The Confessions of Max Tivoli

By: Andrew Sean Greer

Narrated by: Brian Keeler

Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

From critically acclaimed, award-winning author Andrew Sean Greer comes a story like no other. The Confessions of Max Tivoli is an ambitious and imaginative novel that leaves an indelible impression on readers.

Max Tivoli is uniquely cursed. His mind ages normally, but he is born with the withered body of a 70-year-old man, and his body ages in reverse. Despite this torment, Max manages three times to cross paths with Alice, the woman who captures his heart. Because he appears to be a different person each time they meet, Max has three chances for true love.

A story of self-discovery and sacrifice, set against momentous historical events, including the Great San Francisco Earthquake and World War I, The Confessions of Max Tivoli is a spellbinding masterpiece.

©2004 Andrew Sean Greer (P)2004 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Greer's second novel plumbs the agonies of misdirected love and the pleasures of nostalgia with gratifying richness....Greer writes marvelously nuanced prose; with its turn-of-the-century lilt and poetic flashes, it is the perfect medium for this weird, mesmerizing and heartbreaking tale." (Publishers Weekly)
Greer pinpoints the 'tiny hidden madnesses in ordinary people' with unerring accuracy, and, in prose littered with sparks, makes palpable the longing for the celestial." (The New Yorker)
"Greer is a writer to watch." (Boston Globe)

An understated memoir of a strange life

You might be surprised that this book preceded the move "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", which was made after I read it (in 2008), and that the two works are unconnected. Except, of course, for the central plot idea, which Greer might have also borrowed from F. Scott Fitzgerald: a child is born in an old man's body and from there ages backwards.

Despite the sci-fi premise, the writing is quite lyrical and character-focused. Greer, admirably, doesn't give Max any easy outs from his situation or even try to invent a reason for it. Max is trapped in a body that can't be explained to others, and his relationships are, by necessity, ones of deception. Only one childhood friend knows the truth. Greer gives Max's lonely perspective genuine poignancy, whether he's speaking of being an adolescent trapped in a 55 year old's body, navigating social relationships that are over his head, an old man weary of being seen as a child, or a young adult briefly his real age, conscious of the pain he must one day cause others. Greer also captures the familiarity of the world passing by in turn-of-the-century San Francisco, and these small, nostalgic details give the story an aching sense of life's transience. Time never stands still, even when it goes the wrong way.

Still, there were times when I got a little frustrated with the torment that Max inflicts on himself (and others) over his one less-than-true love and wished the story would go down some other avenues.

All in all, a lovely, understated, melancholy memoir. I still haven't seen Benjamin Button, so I don't know how it compares.

Original and entertaining love story

Don't let the unlikely premise of this story put you off. It's a very original and entertaining love story. The writing is fresh and the naration deserves five stars.

Interesting

For me the book was difficult to follow since the author jumps frequently between time periods. I am also not sure if the book is a love story, as Max states, or if the book is about selfishness and obsession. I also do not like stories that are downers, and this story is definitely a downer. However, the book is well written and interesting not withstanding the fore mentioned.

Creepy, tiresome and pathethic

After 3 1/2 hours I couldn't stand it anymore. The premise intrigued me but aside for the interesting historical details, the book is about the sexual longings of a man born looking aged who appears younger and younger as he gets older. After a childhood in seclusion he falls in love with a young girl when he's 17 but appears to be middle-aged so instead embarks on an affair with her widowed mother until he gets a chance to try to convince the girl he's young too (appearing only like a pedophile trying to seduce the daughter of his lover). Yuck! He apparently spends the rest of the book trying to find her (the horified mother moves away with her daughter when she finds out) and woo her. The narator's voice strikes me as whiny and as much as I hate wasting money by not finishing a book, I'm done with this one.

Unfufilling

I was captured by the premise of this book as I thought it might be similar to The Time Traveler's Wife. It definitely was not! The annoying omnisience of describing in details one's own conception as well as the writer's self pitying whining instead of getting on with the story reminded me of Middlesex. The reader's voice irritated me with a subtle smacking and a know-it-all intonation that was just unbearable to me. I didn't finish this one.