As the title suggests, this is a small book containing three short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The three stories are: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Bernice Bobs Her Hair and The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.

All of them were a little weird, as they didn’t seem to have a punchline, or morale, or point. Nevertheless, I liked them and they were well-written.

As usual, I’ll go through them one by one.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Plot:
Robert Button is shocked when his son Benjamin is born. Benjamin is not a baby but a five foot seven old man. But Robert doesn’t want to accept this, insists on buying Benjamin rattles and dressing him like a child, although Benjamin much prefers to sit in his room smoking cigars and reading the Encyclopedia Britannica. With the years, Benjamin starts to age backwards.
The story chronicles Benjamin’s life and the relationship with his father and later his son.

I thought the story good, but nothing special. It reads more like a plot outline for a bigger novel. Everything happens very fast and sometimes quite incomprehensible, character-motivation-wise.
What I found interesting was Benjamin’s relationship with his wife. Sketched only in a few words, but what a story that would be – from her perspective.
I also liked that not only Benjamin’s body was old when he was born, but also his mind.

Bernice Bobs Her Hair

Bernice visits her cousine Marjorie in the big city. Unfortunately, she’s quite unpopular there. One night she overhears Marjorie talking to her mother – about Bernice and how boring she is. At first, she threatens to leave early. But as this doesn’t impress Marjorie, she agrees to a make-over. And it seems to work.

This comes closest to a story with a morale. And it was written as such – Fitzgerald wrote it as advise for his niece, I think, on how to behave to impress the boys. He later rewrote it to make it fit for publishing.
It was funny – I liked the bon mots [I’m a sucker for bon mots and absolutely unable to produce one myself], but most of all I liked the description of the interactions between the young people. So little has changed. [Did I just sound 80 years old?]

The Diamond as Big as the Ritz

John gets send to boarding school, where he meets the mysterious Percy. For the summer holidays, John is invited to visit with Percy and his family. On the train ride there, Percy tells John that his family is the richest family in the world – they even own a diamond bigger than the Ritz. But nobody knows about this. They protect there property with all means possible.

The story reads a bit like Fitzgerald was high when he wrote it. Seriously, everything is a bit like David Lynch meets A Hard Day’s Night. But that doesn’t take away the fun of reading it. Quite contrary, it only enhances it.
It’s a story I would like to see a movie off. I think that would be hilarious.
And the ending…
Well, let’s just say it was a really funny, in the I-have-no-idea-what’s-going-on way.