1.5⭐
Jeez...

When Warren decides that he has reached the end of his life, he is surprised to wake up to find himself back in his 21-year-old body back in the 1960's. With this new lease on life, Warren not gets a chance to redo his life - what the outcome is, only he is to know.

This concept is not really a new one, however I do think that the internalized conversation about self-determination vs. fate is fairly well-done. I'm sure many of us would consider these sorts of things if we, too, woke up and had a chance to redo our pasts.

That said, I don't think this book is worth the paper it's written on. Firstly, the writing isn't as gripping as you might think. While there are some worthwhile contemplative blurbs, the overall schema of the book is trite and overplayed. Secondly, some of the asides that "occur" to the protagonist are completely out of left-field and are almost patronizing. For instance, a scene of him riding a bus in the 1960's has him "marveling" at the liveliness and authenticity of the passengers when they are robbed of the "evil" of social media. This is only the tip of the iceberg, unfortunately, because there are way, way too many observations about the female body that, I think, are not warranted in the least.

You'd think that was all of my misgivings, but, no, there's more. My main issue is the overall storyline. Yes, while I do like the concept of individuals getting opportunity to do it all over again, I don't think Warren necessarily deserves it. He is a cis-male, heterosexual white man - in short, he's privileged. On top of that, in the first chapters, he is reliving his memories of his life and his marriage to his now-dead wife: being a successful author, travelling the world, etc. While I understand he may be heartbroken, I fail to see why he deserves a "take 2" when it seems like his life was pretty darn good the first time around. I mean, he commits suicide in his Aston Martin...come on, really? If this man had lived a closeted life due to societal pressures, or even if he was chasing "the one that got away" I'd at least feel more invested than this guy who gets to "relive" his glory days where it seems like his only goal within the first part of the book is to bed as many women as possible.

I could go on about how in poor taste this book is to be written in 2025, but I will spare you from anything further. The long and short of it is, this is just a masturbatory, "what if" dreamscape of a misogynist, dude-bro wanting to relive his younger years.

TL;DR: "17, Again" but the guy is an absolute knob.

Thank you to Troubadour and NetGalley for this ARC!