We are each the love of someone's life. ~ Max Tivoli in his confessions
A beautiful opening sentence to the novel The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer. But while we may be each the love of someone's life, it doesn't follow that we are, in turn, the love of THEIR lives. And so it is with this novel which is heartache personified.
Set in San Francisco and spanning the later half of the 19th century to the mid 20th century, this novel, written in the first person, reads like the diary of Max Tivoli, a man who ages backwards. That is, he is born looking like an old man. But as he grows older, he looks younger. It's a curse and a blessing really, depending on how you see it.
He finds the love of his life when he is 17 but looking like 53. He doesn't get his girl. Later in life, he's given two more chances to win her love. Max's heartfelt accounts of his emotional and physical ordeals touch the heart.
The theme of unrequited love runs through the novel as the main characters in it find but struggle to be with the ones they love. A tragically beautiful story.
The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, a novel I read last year but didn't write about, runs in a similar vein. A cleverly crafted love story bringing in elements of science fiction and time travel, this story revolves round a couple who have to deal with the anxieties and anguish arising from the husband's ability to travel through time.
Written in the first person from the two protagonists' point of view, the novel plays out the love, intimate thoughts and feelings between that of a married couple. While Confessions is about unrequited love, Traveller is about finding that love and hanging on to it no matter what happens.
Both recommended reads and copies of both are available in the Singapore National Library.
Posted by DSD at February 24, 2005 9:25 AM | TrackBack