Book v. Movie: Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was originally a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The version I read I was just 26 pages long, and I read it in the bathtub.  The story was prefaced with a review of the piece: a letter to the magazine that first published Fitzgerald's work.  The review was not-positive to say the least, and I have to agree with that writer that this story was not well-written.  It was choppy and non-sensical.  The idea of aging backwards is a fantasy, but the movie succeeded where the book failed in making it seem, not plausible, but embraceable as a miracle. 

In the book, the baby was born with the mind of an 80 year-old.  He wanted to wear suits and was unmoved by kindergarten activities.  As he aged he seemed to forget his life's experiences, and died with the brain of a child: a blank-slate.  

This defeats the entire purpose of tackling the common theory that "youth is wasted on the young."

The movie succeeds where the book fails on this front: Brad Pitt's character has a child's mind that goes along well with his aged body.  By the time he is a young man, he has learned important life lessons and can use his youthful energy and agility to his advantage by appreciating love and traveling the globe.  

The film featured the adoption of Benjamin Button by Taraji P. Hensen's character, and an interesting dynamic between a regretful father reaching out to his son overtime.   In the book there was no-such adoption, and the book focused rather on the unpleasant resentfulness the father felt toward his son, and eventually the resentment Benjamin's own son felt toward raising his baby-minded father.  I much preferred the movie version's take on this element, as well. 

One concept that I will give to the book is how they captured the mind of an infant.  As a new mother, reading such beautiful and haunting descriptions of how the child's mind works, embracing only colors and emotions rather than thoughts, was fascinating and not something the movie was able to illustrate.