In 1965, on a small island in the South China Sea, a group of astronomers gather to witness the passing of a comet, but when a young boy dies during a meteor shower, the lives of the scientists and their loved ones change in subtle yet profound ways. Denise struggles for respect in her professional life; married Eli becomes increasingly attracted to Denise and her quixotic mind; and young Lydia attempts to escape the scientists’ long-casting shadows. We visit these characters in six-year intervals as the comet loops around the sun. Andrew Sean Greer’s remarkable and sweeping first novel is an exploration of chances taken and lost, of love found and broken, and of time’s subtle gravitational pull on the lives of everyday and extraordinary people.
Andrew gives an overview of the book:
In 1965, on a small island in the South China Sea, a group of astronomers gather to witness the passing of a comet, but when a young boy dies during a meteor shower, the lives of the scientists and their loved ones change in subtle yet profound ways. Denise struggles for respect in her professional life; married Eli becomes increasingly attracted to Denise and her quixotic mind; and young Lydia attempts to escape the scientists’ long-casting shadows. We visit these characters in six-year intervals as the comet loops around the sun. Andrew Sean Greer’s remarkable and sweeping first novel is an exploration of chances taken and lost, of love found and broken, and of time’s subtle gravitational pull on the lives of everyday and extraordinary people.
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About Andrew
Andrew Sean Greer was born in Washington, D.C., the son of two scientists. He studied writing at Brown University, where he was the commencement speaker at his own graduation. After years in New York working as a chauffeur, television extra and unsuccessful writer, he moved...
Published Reviews
Dec.13.2007
"The Confessions of Max Tivoli" starts in a sandbox and ends in a cemetery. So do most of us, of course—with the exception of Greer's narrator, Max. He suffers from what we may as well term Max...
Dec.13.2007
Enchanting … Like Proust, Greer presents life as essentially a solitude, an ever-renewed exile from the present, a shifting set of gorgeous mirages that nothing but descriptive genius can hold fast. Max...
Note from the author coming soon...