And Again?

The premise of this strange fable by Irish short story writer/novelist O'Faolain takes some getting used to. Striking a pact with the gods of Mount Olympus, journalist Robert Younger, 65, avoids a fatal accident by agreeing to live life backwards. While his successive lovers and friends naturally grow older, he becomes younger and younger, inching back toward the womb. Over the years he exchanges his mistress Ana French for her daughter Anador, then falls for her daugher Nana, then for his great-granddaughter in New Orleans, then. . . . The reverse direction of his life's trajectory creates fun-house effects as our hero, ever-Younger, wrestles with memory, longing, desire, ultimate loss, sensuality, incest. Time does not necessarily confer wisdom: he keeps repeating his mistakes. Despite flights of philosophizing, a flowery style and a labyrinthine plot, this rueful hymn to life is funny and sad and true. (Sept.)