives!!

Nathan wrote: "One of the things that interested me was how long it took Jeff to try to tell someone about his situation..."

I can understand his reticence. After all, he has no proof. People might just think he was crazy, or want to use/abuse his talent. Must have been a huge relief when (view spoiler)[he met Pam and was able to really talk to someone who knew what he was going through (hide spoiler)].

Michele wrote: "...I'd love to have the chance to live a dozen or so different lives!!"

You sound like an eternal optimist. It might be nice on paper, but I think the ennui would get the best of us after a while. It was merciful that Jeff got an end game.

The other thing you would really like to avoid is being incarcerated in a mental institution. If they dose you with heavy drugs you might spend that entire lifetime in a straitjacket.

Jeff's retreat to the Sierras is akin to Solomon's recognition of his surrounding vanity. If you're just waiting for the cycle to end, a little thorazine might help.

I found Jeff's reason for not wanting to have children interesting: knowing that this was a person that would exist in one timeline only and not wanting to lose someone forever that he'd loved so much. This isn't a theme I see too often in time travel, but the existence of any one person is so tenuous from a timing standpoint that a time traveler who toys with his own timeline would certainly put their own children's existence in peril. I think it would be heartbreaking for a child to exist in one life but never in another, especially if everyone else was the same. Is it better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all? It seems that he (spoiler from Replay 2)(view spoiler)[ had a deeper connection and love for his daughter Gretchen than to anyone else (at least in the first 3 Replays I've read so far). (hide spoiler)]

Amy wrote: "I found Jeff's reason for not wanting to have children interesting: knowing that this was a person that would exist in one timeline only and not wanting to lose someone forever that he'd loved so m..."

I saw this action on his part as more for his benefit than Gretchen's. He didn't want to grieve the loss of any more children.

Amy wrote: "I found Jeff's reason for not wanting to have children interesting: knowing that this was a person that would exist in one timeline only and not wanting to lose someone forever that he'd loved so much..."

To me his reasoning appeared selfish (though totally understandable, and I sympathize with it). His reason is that HE didn't want to suffer. But isn't it worse for a child -- a unique life -- never to exist? By choosing not to have children he's denying them any existence at all.

I think it might be easier to judge his decision if we knew whether all these lives continued (many worlds) or if each one was erased and only the present timeline exists. In the former case, the child still exists in some other timeline and can have a full, happy life. In the latter case, the child is deleted each time he replays, so his argument is a little stronger.

However, I would still argue that it's better to have existed than not :)

One of the things this book makes me consider is which portion of my life I would prefer to do over. Some stories like Groundhog Day or Edge of Tomorrow limit the character to one day. That would certainly be tedious. Harry August had to do the whole lifetime. Jeff starts at the edge of adulthood. Replay makes a good case for skipping adolescence.
I think if I could pick my start and end date, I would have a hard time picking. As much as I would dislike repeating all of my childhood, I would certainly choose to go back to when I was two because my father passed away just prior to me turning three and I have no memories of him. I wouldn't be able to stop the cancer that killed him--a two year old is pretty ineffective as a catalyst for change--but I could retain memories of him as a man that I never got to keep.
As far as choosing when to end? I think seeing kids grow at least to adulthood would be a must. Choosing a point to die after that would be a really hard decision.

Michele wrote: "Isn't it worse for a child -- a unique life -- never to exist?"

Gretchen existed in one timeline and continues to exist there. We will die in the future but continue to exist here (what by then will have become the past). Abraham Lincoln is alive in the past until JWB puts a bullet in his head.

Is living in two timelines better than one? Is having been alive in one past preferable to some other? We account for life with integers, and assume some true zero (birth, or conception) but maybe we should think of life as having an ordinal, rather than rational value.

Nathan wrote: "One of the things this book makes me consider is which portion of my life I would prefer to do over..."

The key I think is that he's retaining all his memories, so he has a totally different perspective on his earlier years than he did the first time around.

I for sure wouldn't choose to relive my college years if I were coming to them just as I did then, with no more understanding or knowledge. But if I were replaying those years in possession of all the later knowledge I gained, that might be quite exciting. Think of all the things that seem HUGELY IMPORTANT at that age but later you realize they didn't matter, or all the missed opportunities because you were too young/shy/scared/hesitant. You could bypass all of that, and in living your younger years with "older" eyes make much different, perhaps more interesting and more self-aware choices.

I think I might also choose to replay my first marriage. Again, with the added perspective and wisdom of years, things might have turned out very differently.

Nathan wrote: "I think if I could pick my start and end date, I would have a hard time picking."

Yeah, that would be really difficult. There's always something earlier or later that would be tempting. Although given that replaying means you have all your memories, I don't think I'd start any earlier than about nine or ten. I can't imagine being an adult intelligence in the body of an infant!!

