“In my long life - and it’s been far longer than anyone knows - I have leapt off a mountain in Spain, dived into a pool of sharks in Australia, stood in front of an oncoming train in China, even taken a bullet during a Mexican bank robbery. I did most of these things to see what it was like, to feel the breath of God or the devil or whatever awaits me when this life is over. It wasn’t courage. I knew I would survive. The reason I knew will be difficult to believe, Boss, but please try, because I’ve been waiting a long time to tell you. All right. Here goes. I get to do things twice.”
That’s a passage from the first few pages of Mitch Albom’s novel Twice. The speaker, Alfie Logan, acquires magical powers at age eight from his mother when she dies. He can undo any moment and relive it, but only once.
Growing up he does it over and over to do better in school, work and relationships until he finds the love of his life Gianna and marries her. He keeps a diary which helps him decide how far to go back when redoing an event. He’s warned that the one caveat to his power is that if he undoes a love, that person will never fall in love with him again.
The book begins in Nassau years after marrying Gianna, when he is arrested on suspicion of cheating after winning millions at the roulette wheel. The chapters switch from Nassau to his life growing up with his power to chapters in his composition notebook that Alfie encourages the detective to read to explain how he didn’t cheat.
As the book jacket says, “Twice will make you smile, weep, think about your own second chances.” If you’ve ever wished you could have a do over…then you must read Twice by Mitch Albom.
