Name: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
ISBN: 9781416556053

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Inspiration for the Upcoming Major Motion Picture

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2.5 of 5 stars

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I have seen the movie adaptation of this a long time ago but I can't quite remember the exact flow of the story. All I remember was that the main character was aging backward. Reading this now, I just realized that this was only a short story. I don't know but I found this story a bit ridiculous and sad at the same time. I don't really hate this but I don't like this either. I think it would be better if this was a bit longer, the premise more expansive? I'm not really sure. This is my first classic and I'm not that happy with it overall.

Mein erstes Hörbuch, was ein Fiebertraum

Leon

Nunzio Defilippis

A graphic novel adaptation of the classic Fitzgerald short story about a man who ages backwards after being born an old man in Baltimore in 1860.

A Graphic Novel

Erik Wallace

A really quick read of a great F. Scott Fitzgerald story. I was excited about this book because I'm a fan of the illustrator and have followed his website for the past two years.

Charlsy Sekyere

⭐️3-3.5

This book was oddly captivating and enjoyable, despite its combination of tragedy, loss, and dry humour used to subtly portray life's importance through the lens of aging. It also depicted nostalgia and a yearning for youth. This was an unexpectedly good read. 

This short story may be worth checking out if you're looking for an exploration of the value of life from an aging perspective.

It is obviously a story product of its time but I quite enjoyed it. The concept is definitely weird (particularly in the beginning as he is born, for me) but extremely intriguing and I think it serve itself perfectly to the understanding and appreciation of life in a different perspective. My favorite part was the description of the last stages of his life, as if he had a new appreciation for life.

Diego

Elaina 

kate humphreys 

such a cool concept, i’ve had this on my tbr for a while because of the movie (cate blanchett👀) and i’m annoyed cause the short story wasn’t a romance type thing at all (which i’m pretty sure the film is) and it’s kind of super sexist? so that’s annoying, but two stars for cool concept and cate blanchett

Annabelle Stevenson 

Very interesting. It was a short story so I read it in a day. Interesting concept with a pretty good execution. And at times it was quite funny

Magda Silva

Very good. I liked it just wished it was bigger

Barbara Williford

My first read by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Quick little fun short story that was well written. Interesting story line with humor, sadness and whimsy. It was a fun book.

Jennifer Dieter

Ooh, it could have been so good, but it had to just be a short story. And then the screenplay people got ahold of it and turned it into a remake of Forrest Gump (the movie is really nothing like the book except for the basic premise). Such a great idea that Fitzgerald unfortunately did not have time to make it a full length novel.

Maxime van der Wal

2.5-3 stars
One word: absurd. The premise of this short story is very strange (basically a man aging backwards), and though I thought it was an interesting concept, I wish Fitzgerald had utilisied the opportunities the plot provided more. The story just felt a bit underdeveloped to me, and the rather plain writing didn't really make up for it, sadly. It's not bad by all means, but I wish there was more to it.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by Francis Scott Fitzgerald This story was inspired by a remark of Mark Twain's to the effect that it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end. By trying the experiment upon only one man in a perfectly normal world I have scarcely given his idea a fair trial. Several weeks after completing it, I discovered an almost identical plot in Samuel Butler's "Note-books." The story was published in "Collier's" last summer and provoked this startling letter from an anonymous admirer in Cincinnati: "Sir-- I have read the story Benjamin Button in Colliers and I wish to say that as a short story writer you would make a good lunatic I have seen many peices of cheese in my life but of all the peices of cheese I have ever seen you are the biggest peice. I hate to waste a peice of stationary on you but I will." We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.

Younes Ben Amara

قصة مثيرة تبعث تأملات عميقة في النفس 
قرأتها بترجمة إكرام صغيري مع قصص أخرى وأحببت فن فيتزجرالد الأدبي

adria

I wish I had known this was a short story before seeing the film. Nevertheless, this was a fascinating read.

aila kira 

And Other Jazz Age Tales

A’ishah Kamaludin

A strange tale of a man who is "born" 70 years old and mysteriously ages in reverse
I watched the movies a few years ago and never knew earlier that the original story was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald until I found the short story from a free classics database. I just couldn't put the book down (reading from my iPhone's Kindle apps).

I think the idea and storyline are brilliant.

It feeds my fantasy. We do stupid things. I always wish to grow younger, or go back to my younger self so that I could do differently based on my knowledge obtained later in my life.

Fitzgerald adressed realistic circumstances to the story that it almost felt real i.e. how the wife lost interest in him as she grew older while him, younger. I also enjoy the description of baby Benjamin with his babysitter Nana, I could feel that he died peacefully.

Erin 

Okay so I definitely 100% have never read this before, but reading this felt like coming home and rereading an old favorite. How???? Maybe it's the author's writing - I did love the Great Gatsby to pieces. I have very little, if anything, to complain about this book because it was just so interesting. Can I count it towards my reading goal if it's technically only a short story or is that cheating? There's a giant book of F. Scott Fitzgerald short stories at the library right now, and even though I have ~5 books on the go at the moment and more I have to read ASAP, I feel like I need it, right now. The only good part about not being able to read it right now is that I get to look forward to it, which is very exciting (it's a very large book). ANYWAY, I really liked this story a lot. That's all.

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is one of F. Scott Fitzgerald's most memorable short stories. The protagonist, Benjamin Button, is born an old man and ages in reverse until he becomes a baby and then finally vanishes from the earth. In a short introduction to the story, Fitzgerald wrote: "This story was inspired by a remark of Mark Twain's to the effect that it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end. By trying the experiment upon only one man in a perfectly normal world I have scarcely given his idea a fair trial. Several weeks after completing it, I discovered an almost identical plot in Samuel Butler's 'Note-books.' "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was the inspiration for the major motion picture of the same name and remains one of Fitzgerald's most haunting and beautiful tales. This collection also includes three other Jazz Age tales by Fitzgerald.

Janet Doré

Being that I knowingly picked up a book of short stories, it only seemed fair to ignore the fact that I’m not a fan of short stories in my review.

I AM a fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald. He’s not Steinbeck or Hemingway, but he’s got a consistent and insightful style of writing that I really enjoy. His works are relatively easy to read with the potential to keep you pondering long after reading the last sentence. 

You can easily finish this book in a single sitting.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Inspiration for the Upcoming Major Motion Picture