Michele wrote: "2. There were one or two of his lives that I at first thought, "Wow, I would NEVER try that kind of life." But then, I'm in the single-life mindset. If I knew, or thought, that I had an unlimited number of lives to spend, I might try a decadent one or two, knowing that it was impermanent and wouldn't matter in the long run. It's hard to truly put yourself in that position, mentally, isn't it?"

Actually, I thought his 3rd replay made a lot of sense. He had tried going for the big bucks and that didn't work. He tried living a good life and that didn't work. By then it is perfectly understandable that he would say 'F___ it" and not even try to accomplish anything. Wne he burned out on that he tried the hermit's lifestyle. Tune in, turn on and drop out. It's all in the escape.

One of the things I reflected on after I read the book and a few other similar books also, was if I was re-borne at different stages of my life, would there be some sporting event, lottery, or stock market occurrences that I could bet on and win big. there are lots of long term stock market gains, but if I needed to raise a bunch of cash on the results of a sporting event, I probably could not come up with very many.

Michele wrote: "Although given that replaying means you have all your memories, I don't think I'd start any earlier than about nine or ten. I can't imagine being an adult intelligence in the body of an infant!! "

I don't think I would want to start any earlier than college age. You have so little control over your life as a child/teenager. I think it would be really difficult to have the mind of an adult, yet not really be able to run your own life.

There's a lot of wisdom here. My favorite gem is Grimwood's reminder of what we all share with Jeff, "that metaphoric exile to which all of us are subject, and that Jeff grasped more than anyone before him: our common and inevitable expulsion from the years that we have lived and put behind us, from the people we have been and known and have forever lost."

So it's not just Jeff and Pamela; it's all of us to some extent. A Replay might be an amazing adventure, but only up to that point when we're losing more than we'd imagined. I think I prefer Time Machines.

Wow. This is one of the books that actually stood up to a second reading for me. This was definitely a different book to me this time because of a difference in life experience 10 years later. Maybe it's one I should read every 10 years. Perhaps I can put it on my Google calendar for a revisit in 2024.

One thing I'm left wondering at the end is what happened in the first 7 replays when (view spoiler)[ the imposter replayer consciousness left and Jeff and Pamela's old selves wake up on October 18, 1988, to find that some weird life has befallen them that they cannot account for. Really? I produced a movie called Starsea? or Gretchen? I don't have a child named Gretchen. or How did I become a high school drop out millionaire? (hide spoiler)]

Does anyone else find it eerie that the author died of a heart attack at a relatively young age?

I read this one over the weekend. (Never read it before.) I enjoyed the book, but wasn't bowled over by it. It did get me thinking about what I would do differently in my life if I got sent back (although I'm only 27 and in a good place in my life, so I wouldn't probably change much, except out of boredom the way Jeff did in his later reincarnations). (view spoiler)[I related to Pamela's frustration of having to live life at 14 again and dealing with immature friends, the simplicity of high school, and living under your parents' rules again. (hide spoiler)]

Another thing I thought was interesting was that none of the replayers we knew about tried to commit suicide ala Harry August. It would have been interesting to see if that affected things.

I wished that they would have found more replayers and (view spoiler)[was kind of shocked that their attempts to find them (via magazine and national conference) didn't bring any more out of the wood work. (hide spoiler)] I also thought it was crazy how spot-on some of the author's predictions about the future of politics was, especially in regards to the Middle East. (I kept having to remind myself this book was written in the 80s.)

I don't know if there really is a message. I got the impression that the author felt that even if people got a second chance at life, they were likely to make mistakes even if they knew the future. The only thing we can do is continue to try and not check out in our relationships because that's a sure way to be unhappy. (view spoiler)[The only advantage replaying really seemed to give Jeff was a companion in Pamela. (hide spoiler)]

Libby, have you ever seen the movie About Time? It deals with the same idea of having a different child if you conceived on a different day, and the possibility of losing a family member because of time travel.

There's also a Broadway musical running now, IF/THEN, about changing a key moment in your life -- I think the heroine selects boyfriend A instead of boyfriend B.

There was a FB meme a little while ago, about sending two words of advice back in time to your younger self. Mine was Buy Microsoft.

Samantha wrote: "Libby, have you ever seen the movie About Time? It deals with the same idea of having a different child if you conceived on a different day, and the possibility of losing a family member because of time travel."

I haven't seen that! Sounds interesting though. I'll check it out! Thanks!

Beth Sniffs Books wrote: "Amy wrote: "Wow. This is one of the books that actually stood up to a second reading for me. This was definitely a different book to me this time because of a difference in life experience 10 years..."

