Customer Reviews

Crazy: A Novel

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is an enjoyable little book about the coming of age of a sixteen year old boy attending a boarding school in Germany called Castle Neuseelen. It's an inspiring story about how tough it can be at this age learning about friends, relationships and dealing with pier pressure. Benjamin Lebert also has to deal with another problem, partial paralysis. Life's pretty tough at this age, but it's even harder for Benni. A lot of his education takes place after school hours, as the young boys learn about real life at the girl's dorm, their first sex, alcohol, and even an adventure to Munich.

I was amazed at the skill presented here by this very young author who has a written a very touching and sensitive story (part autobiographical) about his experiences in boarding school. This is a book for everyone to read from a very talented German author. If Crazy is Lebert's debut to the world than this young author has a very bright future. Check this touching story out for yourself. I am sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

I read about Mr. Lebert in the New York Times and found myself kinda interested, but I soon forgot about it. Then, I went to my local Borders Books and Music to get a gift for someone. While there, I noticed Crazy. I went and bought the book, just to see what it was like, not expecting much. But WOW! This is an unflinching portrait of the brutality, loneliness, happiness, freindship and ultimate craziness of youth. Contemplative yet devoid of vanity. Cool but intelligent. Up there with my favorites. I bought this book yesterday(4/16) at 5:00 pm and finished it before 10 the same day. I couldn't put it down. Truly awesome. A must-read for all teens. This is a really great book. Short, precise, absolutely awesome. There were some odd things about the writing itself, but they were proabably just errors in the translation or something. Really good book.

This book was great! I couldn't put it down! The fact that Lebert is only 18, makes it more special. They (Lebert and his follow boarding school runaways) talk about life, friendship and girls, all too often. They want to know more, and go out to find it in the city, instead of at school. Lebert's problem of being cripple is most interesting and you know what he is going through. I highly suggest this book to anyone, esspecially teens.

I absolutely love this book. Although it's not a representation of all the teenagers in the world (at least not me), it certainly tells something about being young, something almost every one of us could relate to. Every page is being turned with a smile on my face, and every line fits to be a perfect paragon of Benjamin's definition of "literature". I enjoy the fresh style; it's simplicity, and honesty. Thank you, Benjamin! I heard the movie just came out in Germany...hope it will open in the US soon...it's going to be very interesting.

What an amazing story coming from such a young author! As soon as I got the book home I have been reading non stop and finished it in a day and a half!( I had to sleep and eat that is why it took so long) Not many authers keep my interest the way Benjamin Lebert has. Great book about teenage boys and the crazy things they do while learning to become a man.

In fairness, this book may have a different effect in its original German. Thus, the following comments may only apply to this English translation.

Several of the major characters in this book are extremely underdeveloped and only drawn in caricatures (e.g., the overweight boy and his overstuffed bag of candy, or Skinny Felix who is defined only by the fact that he is not overweight). Further, the adolescent boys have vague philosophical talks about the heroism of living life to the fullest--all the time! This not only bogs the book down and rings incredibly false, but it also runs contrary to the actual philosophy of living life to the fullest. There is so little action compared to the amount of time spent talking about being active.

It also seems uncreative that the climax to the story and supposed epitome of living life to the fullest consists of a drunken visit to a strip club, cut extremely short by the main character passing out. For a coming of age story, I saw little to no growth in any individual aside from one of the side characters (Troy).

This is a touching autobiogrphical novel, written when the author was 16, about a German boy who is crippled on his left side and with learning disabilities, trying in vain to stay in one boarding school after another long enough to graduate, but making wonderful friends and having crazy coming-of-age experiences. His love of reading, particularly of The Old Man and the Sea, and his love for his dead St. Bernard, who was his true friend and protector for 14 years, are reason enough to love this book. I found the boys' philosophical discussions and their positive outlook in the face of harsh reality to be endearing.

Let's be up front about one thing right now, if this novella (it's short enough to be read in two hours) hadn't been written by a 16-year old, it wouldn't have gotten the hype it has, and very well might not have been published period. While it is an impressive achievement for someone so young, this coming of age work from Germany is highly derivative of that most famous of coming of age novels, "The Catcher in the Rye." In what must be a highly autobiographical tale (this is a fair assumption given that the narrator is given the same name as the author), Lebert recounts "Benjamin's" months spent at his fifth boarding school. He's partially crippled, and academically suspect-and his parents use this as an excuse to pack him off while their marriage crumbles. Always regarded by his peers as either an object of contempt or weakness, not to mention strange, at this new school he instantly falls in with a group of five other misfits (it's not clear where the bullies are in this school, only the gang of six and a some girls they party with are ever mentioned).

There are two main set-piece episodes: the sneaking up to the girl's floor for a late-night party, complete with drunkenness, awkwardness, and the losing of virginity, and the running away to the big city (New York... oh wait, no it's Munich...). Throughout these reasonably well-written, but generic "adventures," the gang engages in some rather unlikely and insipid philosophizing which severely undermines what charm the book has. Lebert is at his best in capturing small intimate moments (the description of his dog's death, the scene where he reads "The Old Man and the Sea" to his friends), as opposed to grand statements on life. In general, the writing is pretty minimalist and straightforward (which is good), and Benjamin emerges as a sympathetic and engaging character, although his pals (with the exception of ultra-romantic Jamosch) remain ciphers. In the end, it's very difficult to understand the breathless German media hype for this book, which travels down down exceedingly well-worn paths without adding anything fresh to the landscape.

More interesting coming-of-age novels include: Meera Syal's "Anita and Me," Chris Fuhrman's "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys," Bett Williams' "Girl Walking Backward," Jervey Tervalon's "Living for the City," and Alan Warner's "The Sopranos."

I found this book to be a fun, interesting and quick read.
The main character's disability brought a fresh perspective
to a coming of age book. And I cannot believe the author
is a teenager!

I know I would have loved to read this book when I was in high
school and I enjoyed reading it now 10 years out of school.

If you are looking for a "fresh" book I would recommend this.

I've read this book both in German and English and when I finally passed the English book on to my friends over here (it's still circulating somewhere) they absolutely loved it, some reading it a few times.

We describe it to those out of the know as "The Catcher of the Rye for our time." Salinger's novel is also a favorite of ours and there are some simliarities, along with differences, such as there are a GROUP of young men, and that Benjamin, unlike Holden, is not a psychopath. Sure there are some ways we can't relate to young Lebert, such as we're not paralyzed, our grades are far from suffering and we live with our parents, but the fact that 16 and 17-year-old young men and women alike are completely taken by this book just shows it's the core of the teenager that we can relate to.

I'm fearing that some adults who read this book may esteem teenagers and their emotions and feelings too lightly. This book is, however, for a generation that has in-depth discussions on college and careers (as well as religion and death- though less extensively) by the ripe age of fourteen. There are aspects, such as the feelings of inadequacy and rapping with your friends for hours that we experience constantly. There are also those adventures that we wish we could have, and if we already have them, wish we had them more often- being at school away from our broken homes, sneaking into the dormitories of the opposite sex or running away to Munich (I just came back from Munich and would not mind running away at to it at any time.)

Everyone couldn't believe 1. A person so young was published and 2. That what he wrote just "hit the nail on the head" for how own emotions. However, the hype is completely with merit and, sadly, we can't get a hold of the film version of the novel, which we desperately need, after reading this refreshing breath of fresh air, among the stale, cookie cutter teenage books written by thirty-somethings.