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A review by drtlovesbooks
The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer
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.