Title: Repeat

Author: Neal Pollack

Publication Date: Mar 2015

Genre: Sci-Fi

Score: 4/5

Repeat was a pleasant surprise. It’s not perfect and an obvious derivation of Replay by Ken Grimwood but a very strong 3.5/5 regardless. It tells the story of a man caught in an infinite time loop who disappears on the eve of his fortieth birthday and reappears into his fetal self as he is being born. This happens hundreds of times and the story deals with his actions during these repeats. The ending is too abrupt. There’s no inciting event that causes his repeats to stop. I’m not sure he even learns anything worthwhile. But the ride there is fine and an easy read. Recommended.


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In Neal Pollack’s novel Repeat, failed Hollywood screenwriter Brad Cohen ends up living the first forty years of his life over and over again in a ‘continuous time loop’. Pollack rebels against the initial instinct to resort to the repetitive actions of someone trying to accomplish the same thing over and over again, and this is probably what keeps the novel - for the most part - fresh. However, the avoidance of expectation throws a logical monkey wrench into the works from a narrative standpoint; before his ‘time loop’ begins, we are given a lengthy introduction to the main character’s waning career as a novelist and screenwriter, one of the main reasons he comes to consider himself an abject failure on the eve of his fortieth birthday. With the amount of time spent on this major aspect of the character, you would reasonably expect many of his ‘repeats’ to involve improving as a writer. Likewise, for a man separated from the love of his life by an infinite time loop, you would expect repeated attempts at igniting that romance again. Unfortunately, these are just some of the many expectations left wanting in a novel that, for the most part, tries to be funnier and deeper than it actually is.

The bulk of Repeat, instead of sincerely delving into the metaphysical aspects of living one’s life over and over again, weighs heavily on self-referential name dropping and self-deprecating reflections that make it more and more apparent that the author’s biggest crime against his audience is not just making himself the main character and doing away with all of his thinly-veiled subterfuge. The narcissistic navel-gazing hits a brief fever-pitch in a chapter near the end of the book comprised of an article by an nameless Chicago journalist (guess who) that wraps up with a befuddled Brad Cohen providing the author’s doppelganger with Wikipedia-worthy description of his future achievements. It’s a stab at being cute/clever that falls far from Breakfast of Champions, and makes the following yoga-centric chapter (Hint: Pollack is into yoga) nearly unbearable.

Self-deprecation is also a form of self-defense, and Pollack uses it to beat his critics to the punch early in the novel by having failed screenwriter Brad Cohen repeatedly weathering accusations that his television pilot concept sounds like a rehash of Groundhog Day. Whether it’s a thinly-veiled attempt to deflect his own insecurities or a stab at going ‘Meta’, it’s a comparison the reader doesn’t need spelled out. Perhaps Pollack’s mirror-gazing approach is to blame for what I found to be the biggest flaw in the story of Brad Cohen’s one hundred relived lifetimes, which is a lack of human connections. One of the biggest comments you will see in reviews of the book is unavoidable comparisons to Groundhog Day and It’s a Wonderful Life, but the one parallel absent from Pollack’s novel that these other referenced works feature is an attention to human relationships. While Brad Cohen’s wife and daughters are part of the launching-pad that he jettisons on his return to the womb, there is only one instance either described or eluded to that involves him trying to reunite with his wife throughout his entire 4,000 year journey. Great attention is given to financial success, professional achievement, and unrestrained hedonism, yet what is invariably glossed over is the potential for establishing, reestablishing, developing, or even investigating relationships with other people, familial or otherwise. Outside of his first life repeat’s journey through birth and infancy with an adult mind (his Mother’s nipple and diapers play a significant role in the humor throughout), Brad Cohen’s obsession with becoming a Jeopardy champion takes up more print space than his relationship with his parents, despite being forced to spend roughly a third of each repeated life living with them. This lack of intimacy extends to childhood friends, adult friends, or any kind of relationship that isn’t directly related to the overriding obsession with fortune and fame. Pollack’s character ricochets between materialistic hedonism and minimalist Zen philosophy without any substantive attempts to live any kind of life that involves forging new bonds. While it can argued that this is a flaw inherent in the character’s psyche, this is an assumption that shouldn’t have to be made on behalf of the author.

