Name that forgotten novel (scifi)

September 17, 2009 7:40 AM

Memory help: What was the SciFi novel about a man who dies in his 40's to be re-born again as a teen, cycling over and over again ala Groundhog Day, with his memory of former lives intact, re-living the same time period (mid-20th century) over and over. I read it in 1980 or so.

Elements of the story I remember are in one life cycle he uses his foreknowledge of events (who will win the Superbowl, which companies to invest in) to amass a fortune - in another life he marries and settles down with a family - in another life he lives as a hermit.

posted by stbalbach to media & arts (18 comments total)

Ken Grimwood- Replay
posted by kimdog at 7:45 AM on September 17 [1 favorite]

Sure sounds like Replay by Ken Grimwood but Wikipedia says it was published in 1987. I remember the copy I read as looking like an older book.
posted by 5ean at 7:46 AM on September 17

Kimdog, that has an similar plot idea but not the same novel I'm thinking of. This one was probably published in the 1970s, probably by a golden age writer.
posted by stbalbach at 7:51 AM on September 17

Wikipedia has a list of time loops in literature.
posted by sen at 8:33 AM on September 17

sen, thanks, unfortunately it's not there. I've also looked on LibraryThing tags and recommendation lists of various similar novels without luck. I'll know it when I see the authors name or probably title, I recall it being a well known scifi author but a lesser known book.
posted by stbalbach at 9:32 AM on September 17

Man, that really, really does sound like Replay. Are there two books with stories that track each other so closely?
posted by adamrice at 10:18 AM on September 17

It can't be Replay as I read it in 8th grade which is 1979/1980. I would not be surprised if Replay is, well, a replay of this lesser known (but very good) novel, although the plot idea must be older than even that, replaying with each generation.
posted by stbalbach at 11:10 AM on September 17

David Gerrold's The Man Who Folded Himself?
posted by kbuxton at 11:25 AM on September 17

I know it's been said, but I think you're conflating Replay with some other, vaguely similar novel you read in 8th grade. The Man Who Folded Himself is a possibility, but it doesn't fit your description very well; Replay fits it exactly.
posted by gerryblog at 11:47 AM on September 17

I've never read Replay or heard of it before today, just the synopsis on Amazon from the above link.
posted by stbalbach at 11:59 AM on September 17

I hate to say it, stbalbach, but your description matches REPLAY so exactly that I'm more inclined to think you're misremembering when you read it than anything else. I am pretty good at SF idents and I can't think of another novel that comes close to matching your description anywhere near as closely as REPLAY. It's dead on.
posted by Justinian at 1:37 PM on September 17

Here's the wikipedia Time Loop entry. But I concur with the above, you are looking for Replay.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 5:34 PM on September 17

I have not read Replay or heard of it before, most of the specific plot descriptions for Replay on Amazon don't match up at all with the book I remember reading.. When Reaply was published in 1987 I was in college - I read this mystery book in 8th grade, I remember it well - checking it out of the library, being enraptured by the story during lunch hours, I even have a vague picture of the cover in my mind; it made an impact on me and stuck with me over the years, this is not a false memory, just lack of memory of the title.
posted by stbalbach at 5:43 PM on September 17

Ok: when you say you have a vague picture of the cover in mind, does that mean you know sorta what it looked like? That might help. Any other bits of info about the plot? Any names at all?
posted by Justinian at 5:49 PM on September 17

Ok - I just read this review of Replay and it's so exact spot on to the book I remember I'm starting to second guess myself, maybe it is Replay - how this could square with my vivid memories of 8th grade I don't know. The other possibility is Replay is a knock off but that seems less likely given the lack of controversy. I guess it's possible i read Replay ca. 1987 and then much later associated that story with another book I read in 1980.
posted by stbalbach at 6:19 PM on September 17

I guess it's possible probable!
posted by stbalbach at 6:23 PM on September 17

Pick up a cheap copy of REPLAY and give it a read. If you've already read it, parts of it should jog your memory.
posted by Justinian at 8:20 PM on September 17

Might you have read Gordon Eklund's All Times Possible (1974) in 1980 and are now getting it mixed up with Replay?

On July 4, 1947, in a United States with a governmental regime that appears considerably more authoritarian than the one recorded in history, a political radical named Timothy O’Mara attempts to assassinate General Norton. He fails and is summarily executed by the general. He then finds himself back in the early 1920’s, inhabiting the body of a man named Tommy Bloome, whom he once murdered in order to take over his identity.

The main narrative describes, from several points of view, how Tommy Bloome, armed with a mysterious knowledge of things to come,...
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posted by Beautiful Screaming Lady at 5:15 AM on September 18