The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

May 28, 2007
Each story in this collection is narrated reverently and carefully. In “The Bridal Party,” Grover Gardner distinguishes nicely between the affluent bridegroom who is about to feel the repercussions of the 1929 stock market crash and the jilted suitor whose fortunes are rising due to an inheritance. In the often anthologized “Babylon Revisited,” Ray Porter does an outstanding job of performing the female characters. Those two stories hint at the range of this collection. Most of them, including “Three Hours Between Planes,” performed by Jeff Cummings, feature typical Gatsby-like figures who suffer the pangs of unrequited love. The title story, performed by Scott Brick, is a gimmicky tale of a life lived from grave to cradle. Fans will enjoy this collection’s lesser known but neatly contrived stories that appear alongside some of the author’s canonical tales. For those who may have read one or more of Fitzgerald’s novels from the ’20s, this audio is a great opportunity to sample his shorter works.

September 29, 2008
The impending release of a movie version starring Brad Pitt has made this humorous tale, formerly among the least known of Fitzgerald's short stories, a hot property. DeFillippis and Weir's adaptation preserves the original's straight-faced tone describing the career of a man who begins life in his 70s and grows progressively younger. If bystanders find this more than “curious,” they usually are just irritated at Benjamin for not behaving like other people. He himself is surprised as his body morphs, but is always open to new possibilities; his good-natured adaptability gives the social satire a gentle edge. Readers should, of course, look up Fitzgerald's original, but there's much to enjoy in this handsome little hardbound book. Cornell's sepia watercolor panels are especially clever at showing physical and emotional changes as Benjamin moves backward through life while America rolls forward for 70 years. A useful, gracefully written afterword by Donald G. Sheehy, professor of English, completes the volume nicely.