The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

By Francis Scott Fitzgerald

short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and first published in Colliers Magazine on 1922

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781446123294

Francis Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Fitzgerald (Saint Paul, 1896-Hollywood, 1940) es considerado uno de los más importantes escritores estadounidenses del siglo XX y el portavoz de la generación perdida. El gran Gatsby se publicó por primera vez en 1925 y fue inmediatamente celebrada como una obra maestra por autores como T. S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein o Edith Wharton.

Reviews for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

[ariadnearanea · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A quick listen (as an audio book) of a curious case. Suspend your disbelief and just enjoy!

[dorie.craig · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I happened across this story and thought it sounded interesting. It's about a man who ages backwards -- he looks like an old man when he is born, and slowly ages back to a baby. Not too long ago I read a novel with a similar premise titled "The Confessions of Max Tivoli". I enjoyed that novel a lot, and enjoyed the story being fleshed out a bit more than it was here. But for a short story (or novella), this was enjoyable and gave you something to think about.

[sasham-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Having seen the movie I guess I was expecting a longer book this is more of a sketch of an idea than a novella. It wasn't a bad little read but the 30 odd pages only took me about 20 minutes and I can't say that in those 30 pages I gained any emotional investment what so ever.

[bookdivasreads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great short story with slight science-fiction undertones.

[krazy4katz · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A short story of a person who lives their life in reverse. I have not seen the movie. Of course the language is elegant, but after the first few pages, it becomes too predictable and not funny enough to hold my attention. The ending was sad, though. Imagine shrinking into nothingness...

[cerian_2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Used an Audiobook with this one, maybe it had something to do with the reader's voice but I wasn't drawn in to the story; I was merely waiting for it to end. Haven't read much else of Fitzgerald, so want to to find out if it's his style I don't like or just that book.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I love the concept -- a person born as an 80-year-old man who gradually grows younger until he dies as an infant. Unfortunately, this story was written like a children's book -- a straightforward plot and writing style, with almost no character development or exploration of the way society reacted to Benjamin.For those who liked the concept, I recommend "The Confessions of Max Tivoli". Max, too, is born old and de-ages through his life. His actual and apparant age always add to 70, and he maintains a steadfast love for one woman and has one loyal, understanding friend, throughout his strange life.

[tututhefirst_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting concept, delighfully written, although a bit far-fetched. Having grown up in baltimore, where one grabbed the "society" page of the Sun Papers every Sunday, I can well understand Mr. Buttons horror at being presented with an 80+ year old "newborn". His first thought of "what will people say" is so true.I wish Benjamin had had the ability to see exactly what was happening to him. That would have made an excellent psychological study. Still in all, it was an enjoyable read.

[kabouter_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a short story, it only took me half an hour to read it completely. The story itself is quite fascinating although it only focuses on some parts of Benjamins life, which is a pity because the social implications of living your life backwards would be quite profound. In the book the life of Benjamin starts a fully grown seventy year old man with a long white beard and the ability to speak. How the man fitted in his mother womb isn't mentioned...The film has a different take on it, and mainly focuses on the love aspect, which make the book and the film very different to each other (almost complementary). This is one of the few cases where you actually read the book faster than seeing the film, nevertheless I think I prefer the film in this case.

[benjaminhahn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A unique story, particularly for F. Scott Fitzgerald. I was greatly impressed by the film which I think did a better job of capturing the profound sadness of Benjamin Button, especially at the end of the story. The book gets at it too, but the film had more of an effect on me in that you simply get to see more of Benjamin Button's life and thus had more of a connection. Plus the love story in the film is much more profound.

[yonitdm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very well written and interesting. You really felt for the characters.

[theboltchick · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I didn't find this story at all interesting. I had high hopes that the story which seemed so silly at the outset would draw me in. It certainly intrigued Hollywood enough to not only make a movie about it, but to also have the film garner tons of critical acclaim... that means it MUST be good, right?Unfortunately this story fell flat from the beginning. I started reading with the idea that I was reading a fantasy/fable, so disbelief must be suspended. Within the first two pages, disbelief came crashing back to earth. Not only was the story implausible, but the general feeling of anger from those surrounding the title character made the story very unpleasant. Instead of the sweet fairy tale I thought I might get, I was just left with a bitter taste in my mouth.

