Sometimes when other tots talked about what they would do when they grew up, a shadow would cross his little face as if in a dim, childish way he realised those were things in which he was never to share. -Extracted from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

 

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s brilliant retort to Mark Twain’s farcical statement, “The best things in life happen at the beginning and the worst at the end.”

Wildly imaginative and mutedly poignant, the 1921 cult fiction piece was appropriated by Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. and promptly turned  into a movie. The eponymous movie, which stars Brad Pitt (pictured below) and Cate Blanchett, has garnered the most Academy Awards nominations with 13 Oscar® nods.

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Credit: Merrick Morton/Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

It follows the life of Benjamin Button, who defies all scientific reasoning by aging in reverse. Born a grizzled old man, he grows progressively younger until he is finally old enough (or young enough – depending on how you look at it) to enroll into kindergarten with his 5-year-old grandson.

Fitzgerald leaves a lot to the imagination in his writing. Had he so desired, the gripping short story could easily have been expanded into a compelling novel. Instead, rather than to describe in detail Benjamin’s triumphs and pains, he presented them as bare facts. As a result, years were reduced to mere sentences or even words.

For a fairytale, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button borders on the dark side.

Fitzgerald paints a bleak picture of an old man trapped in the body of a child. He talks about a little boy whose “fresh, cheerful face was crossed with just a hint of sadness”.

To the people around him, Benjamin’s curious little secret is also constant source of torment. In his refusal to look and act his age, he brought upon a certain degree of embarrassment to his parents and, further along into the story, his own son.

As with any other short stories, you find yourself at the last page long before you are fully immersed in it. However, in Fitzgerald’s case, it is only because the novella is so beautifully written, it never quite satisfies.

 

Book details

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Publisher: Juniper Grove
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1603550836
ISBN-13: 978-1603550833

 

Front graphic Courtesy of Paramount Pictures.