Saturday 14 February 2009

Short Story Sunday: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A copy of the story can be found online here

I really want to go and see this film, but it doesn't look like I'm going to get to the cinema anytime soon so I thought I'd check out the story till it comes out on DVD.
The story probably took around 30 minutes to read at the most but it made me think about Benjamin's life for much longer. Benjamin is born an old grey haired man, his father distraught is determined to treat him as a baby so provides him with warm botles of milk and baby rattles etc. The longer Benjamin lives the younger he becomes, gradually becoming younger than his father, wife, son and even grandchild.
This story is told with a real simplicity of language yet we ca vividly see Benjamin's pain by the way others around him treat him. Definately a story to check out

1 comment:

Frances said...

The sadness that surrounds the impermanence of the human condition in this story is very touching. It is also an unusual representation of Fitzgerald's work as it is almost devoid of the usual emotional content. Just delivered in the most straight-forward manner. Nice choice.