Customer Reviews

Rewind

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hmmm.. I agree with most of the reviewers who say that the book kinda kills itself with the unrealistic assumption that adults in children's bodies would be legally seen as children, and treated accordingly.

Still, the book was interesting to read. But now that I've put it back on my bookshelf, I'm beginning to wonder - what exactly was it supposed to tell us? That children have (almost) no rights? First, we knew that. Second, the children depicted in the book aren't really children, they're grownups in children's bodies. So the book really isn't about children and their place in society. It's about something else. I just don't know exactly what. And you can't put too much symbolism in it, because most of the world surrounding the children is painted in fairly easy colors, without much detail, so you can't extrapolate some deeper wisdom about the society we live in - as far as I could see, the book was a 'what if adults ended up in children's bodies?' and there's not much we get out of the answer, because it doesn't have much relevance in real life. If we accept that, it's an enjoyable book.

A very touching book with some great characters. Wish I had written it.

To the commentator who objected to the depiction of a world full of religous (and other) zealots: that IS the world we live in.

Till Noever
Author: KEAEN, SELADIENNA, CONTINUITY SLIP
owlglass.com

As a teacher of gifted children, I enjoyed this view of "adults" trapped in "children's" bodies. Some of them sound a lot like kids I know! : )

Try not to get hung up on the "legal" inconsistencies other critics have mentioned - - our society is by no means a tyranny, but unusual circumstances will provoke extreme reactions in the best of situations. And our world has NOT been a very friendly place for children lately... or =anyone= small and weak.

The interaction of the "rewound" children with each other and the rest of the world, the perspective of adults who find themselves in children's bodies, and the ease in which readers can picture themselves in the main characters' positions (well, if you have imagination, of course) all serve to make this a novel highly recommended.

Mr. England sets up a fascinating scenario for a sequel of sorts (see p. 335)... I hope he'll consider it!

I had already gone on my little book shopping spree the day before, so when I saw this one (even though it looked good) I hesitated. I am certainly glad I didn't hesitate for long! REWIND turned out to be one of the best books I've read in a long time. An intriguing idea, artfully crafted, characters you care about and come to understand, an unreal situation made real-- ths bok has it all!!

_Rewind_ is a fascinating story of adults given an almost incomprehensible gift, the chance to have their childhood body again. The story follows them, studying the world's reaction to these people, and explores the human psyche, our religions, and our cultures.
I liked that we never actually met the Holn, allowing the story to be about humanity. The situations the characters found themselves in were creative and believable.
Mr. England's writing style is smooth and rich, making it difficult to put the book down once you've started to read. He is descriptive without delaying the story.
I assure you, dear reader, if you like authors of the caliber of Asimov or Heinlein, Mr. England's _Rewind_ is a must read.

Rewind is Terry England's first novel, but this is an interesting, mostly polished work which displays only some of the weaknesses typical of first-time novelists. Given the quality of Rewind, it seems likely England will publish more, even better, books in the future.

Rewind is very much an idea-driven book. The can be described fairly simply: Seventeen adults of various ages and backgrounds have been regressed to childhood -- each now with a perfectly healthy body apparently 9 years old. This miraculous act of science was performed by the Holn, alien visitors who have been on Earth (in New Mexico) for the past six years. Although the Holn (not to be confused with the "Holnists", the antagonists of David Brin's Postman) have been completely peaceful while on Earth, and have exchanged massive amounts of information with Earth, their unasked for regression of seventeen people to childhood, and subsequent departure from Earth, are completely unexpected and unexplained.

Unfortunately, the building blocks used to explore the Big Idea are frequently less than stellar, and sometimes even amateurish. As mentioned before, the science is quite good, but the sociology and media responses are often unbelievable. The characterization shows great promise. England has gone a long way toward believability with these characters, but hasn't quite gotten there. The actions of most characters seem subverted to the needs of the plot rather than flowing from the decisions of real individuals. Few of the characters are likeable or even particularly interesting.

Entire groups of people are painted with a rather broad, negative, and unrealistic brush. The politicians are all stupid and bad. The reporters are all stupid and rude. Nearly all of the scientists are stupid and childish (somewhat surprising, for a science fiction novel). Religious people are all stupid and ridiculous. The black guy calls himself "the token black" for no apparent reason. The gay guy is a simpering stereotype who jokes about seducing little boys. More accomplished writers often have characters which are more complex and who resemble real people: a character can be a scientist and black and religious, rather than a caricature of just a single element.

I just finished Rewind. The 1/2 page summary about rewound children was intriguing but the plot was not what I had hoped for. Here is why:

I completely disagreed with the ruling that the rewound individuals were to be considered children and that they lost all their adult rights. Consider the case where an adult becomes handicapped to the point where they are only physically functional at the 11 year old level. Should that person have to turn over all their posessions to a guardian and lose the right to vote? That is crazy but that was the ruling which could not even be appealed until the book was over. This is completely unrealistic -- assets would be frozen until the ruling could be appealed. The plot flows from this bad ruling making most of it unbelievable/unnecessary.

There was no sweeping plot to drive the book. It was more like a collection of simple subplots.

I wish that the missing word was resolved.

I hated Earl's description of being with a woman but that is just a personal comment that has nothing to do with the quality of the book.

I liked the author's writing style and the initial concept so I may read his other books in the future.

The only thing worse then a bad novel is a bad novel that you can't put down.

The actual age reduction in this book is good. Excellent, in fact. The portrayal of the childrens' suffering and powerlessness is gripping, their rare courage in the face of their plight is touching, even inspiring. People keep calling them alien, yet their humanity is exquisitely real. I really cared about the characters in this book.

But that is a bad thing, because the trials that these kids faced make absolutely no sense. The root of most of the childrens' problems comes from the fact that, despite the scientistąs report about the children retaining their adult minds, the government declares them to be legally children, requiring guardians! The only explanation for this is that, well, they can not function as productive members of society. On the real earth we call this "Handicapped" and donąt respond by stripping the victims of all legal rights, denying them the use of the one thing the tragedy left intact. People just arenąt that dumb! But here, the children are left helpless to defend themselves against many horrid abuses.

Still worse. Now I'm not a major fan of organized religion, but this author has the whole world full of religious zealots calling the children "demons", and he even has the Pope saying "These beings cannot be true to God's creation." Terror ensues. The media are no better. They go into a total frenzy, broadcasting spy photos of what the kids had for lunch at one point, and taking phone polls asking if the kids are Devils or Angles (No other options allowed.) And yet not one of them even attempts to interview the children themselves to get their side of the story! It reality, these kids would be able to walk into any TV studio anywhere and get a half hour interview televised. And with the stories they had to tell, theyąd have the whole nation in outrage at their treatment.

I keep wanting to scream at these idiot bad guys, and ask them how they could be so stupid! But I know why. It's because they are just fictional characters in a dumb novel! They exist only to torment our poor heroes, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it except keep reading, so that the children won't be stuck at the last page I left them. And it takes so much mental effort to hold back all that crushing implausibility.

Any point that the author was trying to make here is totally undermined by the unbelievability of it all. There is enough horror in the world without Terry England making up any more of it.