ikabonifacio's review against another edition
5.0
"We are each the love of someone's life."
I first read snippets of this book at an age too young — when I was still in elementary school, in fact. I was eleven years old and had not come from an English-speaking household, so I neither had the proper language skills nor sufficient life experience to fully grasp the scenes described, much less the meaning behind them. Yet, it was one of the very few books in our house, so I sometimes found myself squinting at the pages, trying to extract meaning from what little words I knew.
Every few years since then, I've read and reread the story from front to back. Each time, it would reveal a secret to me — a message or another I had missed from my last reading. Maybe it is this constant revisiting that made me fall in love with the story much like Max meeting with Alice in several, disparate points in his life. It's a story of a romance doomed from the very beginning. The lust for a life well-lived, a desire one cannot satisfy, a contrast of wealth and poverty and old age and youth and tragedy and love — all these come together to hammer in the message: "we are each the love of someone's life."
I first read snippets of this book at an age too young — when I was still in elementary school, in fact. I was eleven years old and had not come from an English-speaking household, so I neither had the proper language skills nor sufficient life experience to fully grasp the scenes described, much less the meaning behind them. Yet, it was one of the very few books in our house, so I sometimes found myself squinting at the pages, trying to extract meaning from what little words I knew.
Every few years since then, I've read and reread the story from front to back. Each time, it would reveal a secret to me — a message or another I had missed from my last reading. Maybe it is this constant revisiting that made me fall in love with the story much like Max meeting with Alice in several, disparate points in his life. It's a story of a romance doomed from the very beginning. The lust for a life well-lived, a desire one cannot satisfy, a contrast of wealth and poverty and old age and youth and tragedy and love — all these come together to hammer in the message: "we are each the love of someone's life."
auntblh's review against another edition
1.0
I just couldn't get into this book. I got about 75 pages into it and really didn't care about any of the characters. Sometimes if I stop reading a book, I wonder in the back of mind if it got better or not. With this one, I didn't have that thought and I didn't really care.
khourianya's review against another edition
5.0
After finishing the Impossible Lives of Greta Wells, I immediately knew I was going to find more of Greer's novels and dive right in...
The synopsis for this one made me think of Benjamin Button...a boy is born. A monster, as it were, as he starts his life as a very old man and starts to grow younger.
As he grows and lives, he manages to have the opportunity to love the same woman, Alice, three times at different stages in their mutual lives without her knowing it is the same man. The first time as her elderly landlord (though he was really only 3 years her senior), later as an adult, thorough middle age, where they marry and eventually have a son that Max doesn't learn about until years later. Finally, when Max learns of his son he looks like a 12 year old boy - the same age as his son and passes himself off as the orphan son of Alice's childhood love (and Max's best friend) and becomes her adopted son so he can stay close to her and their son, Sammy. Three chances. Three names. Three stories.
The entire book is written as a diary memoir for Max's son. Throughout, he tries to explain the decisions he has made and related them back to his childhood love for Alice, he can only hope that one day when Sammy reads them, he will understand his father and why he did what he did over the course of 50 years.
The story is beautifully written and has made me fall even more in love with Andrew Sean Greer as a novelist and adept storyteller. He has such a way of capturing human frailty and emotion and weaving them into captivating tales that leave the reader spellbound and crying for more when the final page is turned.
Highly HIGHLY recommended (and I am off to acquire more of this talented authors work).
The synopsis for this one made me think of Benjamin Button...a boy is born. A monster, as it were, as he starts his life as a very old man and starts to grow younger.
As he grows and lives, he manages to have the opportunity to love the same woman, Alice, three times at different stages in their mutual lives without her knowing it is the same man. The first time as her elderly landlord (though he was really only 3 years her senior), later as an adult, thorough middle age, where they marry and eventually have a son that Max doesn't learn about until years later. Finally, when Max learns of his son he looks like a 12 year old boy - the same age as his son and passes himself off as the orphan son of Alice's childhood love (and Max's best friend) and becomes her adopted son so he can stay close to her and their son, Sammy. Three chances. Three names. Three stories.
The entire book is written as a diary memoir for Max's son. Throughout, he tries to explain the decisions he has made and related them back to his childhood love for Alice, he can only hope that one day when Sammy reads them, he will understand his father and why he did what he did over the course of 50 years.
The story is beautifully written and has made me fall even more in love with Andrew Sean Greer as a novelist and adept storyteller. He has such a way of capturing human frailty and emotion and weaving them into captivating tales that leave the reader spellbound and crying for more when the final page is turned.
Highly HIGHLY recommended (and I am off to acquire more of this talented authors work).
katywhumpus's review against another edition
5.0
Those of you into whose hands I forcefully thrust 'The Time Traveler's Wife' in the past can expect me to do the same with this book. So good, it kept me from much needed sleep on an overnight transcontinental flight.
The book messes with your head at first (similar to trying to get your head around time travel). Max is born in a 70 year old body and grows younger physically, while his mind ages as normal. But this book is less about his disease and more about love. Totally unrequited love, because he is (almost) never the right age physically or mentally to be with the woman. It's sad and heart-wrenching and beautiful all at once.