(view spoiler)[I assumed that in the original timeline and each replay they only thought that they had died, just as in the final one. It's only their singular consciousness that went to a parallel universe/another replay. (hide spoiler)]

That's such a great movie. It actually has a lot of interesting parallels to Replay, now that I think about it. Mostly in the dad's character--his affinity for books, etc. I also love his particular reasoning for "replays." I think you will really enjoy the film.

I think that hardest thing to deal with would be the loss of a child. No matter how perecisely you recreated your life there would be no way to reproduce that exact moment of procreation. Unless you had a strong faith in the idea of fate, the moment you realized that you could never get your child back would be utterly devastating.

That was notion that prompted me to start "Time Skip". Everything else that the book became kind of grew around that kernal. Writing that scene in the early stage of the book was actually quite emotional. Just imagining the loss of my son that way was difficult to put in words.

Yes, Beth, that is it! It's a great film.

I made a soundtrack for the book here (with a few substitutions for missing original songs and a sampling when just a composer or album was mentioned):
https://play.spotify.com/user/paisley...

I probably missed a few, but here are the movie, reading, and music lists for the book:

REPLAY 1: Gambling & Money

Movies
“The Birds”
“Dr. No”
“Beyond the Fringe” (Sharla)
“Bridge on the River Kwai”
“Cleopatra”
“2001 Space Odyssey”
“Petulia”

Reading
Patterns of Culture
Growing Up in Samoa
Statistical Populations
Fail-Safe
The Making of the President 1960
Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
Robert A. Heinlein novels
Racing Form
V. by Thomas Pynchon
the "International Herald Tribune"
Airport by Arthur Hailey (Linda)

Music
Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto
The Kingston Trio
Jimmy Witherspoon
“Desafinado”
“Our Day Will Come” by Ruby & the Romantics
“Surfin’ USA”
“I Will Follow Him”
“Puff, the Magic Dragon”
“Days of Wine & Roses” by Andy Williams
“If You Wanna be Happy” by Jimmy Soul

REPLAY 2: Family

Reading
Sophocles
William Shakespeare
Marcel Proust
William Faulkner
Jaws by Peter Benchley (Judy)
Travis McGee mysteries
Dick Francis mysteries
a biography of Andre Malraux
a history of the Cunard shipping line (perhaps Merchant Fleets in Profile - Vol 2: Ships of the Cunard, American, Red Star, Inman, Leyland, Dominion, Atlantic Transport and White Star lines)
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

Music
Bach
Vivaldi
“Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band”
Pachebel’s “Canon in D”

REPLAY 3: Sex, Drugs, Farming, & Pamela

Movies
Starsea

Reading
The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby by Tom Wolfe
The Life of the Mind : The Groundbreaking Investigation on How We Think (I & II) by Hannah Arendt
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century (a re-read)
“Redding Record Searchlight” (storekeeper)

Music
“Blues in the Cove”
“Frankie & Johnny”
“Call Me” Giorgio Morodov’s cover (passing boom box)
“Concierto de Aranjuez” by Laurindo Almerda

REPLAY 4: Searching for Other Replayers

Movies
“Hard Day’s Night”

Reading
Candy

Music
“Fingertips, Part II” by Stevie Wonder
“Pride & Joy” by Marvin Gaye
“Easier Said Than Done” by Cousin Brucie with the Essex

REPLAY 5: Researching the Scientific Reasons for the Replays

Music
“Feliz Navidad”
“Cielito Lindo”
“Sunshine of Your Love” by Eric Clapton
Cream’s Disraeli Gears album (Pam)
“Dance the Night Away” by Cream
“Dance to the Music” by Sly and the Family Stone
“Dock of the Bay” by Ottis Redding (Pam)
“Different Drum” by Stone Poney and Linda Ronstadt

REPLAY 6: Marriage Returns

Reading
The Algiers Motel Incident by John Hersey

REPLAY 7: Nearing the End of the Line

Reading
a Barbara Cartland novel (Pam)
a John Lilly novel (Pam’s kid)

Music
“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” (Pam’s kid)
“Like a Virgin” (Pam’s kid)

REPLAYS 8+: Not Enough Time

Wow Amy! That's quite a list! Thank you so much for compiling that for us!

Amy wrote: "I made a soundtrack for the book here (with a few substitutions for missing original songs and a sampling when just a composer or album was mentioned):
https://play.spotify.com/user/paisley......"

Wow! Great job, Amy. Now I'm looking back to refresh my memory as to context for some of these. Many thanks.

Amy wrote: "I made a soundtrack for the book here (with a few substitutions for missing original songs and a sampling when just a composer or album was mentioned):
https://play.spotify.com/user/paisley......"

I glossed over the reference to The Algiers Motel Incident when I was reading Replay. After your post, I took a look at it and am very interested in it, especially after all that has been happening lately.