{"id":148,"date":"2008-09-25T14:53:56","date_gmt":"2008-09-25T22:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=148"},"modified":"2008-11-22T13:30:37","modified_gmt":"2008-11-22T21:30:37","slug":"revisiting-replay-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/revisiting-replay-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Revisiting Replay (Part 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This is the third post in a series of chapter by chapter commentaries on the novel <a title=\"Amazon.com - Replay\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/068816112X\/?tag=timelpersu-20\" target=\"_self\">Replay<\/a> by Ken Grimwood.\u00c2\u00a0 To start at the beginning, check out <a title=\"Revisting Replay (Part 1)\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=125\" target=\"_self\">Part 1<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Note:<\/span> If you haven&#8217;t read <em>Replay<\/em>, the following <span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">may<\/span> will contain spoilers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chapter Thirteen<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Jeff wakes up in bed, but instead of his dorm room he finds himself at his parents house in Florida some three months later than he expected.\u00c2\u00a0 He immediately hits the road for Connecticut to rendezvous with Pamela.\u00c2\u00a0 When he arrives, she has no idea who he is.\u00c2\u00a0 She&#8217;s her normal 14 year old self who hasn&#8217;t started replaying yet &#8212; with parents who aren&#8217;t too pleased with the creepy older stalker their daughter has acquired.\u00c2\u00a0 The brilliance of this complication lies in how it&#8217;s been discretely set up all along.\u00c2\u00a0 Each successive replay has always slowly creeped forward by hours or days, but it&#8217;s subtle enough to stay in the college days with the same cast of characters that it goes largely unnoticed until an exponential jump sneaks up on the reader and Jeff simultaneously.<\/li>\n<li>Months later Jeff tries to call Pamela at home to see if anything has changed.\u00c2\u00a0 He gives the fake name of Alan Cochran to not raise suspicion with her parents.\u00c2\u00a0 Alan Cochran is actually an alias that Ken Grimwood used to publish the out of print novel <em>Two Plus Two<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 Using the Alan Cochran name in <em>Replay<\/em> was actually how Grimwood revealed his authorship of this other book to the world.\u00c2\u00a0 As far as I&#8217;ve read he never publicly acknowledged writing it other than this tiny clue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Chapter Fourteen<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pamela eventually starts replaying a year and a half late, and is even more freaked out about it than Jeff is.\u00c2\u00a0 They decide to seek out other replayers to compare notes and possibly figure out what is happening to them.\u00c2\u00a0 To accomplish this, they place an ad in all of the major newspapers and magazines that reads:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>Do you remember Watergate? Lady Di? The shuttle disaster? The Ayatollah? <em>Rocky? Flashdance?<\/em> If so, you&#8217;re not alone.\u00c2\u00a0 Contact P.O. Box 1988, New York, N.Y. 10001.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>This ad was the direct inspiration for the note the narrator of <em>Timely Persuasion<\/em> finds on his car:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>Ever wonder what could have been? Better still, does the voice inside your head insist you already know? Test subjects wanted for experiments on the subconscious powers of the mind.\u00c2\u00a0 Top $$$ to those who qualify.\u00c2\u00a0 Call 310-779-5234 to register.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Chapter Fifteen<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Most of the responses to the ad prove to be false leads, but they do manage to find a replayer by the name of Stuart McCowan.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, Mr. McCowan has become a serial killer in his replays, believing the phenomenon to be caused by aliens who expect the subjects to entertain them with murder.\u00c2\u00a0 I&#8217;ve always envisioned <a title=\"IMDB.com - Michael Emerson\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0256237\/\" target=\"_self\">Michael Emerson<\/a> as McCowan based on his creepy Emmy-winning performance as serial killer William Hinks on <em>The Practice<\/em> &#8212; years before he was ever cast to play Ben on <em>Lost<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Jeff and Pamela waste the majority of this replay on a futile search for others like them and McCowan, eventually dying on schedule.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Jeff loses 14 months the next time around, Pamela loses 3.5 years.\u00c2\u00a0 There&#8217;s a great scene reminiscent of <em>Quantum Leap<\/em> told from the perspective of pre-leap in Pamela leading up to her arrival in her own head.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of this might have been subconscious inspiration for the mind-travel in TP (though QL was the more overt connection).<\/li>\n<li>This same scene also put me at ease in the decision to show one blink from the perspective of Local Boy when everything else was first person.\u00c2\u00a0 I struggled over that section for awhile in rewrites until I realized Grimwood did it too.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Chapters Sixteen &amp; Seventeen<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Still curious about the forward &#8220;skew&#8221; in each successive replay, the pair decide to go public this time around.\u00c2\u00a0 The veiled predictions of their advertisement become brazenly publicized predictions of world events.\u00c2\u00a0 At first glance you need to suspend some disbelief here as a lot of predictions that include specific dates (when Justice Earl Warren will resign, for example) could be subject to change once publicized, but since that thought pays off later it ends up working.<\/li>\n<li>Most of the general public writes them off as psychic frauds, but a covert government agency uses them to &#8220;predict&#8221; world events such as wars, terrorist attacks, and political uprisings so the military can act on them.