Review: Twice

Twice by Mitch Albom
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hooter: Read it twice. Feel it forever.

Mitch Albom’s Twice begins with an irresistibly strange scene. Alfie Logan wins millions at a Nassau roulette table, apparently by landing on the winning number three times in a row, and ends up being questioned by a detective who understandably suspects that the wheel has been given a small career change. Alfie’s explanation takes us back to childhood, when his dying mother reveals that he can say “twice” and return to any moment once. At first, he uses the gift for harmless corrections and teenage experiments. Later, he uses it to shape his life and win the love of Gianna.

The beauty of the book lies in the rule Alfie discovers too late. A moment can be repeated, but love cannot be edited without consequence. Once he undoes a relationship, that person can never love him again. This gives the fantasy its ache. Alfie can revisit embarrassment, danger, and regret, but he cannot simply improve life without changing the people inside it. Albom turns a magical premise into a tender question about whether a perfect life is worth having if it has been manufactured one correction at a time. Twice is warm, moving, and quietly devastating.

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