The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Narrated by: Scott Brick
Published March 16th 2007
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Genre: Classic, Horror, Sci Fi
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0 Overall; Story 4.0; Narration 4.0.
Publisher's Summary
F. Scott Fitzgerald makes antebellum Baltimore his setting for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a fantastical tale with some Poe-like overtones about a baby born at age 70 who then lives life in reverse, his hair turning "in the dozen years of his life from white to iron-gray, the network of wrinkles on his face becoming less pronounced". What ramifications that creates for Benjamin's relationship with his father first and then later with his wife and his own son makes for some fantastical situations.
Public Domain (P) 2007 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Review:
Benjamin Button was born as a fully grown 70-year-old man. Neither the doctors nor his parents could understand this bizarre event. Initially the public found this man-child abhorrent but soon the scandal faded. Benjamin himself didn’t understand why his parents wanted him to play with a rattle or why they placed him in a school setting to play with paper and paste.
As the years go by, Benjamin gets younger. When he was age 18 (but appeared in his 50s), he entered military service and became a successful leader. He continued to grow younger and began to mix more comfortably with the younger, social community. Although still young in age, Benjamin met a beautiful young woman who viewed him as an interesting, debonair older man. Theirs was a lovely romance except that she grew older as he continued to grow younger … and younger.
This is an old classic first published in 1922 and was made into a movie in 2008. I don’t recall that I ever read this years ago nor saw the movie although I was familiar with the theme. I am surprised that it is listed as ‘romance’ as to me that was a minimal aspect. Overall this struck me as a bizarre and almost horrific tale. I viewed it as sci fi and horror mix and recommend this to readers of those genres, rather than romance.
Audio Notes: Scott Brick is a skilled narrator and did a good job with the story and the emotions. The story is engaging, and the audio made it an easy read/listen.
Source: 2009 I think this was free at Audible. This qualifies for 2020TBR and 2020Audiobook goals.
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