\u00c2\u00a0 But once the US starts intervening based on this intel, the course of world events spiral so far out of control and off kilter that neither Jeff nor Pamela know what&#8217;s going to happen next.\u00c2\u00a0 This causes a huge riff in their relationship, nicely setting up their next replays.<\/li>\n<li>Jeff&#8217;s next replay begins in an air conditioned Florida apartment with someone persistently ringing his doorbell.\u00c2\u00a0 It turns out to be Linda &#8211; his past\/future wife and current girlfriend &#8212; who he hasn&#8217;t seen for 118 years since she last shunned his advances in replay #1.\u00c2\u00a0 With their money problems solved and their first meeting already out of the way, this time around their life together is nearly perfect.\u00c2\u00a0 This mirrors TP&#8217;s narrator&#8217;s unexpected second chance with the redheaded girl.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To be concluded in <a title=\"Revisiting Replay (Part 4)\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=168\" target=\"_self\">Part 4<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the third post in a series of chapter by chapter commentaries on the novel Replay by Ken Grimwood.\u00c2\u00a0 To start at the beginning, check out Part 1. Note: If you haven&#8217;t read Replay, the following may will contain spoilers. Chapter Thirteen Jeff wakes up in bed, but instead of his dorm room he&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[6,5,30],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-time-travel","tag-lost","tag-quantum-leap","tag-replay"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3pfx3-2o","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":168,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/revisting-replay-part-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":148,"position":0},"title":"Revisiting Replay (Part 4)","author":"LBDG","date":"October 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the final post in a series of chapter by chapter commentaries on the novel Replay by Ken Grimwood.\u00c2\u00a0 To start at the beginning, check out Part 1. Note: If you haven't read Replay, the following may will contain spoilers. Chapters Eighteen to Twenty Pamela returns in 1975 this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Time Travel&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Time Travel","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/time-travel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/revisiting-replay-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":148,"position":1},"title":"Revisiting Replay (Part 2)","author":"LBDG","date":"September 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the second post in a series of chapter by chapter commentaries on the novel Replay by Ken Grimwood.\u00c2\u00a0 To start at the beginning, check out Part 1. Note: If you haven't read Replay, the following may will contain spoilers. Chapter Seven Jeff starts his second replay in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Time Travel&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Time Travel","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/time-travel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":125,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/revisiting-replay-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":148,"position":2},"title":"Revisiting Replay (Part 1)","author":"LBDG","date":"September 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently started my annual re-reading of my favorite novel, Replay by Ken Grimwood.\u00c2\u00a0 Since I consider the book to be at the core of my time travel trinity (taking the literary slot alongside Quantum Leap for TV and Back To The Future for film), I thought it would be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Time Travel&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Time Travel","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/time-travel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":960,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/i-write-like\/","url_meta":{"origin":148,"position":3},"title":"I Write Like","author":"LBDG","date":"August 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent some time playing around with the \u00c2\u00a0\"I Write Like\" website using various snippets from my writing. \u00c2\u00a0Check out the results below. \u00c2\u00a0Never realized how wide my range was or the company I kept. Bowling Alley Scene (Chapter 2 of TP) I write like P. G. Wodehouse I Write\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1622,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/enumerating-the-top-time-travel-stories\/","url_meta":{"origin":148,"position":4},"title":"Enumerating the Top Time Travel Stories","author":"LBDG","date":"January 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Timely Persuasion was recently named third favorite time travel story on the Enumeration Podcast! It was an honor to be named here amongst several other great time travel tales. The three hosts came up with quite a set of stories altogether. Their complete lists are covered below - but check\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Enumeration - Time Travel Stories","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/episode65_220x220.jpg.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":273,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/ramblings-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":148,"position":5},"title":"Ramblings I","author":"LBDG","date":"December 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In the spirit of the early years of the Pearl Jam Xmas Single, here are some tangentially on-topic thoughts not big enough for their own posts: I've been having recurring dreams (and\/or daydreams) where M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel (aka She & Him) cover \"Start Choppin'\" by Dinosaur Jr., trading\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Misc Debris&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Misc Debris","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/misc-debris\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":248,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}