A review by msjoanna
The Confessions of Max Tivoli by

4.0

I might have enjoyed this book more if I hadn't just read [book:The Brief History of the Dead]. Max Tivoli is a man whose body ages backwards -- he is born looking 70 and slowly advances toward childhood. He shares his secret with precious few and instead tries to follow The Rule: Be what they think you are. Thus, as a teenager, he passes for a middle-aged man, and as an old man acts as a boy. The story was reasonably well done and it was easy enough to suspend disbelief while listening. Nonetheless, I never came to love Max as a character, nor did I love Alice, the love of Max's life. The book might have interested me more if it explored Max telling Alice (or others) about his condition rather than maintaining his secret.