Twice: A Novel

4.25 [4.5 for first two-thirds; 3.5 for ending] Ŵhat most of us wouldn’t give for a handful of do-overs. How about a lifetime of them?

Albom has done it again. “Twice” is a beautifully written tale built around an intriguing premise. This touching love story oozes with magical realism, enticing readers to think inward about what choices they might make if they had second chances that allow them to change decisions both large and small. I found myself pondering “what-if” scenarios a half-dozen times during this breezy read.

Sadly, the ending didn’t quite work for me — and I’m not exactly sure why (no spoilers here). Nevertheless, “Twice” is a dreamy journey that is likely to produce both chuckles and tears.

Time travel and magical realism are not my favorite genres but because I have enjoyed all of Mitch Albom's books, I decided to take a chance on his new book. I am really glad that I did and in my opinion this is his best book yet. It's thought provoking and beautifully written and it will make you fall in love with the main character even if sometimes you want to yell at him not to do certain things. It made me laugh and it definitely made me cry but at the end, it's a reminder of the importance of learning from our mistakes in life.

"You can't go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending."

Alfie finds out at 8 years old that he has a magical power. He has the ability to go back in time to change show more something that happened in his life...he can undo any moment and live it again. He can only go back and change things once and he must accept the consequences of his second try—for better or worse. At first he uses his new power for things like doing well on a test - if he got a low grade on a test for not studying, he can go back and study and then when he takes the test again, he aces it. He also uses it to get rid of embarrassing teen age moments which makes him more popular with the girls because once a change is made, no one remembers the first try. Even though he is warned by his mother and grandmother (who also had the gift) not to use his ability to change his love life because once you make a change in love, you can never go back and correct it to make the person love you again. Making a change in his life with his true love, negatively affects the rest of his life but he has to learn to live with it.

I liked the way the story is told. It starts when Alfie is an old man who is in police custody for allegedly cheating at roulette and winning millions of dollars. He gives the detective a copy of notebook to read to explain his life. While they are reading, we learn all about his earlier life and his love for Gianna. The epilogue to the story provides a perfect ending to Alfie's story.

Give this book a try - it is definitely a winner! show less

This author speaks to me in his own unique way. There’s something about Mitch Albom’s writing that touches my soul. In this book he poses the question “What if you got to everything in your life twice.” This book gives us a glimpse of what this would be like while unravelling a gripping and heart-wrenching love story. We meet Alfie at eight years of age, and we follow him around as he grows up, falls in love, makes mistakes, and while he has tries to figure out how to handle his “gift”. The timing of the book moves ahead in Alfie time, but the time frame is held together by Alfie’s book where he explains his journey through life and love. We see his many mistakes and we see how he tries to correct them. We learn to forgive show more him when he stumbles and cheer him on when he succeeds. Is that any different than normal life? There is a lot to be learned in this little gem of a book. Keep an open mind and read this book. You’ll be glad you did. Then while you’re at it read Tuesdays With Morrie, written by Albom, which is one of my favourite books of all time. show less

Twice, Mitch Albom, author and narrator
What a concept it would be to be able to go back in time, even once. We could correct our mistakes and erase them from the memories of everyone but ourselves. A thoughtless moment immature behavior, foolish actions committed without the intention to harm, would not have to mark the offender for life, would not have to make the person feel inordinate amounts of guilt or shame. Instead, one could actually deal with the mistake, learn from it and correct it, move on and be forgiven, even if that forgiveness comes only from within the very person who made the mistake.
Can you imagine the value of the lesson learned if that power was not abused? I surely wouldn’t want a criminal to go back and commit show more the crime again for his own demented pleasure, that would be an abuse of the power, but a foolish mistake could be undone without the accompanying anger that is so prevalent today, as the masses unite against a common enemy, especially on social media. Schadenfreude has become a common goal instead of the idea of forgiving and forgetting.
Oddly enough, or coincidentally, I just had a conversation with my own family about just this kind of thing, the foolish mistakes that are made, in this case by a child, and the appropriate responses for all those involved, the victims and the victimizers, especially when sometimes both parties are guilty of being both the victim and victimizer, threatening each other, at different times of the event. The incident involved someone in school, a child who used a terrible pejorative, in what he believed was a private conversation. He might have thought that he was being funny and not necessarily cruel. I am not diminishing the behavior in any way, just questioning the responses of others and thinking of long-term consequences for what might have been an innocent mistake made by someone not mature enough to really know the difference. That power that Alfie had, to go back in time and repair the error, would have been very useful in this case. The incident would not have blown up and the child would not have been shamed publicly.
Depending upon the infraction, imagine the change in our own behavior, if we did not overreact. Perhaps we would not have riots, protest marches, frustrated and unhappy individuals who spend each day complaining and objecting to something or other. Perhaps we would have happier people, not obsessed with placing blame and extracting consequences which often outweigh the offense.
The child that I am referring to was punished severely, appropriately or not is not for me to judge. However, when the person that had been offended by the pejorative then behaved abominably and threatened to blackmail that child if he didn’t give him money to keep him quiet, that child’s offensive behavior was ignored. One offender confessed. One did not. The situation blew up, and instead of learning a lesson to be a better person, one child was shamed and humiliated. All of us had differing opinions on the guilt of each child involved, the backgrounds of each and the reason one was ignored and one was not, and the level of punishment that was meted out.
Did the child who made the error truly believe he was having a private conversation with friends, although using email on the internet kind of negates that for most people who understand that anything on the web is not going to remain private. When do words become dangerous? Why did one friend betray the other and tattle on him? Was that honorable behavior or could he have simply told his friend not to behave that way, offering him the opportunity to behave better and delete the word? Why is one child expected to be more mature than the other? Why was the ultimate aim to shame and punish? If only the offender had been able to go back and relive the moment, like Alfie, avoiding the foolish mistake, that once might have been considered a joke, but today is a grave offense. He would learn a lesson without emotional scarring or perpetual shame. Everyone involved would not need to judge or forgive anyone. The need for vengeance that we witness everyday today by adults, would disappear.
So, while I realize I have gone a bit astray and off topic, I believe that Mitch Albom has, once again, pointed his light in the direction of real values, those that we treasure, like love, honesty, redemption and forgiveness. He does not dwell on shame, guilt or punishment. He does all this with brevity and simple language that all of us can identify with and understand. His messages are always loud and clear for anyone who wants to hear them. We should love and respect each other, promote kindness, forgiveness and acceptance, promote good values, and perhaps, simply help each other to enjoy our lives. show less

