A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2004
A Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2004
A Newsday Favorite Book of 2004
A Miami Herald Noteworthy Book of 2004
A Christian Science Monitor Noteworthy Book of 2004
A Bookmarks Magazine Favorite Book of 2004
A Newcity Chicago Top 5 Book of 2004
A Journal News Best Book of 2004

An extraordinarily haunting love story told in the voice of a man who appears to age backwards.

We are each the love of someone's life.

So begins The Confessions of Max Tivoli, a heartbreaking love story with a narrator like no other. At his birth, Max's father declares him a "nisse," a creature of Danish myth, as his baby son has the external physical appearance of an old, dying creature. Max grows older like any child, but his physical age appears to go backward — on the outside a very old man, but inside still a fearful child.

The story is told in three acts. First, young Max falls in love with a neighborhood girl, Alice, who ages as normally as any of us. Max, of course, does not; as a young man, he has an older man's body. But his curse is also his blessing: as he gets older, his body grows younger, so each successive time he finds his Alice, she does not recognize him. She takes him for a stranger, and Max is given another chance at love.

Set against the historical backdrop of San Francisco at the turn of the twentieth century, Max's life and confessions question the very nature of time, of appearance and reality, and of love itself. A beautiful and daring feat of the imagination, The Confessions of Max Tivoli reveals the world through the eyes of a "monster," a being who confounds the very certainties by which we live and in doing so embodies in extremis what it means to be human.

"Greer...writes marvelously nuanced prose; with its turn-of-the-century lilt and poetic flashes, it is the perfect medium for this weird, mesmerizing and heartbreaking tale." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"[T]he delights are many, among them gossamer prose, vivid characterization, and historic snapshots of a fabulous American city. Old-fashioned narrative fun in a literary hall of mirrors." Kirkus Reviews

"Resplendently poetic and loftily sorrowing....Enchanting, in the perfumed, dandified style of disenchantment brought to grandeur by Proust and Nabokov." John Updike, The New Yorker

"Max's narrative...becomes a deeply poignant and mature commentary on life that strums the heartstrings again and again. It's positively captivating." Paula Luedtke, Booklist

"[A] serious work of literature, written with a precision of language and a depth of feeling that doesn't simply belie the book's quirky premise, it transforms it, elevates it from what could have been just another clever idea to a profound meditation on life, love and the inevitability of growing old....[Greer's near-flawless prose] often reads like poetry; the cadence and imagery create feelings more than simply describe them....Max Tivoli is entertaining and engaging enough to rival any fun, lighthearted fantasy paperback, while also so poetic, and so powerful, that it should please the most particular literary critic." Christopher Farah, Salon.com

"Max may be a monster, but he is a profoundly human one, a creature whose unusual disorder, far from making him a freak to be wondered at, simply magnifies his normal and recognizable emotions, sharpening their poignancy." Gary Krist, The New York Times Book Review

"[S]tellar....[A] novel whose structure resembles one of those earthquake-sound buildings, the kind with just enough play between the pillars to sway instead of cracking." San Francisco Chronicle

"Greer...never pushes the natural sentiment of the story over the edge into treacle. He thus transforms an idea that could very easily have been a mere novelty into something surprisingly and genuinely affecting." Library Journal

"With its evocative turn-of-the-century San Francisco setting, The Confessions of Max Tivoli is a strikingly original and beautifully told story that offers a fresh perspective on questions of love and age." BookPage

A beautiful and daring feat of the imagination, The Confessions of Max Tivoli reveals the world through the eyes of "monster," a being who confounds the very certainties by which people live and in doing so embodies in extremis what it means to be human.

"We are each the love of someone's life." So begins "The Confessions of Max Tivoli,"

a heartbreaking love story with a narrator like no other.

Born with the physical appearance of an elderly man, Max grows older mentally like any child, but his body appears to age backwards, growing younger every year. And yet, his physical curse proves to be a blessing, allowing him to try to win the heart of the same woman three times as at each successive encounter she fails to recognize him, taking him for a stranger, so giving Max another chance at love.

Set against the historical backdrop of San Francisco at the turn of the twentieth century," The Confessions of Max Tivoli "is a beautiful and daring feat of the imagination, questioning the very nature of love, time, and what it means to be human.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER * TODAY SHOW PICK

"Enchanting"--John Updike, "The New Yorker"

"Devastating, heartbreaking...an astonishment."--"Esquire "

"****"--"People"

"Quietly dazzling...keenly affecting."--"The New York Times Book Review"

"This year's break-out novel."--"Entertainment Weekly "

"A devastating new writer"-Michael Cunningham

"A fable of surpassing gravity and beauty."--"San Francisco Chronicle "

"One of the most talented writers around."--Michael Chabon

"Elegant and graceful."--"Miami Herald "

"Brilliantly conceived."--"Los Angeles Times"

"A breath-taking love story...a profound meditation on life."--"Salon.com "

"A writer of great daring and originality."--Peter Carey

"It leaves its readers ...both younger and wiser."--"Washington Post"

"What's most impressive about Greer's work is the emotional intensity...and the deep beauty ofhis prose"--"The Atlanta Journal Constitution "

"This is the kind of book that makes you laugh out loud, write notes in the margins and shed tears onto its pages."--Neil LaBute

"Surprisingly and genuinely affecting."--"Library Journal "

"Strikingly original and beautifully told."--"Bookpage "

"Weird and wonderful...Ýa¨ deft new modern master."--"Elle.com "

"ÝIt¨ strums the heartstrings again and again...positively captivating."--"Booklist"

"Mesmerizing and heartbreaking."--"Publishers Weekly"

"The delights are many....old-fashioned narrative fun in a literary hall of mirrors."

--"Kirkus Review "

"A mythic, Proustian romance...a brilliant story."--"The Times" (London)

Andrew Sean Greer is the author of the story collection "How It Was for M"e (Picador) and most recently a novel, "The Path of Minor Planets" (Picador). He lives in San Francisco.

Andrew Sean Greer was born in 1970 in Washington, DC, the son of two scientists. He studied writing with Robert Coover and Edmund White at Brown University, where he was the Commencement Speaker at his own graduation in 1992. After years in New York working as a chauffeur, theater tech, television extra and unsuccesful writer, he moved to Missoula, MT, where he received his MFA from the University of Montana. He then moved to Seattle, and two years later to San Francisco. He began to publish in magazines such as Esquire, The Paris Review and Story before releasing a collection of his stories, How It Was for Me. His first novel, The Path of Minor Planets, was published to much acclaim in October of 2001, and his second book, The Confessions of Max Tivoli, came out in February 2004 with FSG. Upon publication, John Updike compared his work to Proust and Nabokov in The New Yorker; in the Netherlands, reviewers have mentioned Kafka and Gogol; a dozen other translations are forthcoming. He lives in San Francisco. His identical twin brother, Michael Greer, is also a writer.