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very fast read (what else from a short story?) that captures the essence of the differences between old and young. You truly feel for Benjamin Button and his "Curious Case". I haven't seen the movie based on this short story. I found the book at my local bookstore, and bought it to support the business. I suggest borrowing or locating a collection of Fitzgerald's short stories.

[missteacher_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It has finally happened! There is finally a movie which wins hands down in being better than the book! More of a bedtime story than an actual book, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a straight-forward, matter-of-fact tale about a man growing down. Too brief to have any sort of characterization or much detail, the story lacked the passion, purpose and tragic tinge that the movie so perfectly encompassed. The only time I was even mildly invested in this short tale was at the very end, when Benjamin's life began to fade from him. I have to say I'm glad I didn't read this book first--I probably would have never gone to see the movie--which is almost entirely different save for the title. This book had an excellent idea, but lacked any appropriate follow-through. I didn't hate it, but I'm not impressed.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The most interesting things about this short story are the illustrations and the fact that Mr. Fitzgerald wrote something fantastical like this (although I haven't read a lot of him, so maybe this isn't so surprising afterall). I did feel like there wasn't much of a point to this story. There were suggestions that something might happen (like when he tried to attend Yale and said they would be sorry not to let him) but then nothing really happens. Obviously his aging backward made for all kinds of complications of society - and maybe that is what the point was - how society doesn't like anything out of the ordinary. But overall I wasn't captured by the story.

[michcall · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An intriguing and depressing story. I enjoyed the social commentary involved in the story. It's too bad it's not a novel. I would have loved more detail. Most intriguing to me was the disdain Benjamin's son had for him as he became younger.

[aeyan_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One just has to appreciate the ghastly commercialization inherent in slapping an admittedly nice cover on a fifty page short story and selling it for more than a mass market paperback, when, for a few dollars more, you can get a broad smattering of Fitzgerald's stories in one volume. Just think how many more copies of this edition they could have sold had they plastered Mr. Pitt's beauteous facade across the front, perhaps even in a Warholesque four squares showing him at different ages (it worked for 'Brokeback Mountain' movie tie-in editions). I cannot help but compare the story to the movie since the theatrical adaptation is what compelled me to seek this out. Fitzgerald's idea is fantastic, and yet I don't feel he did it justice with the story. There was quite a bit more that I feel he could have explicated, more he could have mined for satiric effect. I seem to be the exception regarding the movie, which I thought was an inspired interpretation of a very brief text that brought a level of humanity to Benjamin Button through his relationships, even though the movie utterly lost the social commentary that marks Fitzgerald's work and makes it more dynamic a text.