This book didn't make me cry, so that was surprising. I haven't read a lot of Mitch Albom's books, but I feel like the ones he has written always make me cry. I also enjoy a time travel book. I was really sucked in at the beginning, but then by the middle, I just didn't find it as enticing. I feel like this was supposed to be a love story, but really, was it? The beginning was fun and learning about his "power" and how it worked. And this book did get me thinking of what would I go back and do? And that would also mean I would have to relive not only that moment but everything after that. If you go back in time to see someone who has passed, you then have to live through them passing again. I originally gave this a 3.5 stars but then as show more I'm writing this review and thinking about the book, I change it to a 4 because I really did enjoy most of it. Mitch also has a great reading voice. It's fun that he reads his own books.

[contains spoilers] The main character, Alfie, can go back in time and redo things, but only once. After he goes back once, he can't do it again. That's why I enjoyed the beginning so much and how he lived his life and what he went back and redid and how he used his "power." Like getting to know a girl over weeks and then jumped back in time and he seemed so "in-sync" with her. I found this part of the book to be good and really enjoyed the creativity of how he got out of messes or made bigger messes of them. But the overall story is about a girl that he knew when he lived in Africa when he was a boy. And he randomly runs into her at the zoo in Miami one day (not where he lived). And he decides to "follow" her to college and it's about the things he did wrong and the things he did right. He does finally end up with her and they are living happily-ish. And then she's pregnant, even though he didn't really want kids. And I think this is the part of the story that I start to really dislike Alfie. I get it, it's a man who makes mistakes and is not perfect. But he just kind of sucked hardcore and was not communicating. And then it all falls apart. It just made me think, if this is the love story and the woman he wanted, he let it fall apart instead of opening up and talking to her? And then after that, it just wasn't as great. I can't say I loved the whole casino gambling thing. In the end, because Alfie is dying and in the latest timeline he is the love of his life's assistant. But if he went back and redid the whole thing over, even though he had gone back a lot of "small" times, doesn't really make sense. He would've gone back three times at that point and relived a whole bunch of things over that he already did over. Even during their marriage, he talked about how he went back small times because of arguments or whatever. All those things that he affected, by going back to the day he finally tells her he loves her and then doesn't do it and just decides to be in her life because they "don't make it" the time he tried to stay with her. He'd have to remember all those little changes he made. It just seems like he went back more than twice, which clearly the whole book is based on this "twice" idea. Anywho - Overall, I'm glad I read it and I do love some time travel and it is a very quick read. I probably won't be forgetting this book anytime soon either. It does get you thinking. show less

At age eight, Alfie discovers he has a special talent. He can relive a time in his life, to have a second chance to change things. But he can only change them once, and he must accept the change for what it is. There is no going back again. And there are limits to what he can alter. This is his extraordinary life, for better or worse. This is quite an intriguing concept, and it results in an astonishing novel. Well written and well narrated by the author, this is a novel that will entertain at the very least, and make you wonder what you would do with such a gift.

This fantasy tale reminds me of Stephen King’s 11/23/63. Mitch Albom’s tale is entertaining enough, especially if the reader is a fan of the genre, which I’m not. That said, I did enjoy the story. “Tuesdays With Morrie” is the only other Albom book I’ve read, and that was also an enjoyable read and quite a departure from this piece of fiction. “Twice” might be cross categorized as a YA novel and would be completely appropriate for junior high and older kids. I think they would enjoy it.