The book messes with your head at first (similar to trying to get your head around time travel). Max is born in a 70 year old body and grows younger physically, while his mind ages as normal. But this book is less about his disease and more about love. Totally unrequited love, because he is (almost) never the right age physically or mentally to be with the woman. It's sad and heart-wrenching and beautiful all at once.
superdilettante's review against another edition
2.0
I'd put this in the "Time-Traveler's Wife" genre of literature--sort of mind-bending, as long as you don't think too much about it. It's airplane reading, disposable literature you can leave in the seat back pocket when you're finished and not give it another thought. Some might argue that books like that are the reason TV was created, but it's nice to be able to read something, now and then, that just flows over you and leaves no confusing aftertaste.
That said, the period details in the book were quite nice--the richly fitted out car Max and Hughie use for their cross-country trip; the descriptions of turn-of-the-century San Francisco; and the forward-march descriptions of fashions and fads throughout the early part of the twentieth century.
I don't know whether I'd recommend seeking this book out, but if you find it in the seat back pocket of an airplane, take it with you.
That said, the period details in the book were quite nice--the richly fitted out car Max and Hughie use for their cross-country trip; the descriptions of turn-of-the-century San Francisco; and the forward-march descriptions of fashions and fads throughout the early part of the twentieth century.
I don't know whether I'd recommend seeking this book out, but if you find it in the seat back pocket of an airplane, take it with you.
rightonmama's review against another edition
3.0
So depressing. I loved Greer’s book The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells so much. I’ve been trying to find a bit more of that magic by reading the rest of his novels, but so far none of them are quite doing it for me. This one just left me feeling depressed and yuck.
cantpatthis's review against another edition
4.0
After finishing Greer's novel LESS, I wanted to dive into his other works. This book was the highest recommended though I admit I was wary when I saw that it was about a man aging backwards (born old, becoming younger and younger). I'm not a huge fan of a gimmick (I've been told my art would be better if I would embrace it more).
However, this book is incredibly beautiful. Set in San Francisco at the turn of the last century, the settings are so vivid and I felt like I was time traveling. I love the way Greer surprises the reader with moments of emotion so intense amidst beautiful settings or pleasant exchanges among characters.
This book was also a quick read. It made for lovely bedtime reading and fodder for whimsical dreams of gardens, lost loves, and fog covered hills.
However, this book is incredibly beautiful. Set in San Francisco at the turn of the last century, the settings are so vivid and I felt like I was time traveling. I love the way Greer surprises the reader with moments of emotion so intense amidst beautiful settings or pleasant exchanges among characters.
This book was also a quick read. It made for lovely bedtime reading and fodder for whimsical dreams of gardens, lost loves, and fog covered hills.
appalonia's review against another edition
4.0
This is quite simply a beautifully told, deeply moving story. Max Tivoli is born in 1871, wrinkled, palsied, and blind with the cataracts of a 70-year old man. Max, it seems, is a physical oddity -- his body will age backwards. Warned by his parents never to let anyone know the truth, Max follows "The Rule" most of his life, and considers himself cursed, a "Monster".
The story is told from Max’s point of view, as if writing an autobiographical history to his son Sammy. As the story starts out, Max (58 years old and passing himself off as 12), has managed to insinuate himself into his son’s life in order to be near him. The story of Max’s life mostly revolves around Alice, the love of his life who he unfortunately meets when he is 17 and she is 14. Since he looks like a 53-year old, he can’t pursue her as any other normal boy. Other than his family, the other major relationship in his life is Hughie, who he meets on his first real outing at a park when the boys are both 6 years old. Too young and surprised to see a real boy close up for the first time to censor himself, Max blurts out to Hughie the truth about his age. After questioning him, Hughie believes him and begins a life-long friendship.
The author’s writing is beautifully descriptive, even if it seems melodramatic at times. And some of his similes definitely need work. But these are nitpicks in an otherwise wonderful novel. One small warning -- have a box of Kleenex handy when you begin the book. I’ll admit I cried at several different passages.
I would highly recommend Confessions as a book club selection due to its many layers, themes, and the situations the characters experience.
The story is told from Max’s point of view, as if writing an autobiographical history to his son Sammy. As the story starts out, Max (58 years old and passing himself off as 12), has managed to insinuate himself into his son’s life in order to be near him. The story of Max’s life mostly revolves around Alice, the love of his life who he unfortunately meets when he is 17 and she is 14. Since he looks like a 53-year old, he can’t pursue her as any other normal boy. Other than his family, the other major relationship in his life is Hughie, who he meets on his first real outing at a park when the boys are both 6 years old. Too young and surprised to see a real boy close up for the first time to censor himself, Max blurts out to Hughie the truth about his age. After questioning him, Hughie believes him and begins a life-long friendship.
The author’s writing is beautifully descriptive, even if it seems melodramatic at times. And some of his similes definitely need work. But these are nitpicks in an otherwise wonderful novel. One small warning -- have a box of Kleenex handy when you begin the book. I’ll admit I cried at several different passages.
I would highly recommend Confessions as a book club selection due to its many layers, themes, and the situations the characters experience.
rachelp's review against another edition
3.0
I think I would have enjoyed this story more if I hadn't seen the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was written before the movie came out and the movie was not based on the book, but it was the same concept. A man is born as an old, wrinkly man and grows backwards-- younger and younger until he has the body of a young child but the mind and life experiences of an old man.