The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Classic
Short Story
iTunes
Audio Book
$.99
1 hour 20 minutes
(54 Pages; $.99 on Kindle)
Cross Ford Consulting, Inc.
Feb 12, 2009

2/5 Stars

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button starts out with a birth, a birth of a 70-something-year-old man! When the father enters the hospital and announces that he is Mr. Button seeking to see his new-born baby he is met with horrified responses and an angry doctor wo refuses to ever see anyone in the Button family again.  Upon entering the room he is horrified to find out that the walking, talking, man is really his new-born baby.

As Benjamin ages in years his body and mind goes through a rewinding process.  So when he is born he is born with a mind and body of a 70-year-old and once he reaches the age of 70 his mind and body is more of a kindergartener. 

The story was well read by the gentleman who presented it.  Playing all the parts and bringing all the emotions the characters were feeling across very well.  I was satisfied with his performance since I’ve always had trouble dealing with one reader reading several parts in an audio book.

While the book is a classic and a few years back they made it into a movie starring Brad Pitt I was a little disappointed.  I am more of a novel reader since you get more details and background and have more time to really relate to the characters.  That is not the case with many short stories.

However, the story was good in the fact that it brought up a subject that just boggles your mind since it is just impossible!  It was hard to wrap your mind around the fact that this 70-year-old with a mind full of knowledge was just born.  Then it was extremely sad when Benjamin Button became a 70-year-old man who looked and acted like a baby with no memory what-so-ever of his previous life filled with love, struggles, being a hero at war, education and just years of experience and information.

If you are looking for a short story to fill an hour, or so, of your time and you enjoy classics then go ahead and pick this up to read or listen to.  I have not watched the movie with Brad Pitt but I did hear that it was slightly different then the story.  I think they do it where he is born and his mind and size are that of his age in years but his appearance is that of the opposite…so when he is 1 day old his mind and size looks like a newborn but when you look at his face it looks like a 70-year-old.  Now don’t quote me on that since I really have no clue.  It would be interesting to watch anyway and compare the two.