Despite these criticisms, I would not say that Repeat was unenjoyable, only that the novel is overall – much like Brad Cohen’s repeated lives - a hit-or-miss experience. Also, to be fair, injecting yourself into the company of iconic classics such as Groundhog Day and It’s a Wonderful Life is an open invitation to falling short, regardless of how you try to diffuse that level of expectation in advance. Not being familiar with any of Pollack’s other works, I can only assume that this is not his best or worst attempt, and I don’t see any reason to treat it as either. It’s a passable novel, and if you’re looking to pass time (but not lifetimes), then you could do far worse. ( )

Agonizing to go through each repeat. I couldn't deal with it. Maybe my own problem. Neal Pollack has a great sense of humor so if you can handle the rest, you may like it. ( )

Not what expected, which is good

It wasn't ground hogs day (thankfully) and for the most part it was entertaining, but the ending wasn't what was expected from the build up. ( )

This review and others posted over at my blog.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

From NetGalley: Through strange metaphysical circumstances, failed screenwriter Brad Cohen finds himself caught in an infinite time loop, forced to relive the first forty years of his life again and again. Each “repeat,” Brad wakes up in the womb on what was supposed to be his fortieth birthday, with full knowledge of what’s come before. In various timelines, he becomes a successful political pundit, a game-show champion, a playboy, and a master manipulator of the stock market, but none of them seem to lead him out of his predicament. As he realizes he wants to break out of the loop and find the love of his life—the one he hadn’t appreciated the first time around—Brad tries, fails, and tries again to escape the eternal cycle of birth and rebirth. Repeat answers the question: If you could live half your life over, would you do things differently?

What I liked:
The concept – rather than living the same day over, as in Groundhog Day, Brad is forced to live 40 years of his life over and over. He never experiences anything beyond his fortieth birthday, yet he is still basically born with knowledge of the future that gives him a certain amount of power. In the beginning of the book, before being stuck in this loop, I also liked Brad. He was funny in your everyman, semi-loser sort of way – someone who is stuck at the low end of the middle class, with a family he loves, yet generally dissatisfied with the direction his life has taken as he laments lost opportunities. He had a good sense of humor to start with and gave me a few chuckles.

What I didn’t like:
Unfortunately I lost interest in this book fast. The very first time Brad enters this unending time loop, he describes emerging from the womb and breastfeeding with more detail than I needed. I understand that being born again with your 40-year-old mind and actually having the consciousness to be aware of your birth would be shocking, but I can imagine that on my own, thank you. The detail that Brad puts into describing both his desire and reluctance to breastfeed was also unnecessary – it came off more as a weird fantasy and somehow felt dirty. Brad then proceeds to greatly describe the joys of masturbating at age eleven, with the skill and technique of an adult male – another strange segment that came off as a disturbing fantasy I could have gone without. I don’t consider myself to be a prude, so maybe it’s simply because I’m reading from a female perspective, but there was a big disconnect for me at this point in the book, and from that point I less invested in the overall story.

As Brad continually begins his life anew on the eve of his fortieth birthday, readers are fortunately spared more details regarding breastfeeding and masturbation, but I still found my mind wandering off. Again, I think the concept of this book was strong, but there was something about the way Pollack handled the repetitions that just didn’t hold my interest. There is a little darkness to this story – Brad lives many “successful” lives as a wealthy man, pursuing different careers, taking advantage of his knowledge of stocks, sports statistics and presidential elections, but none of these lives make him truly happy, as he’s missing his wife and daughters in each of them. However, I didn’t find any of his repeats particularly gripping, and so I didn’t really feel for Brad or pity his situation. I think perhaps this book might have suited me better if it were a novella or short story, with a little more edge to it.

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In the end, Repeat had a predictable ending and main character I considered to be a little bland, considering how many times he lived his life over. ( )