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anarag's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best novels I have read in a long time. Tightly constructed, beautifully written, with rich vocabulary and characters who are humanly flawed and tragically sympathetic. I took notes as I read to remind myself of the new words I encountered and the exquisite craft technique that the author showed.
jkillingbeck_8's review against another edition
2.0
I may have gone into this book with expectations too high, because every review I had read previous to this exclaimed at what a wonderful story this was, how well written it is, and how truly awesome a love story it is. I would have to respectfully disagree. It took me a LONG time to read this book, about 3-4 weeks, which is sad since it's just over 260 pages. I could only read about 10-20 pages at a time before I got bored with the prose and storyline. Yes, I understand it is a "star crossed lovers" kind of book, but I was never emotionally involved with Max to feel any sort of sympathy for his character. Perhaps it was the journal-esque way it was written; I've never cared for books written that way. But the storyline, that could've been a cute story, left me flat and sorry I wasted that many nights before bed trudging through the novel.
barefootsong's review against another edition
5.0
This book drew me in from the first sentence ("We are each the love of someone's life.") and my interest never wavered for the entire story. Max is cursed with a rare disease: his body ages in reverse, so that as a newborn, he appears to be a tiny 70-year-old man, and as he grows older in mind and years his body grows younger in physical appearance. He is writing his "confessions" in his late-fifties, with the physical appearance of a 12-year-old boy. While this may sound like a weird premise for a story, it is beautifully written in the most believable manner. Max is just as real as any other well-written character. It is, as the first sentence implies, a love story, but it is also a wonderful story about life and the nature of monsters (since Max constantly refers to himself as a monster because of his time-in-reverse condition). It's simply an amazing book and I highly recommend it, even if you don't think it sounds like quite your cup of tea (because, honestly, I wasn't sure I would like it based on the description either).
amy_in_alaska's review against another edition
2.0
Made me definitely not want to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Same exact theory - Max born an old man, falls in love with a young girl he can't be with, ages backwards, gets with woman he loves, then loses her when he gets too young. Boring with no insights.
melissa_mccaffrey11's review against another edition
3.0
The premise of this book seems slightly odd at first glance - a boy who is born an old man and gets younger as time goes by - but the story of how he tries to win the heart of the same woman 3 times throughout his life is actually pretty touching. I would have given this 3 1/2 stars if I had the option.
jaytak's review against another edition
challenging
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
jurassicreader's review against another edition
The writing was okay but my good this book was boring.
drtlovesbooks's review against another edition
2.0
I have to start keeping better track of which sources are recommending books to me so I can figure out which one of my sources keeps hitting sour notes...
The central premise of the book, that the protagonist's body is aging in reverse after he is born looking like an old man, seems like it could be interesting. But while that central oddity drives the main action of the book and is a constant source of motivation for the plot, it's almost treated like a background element. It is not explored in any particular way beyond, "How might someone's life go if they were the only one living this way?" So if follows literally the entire life of this character, skipping like a stone across decades, with pauses here and there to dip into the effects this has on the character's life.
And overall, Max Tivoli's life is extremely bleak. It's somewhat interesting at first to see how a young person in an old body might get along. But the character himself is the first-person narrator the book, in the guise of a written "confession", and his internal monologue is not particularly insightful. He labels himself a monster early on, and it seems he is talking about his condition, but by the end, he is talking about his personality, which is not pleasant. But Max is not monstrous or unpleasant in the way of the horror movie monster, giving a thrill by being so awful; instead, he's monstrous in a pedestrian, everyday way that is just painful to have to witness. His monstrousness is his selfishness, which becomes more acute as the story spins along, and yet which is never acknowledged by the narrator himself.
This might all be bearable if Max was the only central character; but he is just one among a cast of selfish actors in this play of misery. As if that wasn't enough, they're mostly rich and white and living lives at a remove from any hardship that might help give them character. Which perhaps is supposed to be the point? Except that is never really addressed anywhere, and even when characters' circumstances change, they don't particularly. So maybe the point is that we are all selfish?
Honestly, I was near to putting this book down unfinished half a dozen times, none more acutely than at the three-quarters mark, when I decided to just grit my teeth and push through to just be done with it, in the hope that there might be some redemption of the story; but it turned out my instincts were spot-on, and I should have stopped.
Make no mistake, this book is a tragedy. It ends on quite a downer for all involved. And if you're looking for a sad story, this might be right up your alley. And perhaps if I'd come across it at some other point, I would have enjoyed it more. I found some of the ideas that were set up to be thought-provoking. How long would it take at different stages of life for people around you to notice that you were not aging normally? How would you deal with such a condition? Would it be a blessing or a curse? How much would the physical affect one's thoughts, feelings, and personality?
Despite the interesting thought experiments engendered by the premise of the book, I was not a huge fan.
The central premise of the book, that the protagonist's body is aging in reverse after he is born looking like an old man, seems like it could be interesting. But while that central oddity drives the main action of the book and is a constant source of motivation for the plot, it's almost treated like a background element. It is not explored in any particular way beyond, "How might someone's life go if they were the only one living this way?" So if follows literally the entire life of this character, skipping like a stone across decades, with pauses here and there to dip into the effects this has on the character's life.
And overall, Max Tivoli's life is extremely bleak. It's somewhat interesting at first to see how a young person in an old body might get along. But the character himself is the first-person narrator the book, in the guise of a written "confession", and his internal monologue is not particularly insightful. He labels himself a monster early on, and it seems he is talking about his condition, but by the end, he is talking about his personality, which is not pleasant. But Max is not monstrous or unpleasant in the way of the horror movie monster, giving a thrill by being so awful; instead, he's monstrous in a pedestrian, everyday way that is just painful to have to witness. His monstrousness is his selfishness, which becomes more acute as the story spins along, and yet which is never acknowledged by the narrator himself.
This might all be bearable if Max was the only central character; but he is just one among a cast of selfish actors in this play of misery. As if that wasn't enough, they're mostly rich and white and living lives at a remove from any hardship that might help give them character. Which perhaps is supposed to be the point? Except that is never really addressed anywhere, and even when characters' circumstances change, they don't particularly. So maybe the point is that we are all selfish?
Honestly, I was near to putting this book down unfinished half a dozen times, none more acutely than at the three-quarters mark, when I decided to just grit my teeth and push through to just be done with it, in the hope that there might be some redemption of the story; but it turned out my instincts were spot-on, and I should have stopped.
Make no mistake, this book is a tragedy. It ends on quite a downer for all involved. And if you're looking for a sad story, this might be right up your alley. And perhaps if I'd come across it at some other point, I would have enjoyed it more. I found some of the ideas that were set up to be thought-provoking. How long would it take at different stages of life for people around you to notice that you were not aging normally? How would you deal with such a condition? Would it be a blessing or a curse? How much would the physical affect one's thoughts, feelings, and personality?
Despite the interesting thought experiments engendered by the premise of the book, I was not a huge fan.
taroryga's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0