When Benjamin Button is born, everyone is appalled, for instead of a tiny infant, Benjamin is a grown old man. His parents try to pretend there's nothing wrong, giving him a rattle to play with and dressing him in very large baby clothes. But Benjamin's life is anything but normal. In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I decided to read The Curious Case of Benjamin Button because I was bored on a road trip and found it on my BlackBerry. It was only 93 BlackBerry-sized pages, so it's a very short story. I really enjoyed it. The beginning of the version I read states: "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." I thought this was a very interesting comment, and I found the story to be quite thought-provoking.
There were definitely benefits to Benjamin living his life backwards. He had much more knowledge as a child and more energy and vitality as he got older. The idea of ending life as an infant without a care in the world is a pleasant idea as well. But the reactions of other people to him, particularly his father and his son were sad. And he faced many challenges as he lived life in a completely different direction than everyone else.
I really enjoyed this story and am determined to read more of Fitzgerald's work in the future. I also wonder, now, how the movie compares to the book. I may need to check it out sometime.
My Rating: 5/5
Reading group guide and discussion questions for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
This review was written based on a copy of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button that I purchased.
This is one of my favorite movies.
ReplyDeleteI was curious about your review! I saw the movie but hadn't read the book.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that F. Scott Fitzgerald was the author!! Interesting, also, that he wrote it based on a Twain comment.
Funny how the book is short, but the movie was very long! We liked the movie - it was well-done with excellent acting.
Sue
The movie was excellent and I've been wanting to read the book but as the book is generally twice as good as the movie, I thought I'd wait awhile before reading it as I didn't want to compare it to closely to the movie (the movie generally loses). Might be a good time to run down a copy though.
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