[joririchardson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a review of the short story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."I recently saw the movie version of this story, and so I bought the Fitzgerald version and sat down to read it. Normally, it is almost unheard of for a movie to be better than the book (in my opinion), but for this one, I have to disagree.I suppose that being a short story, Fitzgerald couldn't possibly have filled in all of the details that I was eager to read. I can't help wishing that he would have decided to write this one as a full novel instead. The idea of the story is just so intriguing, I would have love to have spent more time in the story.The plot line is the following: By a stroke of mind boggling chance, Mr. and Mrs. Button manage to parent a newborn... old man. Though bewildered, they do their best to give their son the best life they know how. But as Benjamin grows up, he becomes younger, not older. This complicates his entire life, including aspirations to attend college, his marriage, how he relates to his children and grandchildren, and much more. I love the idea here, of a man aging backwards, and yet there was a lot about the story that I did not like.First of all, a lot of it didn't make very much sense. For example, Mrs. Button has a baby and it is a normal sized old man. At least in the movie they tried to make this plausible - the newborn was the ordinary size for a baby, only its face and skin was that of an old man. But here, the baby isn't a baby at all. He literally IS an old man. Now this is of course, impossible. No woman could give birth to a human being the same size as herself!Also, minutes after being born, Benjamin can speak. I suppose that this was done to further the notion that he is an old man and in no way a baby or a child. However, this is, again, impossible. I think that I like the movie's version better - he learns to speak gradually, like any other child in the world.Another thing that is not necessarily a flaw but that annoyed me was the character of Benjamin's wife, Hildegarde Moncrief. I have to admit that I was expecting a love story here, but actually Benjamin neither loves nor is ever loved by any woman in his life, besides his mother. Hildegarde is introduced to the story so that Benjamin can marry her, and after that never really appears again except to be mentioned two or three times. It is said that Benjamin finds her annoying, and later that she has gone to Italy. After this, she vanishes altogether from the story. She must have died at some time in Benjamin's lifetime, since she was technically so much older than him, but that is never mentioned either.I hate to keep saying this (it seems a bit wrong to say about any book - especially one written by Fitzgerald!), but again, I like how the movie portrayed this part much better.The love story that the screenwriters added in was lovely, one that conquered time, age, and death. But, don't expect any of that here.I am not saying that this short story was horrid... I liked the occasional bit of dry humor, and I was laughing at the jibes Fitzgerald kept poking at Yale!Perhaps if I had read the short story before I saw the movie, I would have liked it more, but I couldn't stop myself from looking for something deeper here, and I didn't find it. Not surprising, considering that this is only a short story, but nevertheless. It didn't impress me.

[boundtogetherforgood · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the book. I haven't seen the film yet. I am quite surprised that the reaction of the mother, to the baby, was ignored. I would have been interested in what the author thought the reaction of a mother, in this circumstance, would have been. Otherwise, the story was intriguing and interesting, and proved that in God's sovereign wisdom, things proceed, naturally, as they should.

[santhony_35 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a very short story. Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the story involves a man who ages in reverse. He is born a 70 year old man and goes through life in reverse, marrying a woman far younger than himself who ultimately becomes too old for him.Of course, it is irredeemably silly in both its premise and its execution. While there are a few amusing scenarios, it is really not exceptional in any way.

[govmarley-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Oh, F. Scott. Not entirely sure how to feel about this tale. Should I laugh? Should I cry? In the end, I did neither.

Let me start by saying I adore Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. I love the lyrical descriptions, the flawed characters, and the excess, vanity, and tragedy oozing through each line. Even the characters I hate are drawn perfectly enough to understand their motivations and poor decisions. Not so with Benjamin Button. We fly through his life in reverse with little detail. I'm left with so many unanswered questions. What happened to his mother? How did the split with his wife occur? What in the world was everyone around him thinking as he regressed right into a crib and on to his grave? The story is told through Benjamin's point of view, and as a result we aren't shown any other perspective. It left me a little depressed at the end. Benjamin was unlikeable as he "aged" into his immaturity, which is probably the point. I think Benjamin is supposed to be a sympathetic character, but I didn't feel it as I read. Fitzgerald was said to have called this "the funniest story ever written" but at no point did the story make me laugh.

If you are looking for a short story by Fitzgerald, I recommend Bernice Bobs Her Hair instead. Much more satisfying.

[ohernaes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not sure what to say that this story was about, but an entertaining, absurd plot. Very short.

[reneh-2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nice read, but not extraordinary.

[katibruneau · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Didn't expect it to be so short!

