The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

English language

ISBN:
978-1-4165-5605-3
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3 stars (16 reviews)

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was first published in Collier's Magazine on May 27, 1922, with the cover and illustrations by James Montgomery Flagg. It was subsequently anthologized in Fitzgerald's 1922 book Tales of the Jazz Age, which is occasionally published as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories.The story was later adapted into the 2008 namesake film and the 2019 stage musical.

4 editions

I was expecting better....

3 stars

This is another one of those stories I've had on my TBR list for a long time. Since the movie came out, actually -- although I've not seen the movie.

It was okay. A good story, and pretty absurd (which was the point), but I feel like it could've been better. Maybe if we'd heard a bit more about Benjamin's mom, for example... Although maybe she died in childbirth; we're not told. For that matter, what must it have been like to give birth to a fully grown man?

Sure, in the time in which this story was set, we don't really worry too much about what women think, and we certainly don't talk about things like childbirth in great detail, but still. There are other women in this story who got quite important roles. Why not Benjamin's mother?

This story raises more questions than it answers... but again, that's …

Review of 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

A lot of exciting themes in this bizarre tale, but Fitzgerald fails to adequately explore any of them. And although this is an absurdist story, we could have used the mother's perspective. It is entirely omitted from the story and leaves me a bit bitter, for this story had potential, yet it went nowhere.

Review of 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' on 'Goodreads'

2 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 …

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