I saw the movie “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” over the holidays. I enjoyed it, but it was long, and the premise required significant suspension of disbelief (I mean, how would it be physically possible to grow younger?!). But I enjoyed it enough that I hope to read the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story upon which it is based, which is available in a book called The short stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: a new collection (3rd-floor Main Collection, PS3511 .I9 A6 1989).
When I first saw this movie advertized I thought it was based on a 2004 novel by Andrew Sean Greer called The confessions of Max Tivoli. I was very impressed with this book because I thought it had a fresh, unique idea about someone born aged and growing younger… and how often do you read something with a storyline that isn’t just a variation on a theme? Well, of course I was much less impressed when I learned the Button movie was based on an older story with the same idea! But the novel was a very good read anyway, and while we don’t have it at UW-Whitewater, UWW students and staff can borrow it from another UW library by using the free Universal Borrowing service.