[alisony-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was like a masterclass on how to write the perfect short story - I'd forgotten just how genius Fitzgerald is with words on a page. Some of the main threads of the stories were utterly bonkers yet totally brilliant. He manages to combine crazy plots with wry humour, and then interweaves a heavy thread of irony. I was conscious how fresh the stories felt, despite being over 90 years old in many cases, which I think is testament to how ahead of the game he was in his day.Of the 7, I had 3 favourites. 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' is pretty well known now, but I've not seen the film so I was able to delight in this clever tale with fresh eyes. The idea of someone living their life back to front from old to young was inspired, and it was hilarious how he played with this. I really did think this was a funny story.'The Cut Glass Bowl' was probably my favourite of all - this was about a big glass bowl that a woman is given as a wedding present by a jilted beau with the ill words: "I'm going to give a present that's as hard as you are and as beautiful and as empty and as easy to see through". His words set some kind of curse upon the bowl, which causes a series of significant catastrophes in the woman's life.'The Four Fists' was also so clever: a man is punched 4 times in his life, and each time he has a total revelation about his own wrongdoings, in effect literally having some sense knocked into him.The other 4 stories are also sharp and enjoyable. In 'Head and Shoulders' there's huge irony as to the ultimate independent successes of a university prodigy and his uneducated mediocre actress of a wife. 'May Day', set around a Yale sorority alumni party, is about the harsh realities of success and failure, mobs and hard partying. 'O Russet Witch!' is set around a bookshop and a man's fleeting encounters in life with a mysterious enchantress, and 'Crazy Sunday' tells the story of a young Hollywood continuity writer and his bizarre relationship with a director and his wife.As with most of Fitzgerald's work, many of the stories include a backdrop of parties and excessive drinking. The men invariably tend to end up disillusioned and down on their luck, and the women are generally stereotyped as one dimensional adulteresses who cause the men's downfalls in one form or another. Perhaps because of this, I wasn't always riveted the whole way through this book, yet when I think about each story in turn I'm just blown away by their cleverness.4 stars for me I think. I'm generally not a fan of short stories - the jumping in and out of completely different characters and plots isn't my favourite type of reading, so this was never going to be a favourite book for me, but this are so well crafted I have to doff my hat to the great man once again.

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I've not seen the movie, but of course I knew the premise going in. I hope the movie executes the concept better than this clunker did. Lots of great ideas - but anyone who just ponders the idea of aging backwards will come up with those ideas on their own. Fitzgerald added nothing.

Ok, I admit - he added something that strongly resembles misogyny. Apparently Benjamin's mother had no influence on his up-bringing, and his wife was worthless past the age of forty. So, either FSF didn't think women's roles were worth working out in the story, or he didn't think women are worth much, period.

[knitwit2_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very short novel.. Intriging premise. Felt nonsensical in the beginning but as he begins to grow younger it is easy to get caught up in the story. Some interesting issues arise most specifically his relationship with his wife Hildegarde. When he meets her he appears to be 50ish and finds her very attractive but as she reaches middle age and he is college age the attraction is lost. Rlevant issue when this was written and clearly relevent now.

[garcher84 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I thought this was a great idea but that it was not carried out to the fullest (which might be due to it being a short story). However, I do think the irony of it was astoundingly clear. *spoiler alert* I think the aging process is studied from such an unusual angle (from old age to young), but in such a similar way to the standard way of life. It draws the similarities of the beginning and end of life as we see it usually, with dependence at birth, independence in the middle stages, and then dependence again at the end, and by flipping it upside down, it has the exact same effect. Pretty astounding, though by no means mind-blowing, but quite original in showing the parallels between the vastly different ways of aging and how they turn out to be the same. It's such an easy concept, but definitely adds a little depth to the rather simple idea. Anyway, worth the short read.

[jawalter · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not really worthy of note, aside from being the inspiration for the movie. The illustrations are quite good, but I didn't like that Fitzgerald focused on the character's external, rather than internal, conflicts. By keeping Benjamin's mind at the same age level at his body, rather than having his mind age normally while his body ages in reverse, he misses out on a lot that made the movie interesting.

[deusxmachina-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A melancholic story about a man who is born old and grows younger with age, always a stranger in his own body and a disappointment to the expectations of the world around him. The characters are not photorealistic individuals like we're used to from modern stories, but stand-ins for social archetypes. Women don't exist, not in any meaningful role. But Fitzgerald unveils the pitfalls of these archetypes in a clever way until the inevitable disillusion fades away in the nescience of the child.