Usually children are born as infants but Benjamin Button was born a septuagenarian…The cool perspiration redoubled on Mr. Button’s forehead. He closed his eyes, and then, opening them, looked again. There was no mistake – he was gazing at a man of threescore and ten – a baby of threescore and ten, a baby whose feet hung over the sides of the crib in which it was reposing.The old man looked placidly from one to the other for a moment, and then suddenly spoke in a cracked and ancient voice. “Are y...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the short story selection in the group catching up on classics for May 2017. This story was first published in Colliers Magazine in 1922 and describes Fitzgerald's views on aging in satirical form. While ageism has become a timely topic today, Fitzgerald first grappled with the issue nearly one hundred years ago. Benjamin Button was "born" to Mr and Mrs Roger Button in 1860. In the place of the bundle of joy the Buttons expected, they...

What a little weird tale.

Most everyone knows the premise of this story; a man is born old, already smart and wise, and as he "ages" he becomes younger in body and mind. It makes me think of another saying, "you are who you are", but actually, throughout your life, you are a different person at different times. You look different, you act different, you think different, you are perceived different during the various stages of your life. I've read most of what Fitzgerald wrote and I think this is one of his best stories.

I have never read anything like this before.When you pick up a book and you know that it is more a short-story than a novel, it's obvious you can't expect much from the book. It will either be a short tale telling you something related to a significant subject and maximum it can do is to give you a heartwarming and a satisfying ending.But this book was something more. It was different. Yes, like many others, I already knew those two words very strongly related to this book i.e, "Aging Backwards"...

If you read this backwards it totally makes sense!

Goodreads is serendipitous! I have been planning to read this for a long time, but somehow kept on putting it off. I suddenly came across Fatty Bolger's review in my feed. It was during my lunch hour, so I Googled for a free version online, found it, and read it.Surprisingly, I liked the story a lot better than I was expecting to. Unlike the movie, which has a heavy dose of pathos, the story is an out-and-out fantasy based on an outlandish premise: what would happen if one aged in reverse? This

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, F. Scott FitzgeraldThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in Collier's Magazine on May 27, 1922. It was subsequently anthologized in his book Tales of the Jazz Age, which is occasionally published as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories. In 1860 Baltimore, Benjamin is born with the physical appearance of a 70-year-old man, already capable of speech. His father Roger invite...

First of all, how is there an entire movie here? Yeah, yeah, it would probably be best to come back to that.My overall vote is "meh?" From a clunky start, this short story waxes and wanes in a similar fashion to its title character. All that I could think while reading the first two sections was how Fitzgerald's dialogue and descriptions of character behavior were the literary equivalent of cutting paper dolls out of vellum and proclaiming them to be sentient creatures. Along with being generall...

Y’all know what this is about. Now take a look at this quote: I’m not going to argue with you. But there’s a right way of doing things and a wrong way. If you’ve made up your mind to be different from everybody else, I don’t suppose I can stop you, but I really don’t think it’s very considerate. [...] You’re simply stubborn. You think you don’t want to be like anyone else. You always have been that way, and you always will be. But just think how it would be if everyone else looked at things as y...

★★★★★★★★★☆[9/10]❓If you happen to meet your kids and grandkids on your way down to childhood, will they regard you as their peer or their nemesis? ❓Will they embrace you with arms wide open or regard you with vitriolic contempt? ❓Will you still love your wife's wrinked skin and mellow body or will she cease to interest you as you seek the company of prettier, younger women? ❓Would you want to unlearn everything as you age(or un-age) without even a faint memory of ever having accomplished wonderf...

The curious case of Benjamin Button, as a slightly melancholic and in its absurdity somewhat humorous, surreal tale on time and (non) conformism, could in a sense be read as a satirical allegory on ageism avant la lettre. (Or maybe I did so).“You're just the romantic age," she continued — "fifty. Twenty-five is too wordly-wise; thirty is apt to be pale from overwork; forty is the age of long stories that take a whole cigar to tell; sixty is—oh, sixty is too near seventy; but fifty is the mellow

“Der seltsame Fall des Benjamin Button“ is a short story, which can be read very quickly because it only has 66 pages. This story is very captivating and emotional. The novel is based on a mixture of weird tragedy and comedy. The destiny of this odd person in combination with Fitzgerald’s writing style and language could fascinate me simply.

I found this short story quite sad, honestly. The fading of memories into oblivion reminded me too well of old age and the forgotten nostalgias of vibrant youth. Although I'm fairly young, I find the prospect of aging-associated diseases disheartening. The relaying of an entire life into such a short book had me contemplating those difficult questions we all are familiar with.This book was actually fun to read, though. The dry, satirical, highbrow humor balances out the depressing aspects which

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a strange little fantasy about a baby born in 1860, who appears to be a withered decrepit old man. He goes on to live his life in reverse, doing all the normal things - running a business, marrying and having children, going to war, attending school and college, and ending up in kindergarten and under the care of a nurse. It was written by Scott Fitzgerald in 1922. Clearly it is a social satire. In his introduction, Fitzgerald says that he came across a sim...

I owe F. Scott Fitzgerald a good many moments of having laughed till the tears ran down my cheeks, today again I was in that mood, especially in the first half of this short story, as he took me, again, into temptation blindfold. But I shall have to bear the laugh. Now, looking innocent and sober, after having just read The Curious Case of Benjamin Button I feel that the midsummer madness has broken out, and no one knows who will be stricken next. Or, better said, maybe this furnishes me w...

I’ve seen the movie (twice), and I’ve been looking forward to reading the short story that the movie is based for a while now. The movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has very little in common with the book. The name is the same, and the core is the same, Benjamin Button is born old and as he grows older he grows younger both in the book and the movie. But in the book, he is raised by his father and not abandon at birth. And all the rest of the book differs also from the movie.I liked the

This story makes no sense and I still love it. Benjamin is born an old man. He ages backwards instead of forward. He fights in the war, falls in love, starts elementary school all in that order. The plot makes you think how life would be for you if it happened that way. What if you had kids that aged forward while you still was going backwards? Would your kids end up taking care of baby you instead of old you? Are you born with wisdom of an older generation or do you still have to learn like you...

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." -Søren KirkegaardThis wonderful short story blurs a lot of lines. It's definitely a satire about aging and how it affects one's position in society, but it's also unequivocally a bittersweet tragedy. A whimsical odyssey in reverse, a story of falling in and out of love, a rumination on memory, a chronicle of one odd branch of a family tree. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button truly is all of these things, but first and forem...

Yay! I finally completed my first audiobook. This isn't exactly a great feat seeing as this story is only about 1 hour and 20 minutes, but it was the perfect length for my walk and recent time constraints.This was such a pleasurable read and worthy of the short amount of time needed to complete. This story is quite different from the movie, but I found it preferable. Even though I am more of a visual learner, the audio version gave me a chance to truly appreciate the writing skills of Fitzgerald...