Restart Summary

Restart is organized around multiple narrators, rotating between Chase and several other students whose lives he affected before his accident.

Structure at a glance

• The fall. Chase Ambrose loses his memory after falling off the roof of his house
• Return to school. Chase gradually realizes, through other students' fear and hostility, that he used to be a notorious bully
• Community service. Assigned to an assisted living facility, Chase befriends Mr. Solway, a Korean War veteran and Medal of Honor recipient
• The stolen medal. Chase's memory begins returning in pieces, including the discovery that he, Aaron, and Bear stole Mr. Solway's medal before the accident
• The confession. Chase returns the medal and takes full responsibility, leading to a juvenile court hearing
• The resolution. Mr. Solway intervenes to protect Chase, and Chase commits to remaining the reformed person he has become

Each narrator's chapters reveal a different piece of who Chase used to be, building a fuller picture than his own amnesia-limited perspective could provide alone.

Chase Ambrose — A former bully and football star who loses his memory after a fall and must decide whether to return to his old identity or become someone better.

Mr. Solway — A Korean War veteran and Medal of Honor recipient at the assisted living facility, who becomes Chase's closest friend and later intervenes to protect him.

Aaron and Bear — Chase's former partners in bullying, who expect him to resume his old role and later try to shift blame for stealing Mr. Solway's medal.

Shoshanna Weber — A video club member and one of Chase's former targets, who slowly comes to believe in his genuine change.

Joel Weber — Shoshanna's brother and one of Chase's most severely bullied victims, whose absence from school highlights the real damage of Chase's past behavior.

Here is a memorable exchange from Restart by Gordon Korman, capturing Mr. Solway's uncertainty about whether Chase has truly changed:

"Maybe it'll come back to me in bits and pieces like some of my past. But when? It could take years. What if Mr. Solway dies in the meantime? How will I ever make it right?"

This line, reflecting Chase's own anxiety about his returning memory, captures the novel's central tension: Chase genuinely wants to remain the better person his amnesia allowed him to become, but he cannot be certain his old instincts won't resurface once his memory fully returns.