Crazy (German Language Ed)

Barnes & Noble Guide to New Fiction

When young German Benni ("the ultimate outsider") finds himself at a remedial boarding school, he discovers that his real education takes place after hours. In this "1990's Catcher in the Rye," the "partially paralyzed" Benni is hot on the trail of the Secret of Life: Booze, sex, and a Munich strip club are just the beginning. "Reads like a memoir." "Refreshing and enjoyable," wrote some reviewers. For others, it was "plotless." "Written for a young adult audience, but I'd be CRAZY to give this to my teen."

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Boarding school antics and teenage epiphanies fuel this slim but entertaining runaway German bestseller (more than 200,00 copies sold), an autobiographical debut by Lebert, who's 16. Benjamin, the novel's protagonist, is also 16, a misfit who must struggle against a near-paralysis of his left side and a chronic lack of academic aptitude to merely get through life. Having flunked out of four schools before the novel's beginning, he comes to Neuseelen, his fifth, where he must graduate from ninth grade or else. He quickly befriends a set of similarly maladjusted teens; together, they search the school grounds for excitement. When such limited pleasures as after-hours booze and raunchy teen sex wear thin, they head for Munich, where they are guided by a wise old man (who claims to sing "the song of life") to a strip club for a night of drink and debauchery. As the book moves toward its end, Benjamin flunks out yet again and is sent home, without any sign that school or life have taught him anything. Lebert's knowing yet ingenuous voice and the flatness of his exposition give character to his tale, but the action revolves around the cliches of adolescent life. Although the characters are likable and also quite believable, they don't grow substantially from their coming of age. Ultimately most interesting as a publishing phenomenon--Lebert's insights into human psychology, society and development are understandably limited--the novel moves along at a good clip, and what it lacks in depth it does make up for in animation and verve. Rights sold in Denmark, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Italy, the U.K., France, Spain, Norway, Finland, Slovenia, Estonia, Croatia, Brazil, Greece, Taiwan, Portugal, Poland, Sweden; Turkey, Israel, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

VOYA - Voya Reviews

At the age of sixteen, Benjamin Lebert has already been thrown out of four boarding schools and does not have much hope of making it to graduation in his present one. He cannot understand math, his parents are splitting, his sister is a lesbian, and he is partially paralyzed on his left side. Despite these handicaps, Ben manages to lose his virginity in the bathroom of the girls' dormitory and sneak into a Munich strip club with his buddies, all the while philosophizing heavy-handedly about God and the meaning of life. This is your run-of-the-mill, teenage angst novel, and frankly, the German teen author, who shares his name with his protagonist, does not shed any new light on the subject. Crazy is poorly written, clichéd, and full of shallow titillation. There are, however, a few small gems buried in the manure, such as when Ben discusses his parents' arguments--"Sometimes it's about my upbringing. Sometimes it's about their own upbringing. And sometimes it's just about who should take the goddamn empties back to the supermarket." Sadly, these clever remarks are the exception rather than the norm. Nevertheless older teens will probably be curious about this novel and eager to see what kind of writing their peers can produce. It is just a shame there is not a better example than this. Oh, wait, I forgot. There is--The Outsiders (Viking, 1967), and it was written by Susie Hinton when she was in her teens. This heavily marketed title is for very limited purchase. VOYA CODES: 1Q 4P S (Hard to understand how it got published; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2000 (orig. 1999), Knopf, Ages 16 to 18, 178p, $17.95. Reviewer: Jennifer Hubert

Library Journal

Holden Caulfield at a German boarding school? Not quite, but in this debut novel six teenagers confront issues of spirituality, sexuality, bereavement, family discord, and all the other ills that the flesh is heir to. Crazy was a best seller in Germany, and Lebert was 16 at its first publication, which no doubt contributed to the book's popularity. Yet Crazy isn't only a literary phenomenon; it is a tart and moving book. The boys are supportive of one another in ways one would not expect, and their search for the meaning of life--the meaning of Hemingway, any sort of meaning--is vividly and cinematically portrayed. Suitable for both adult and YA collections, but selectors should be aware that there is one graphic, although decidedly unerotic, scene of sexual initiation. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/00.]--Judith Kicinski, Sarah Lawrence Coll. Lib., Bronxville, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

School Library Journal

YA-The young protagonist is shuffled between boarding schools supposedly for poor grades in math and German (his native language), but more likely because of his inability to mesh with the image the administrators have about the students who attend their schools. Benni is partially paralyzed on his right side, a condition that seems to have more of an effect on the adults around him than on his peers, and he forms a natural clique with a group of fellow outcasts. Benni, Fat Felix, Skinny Felix, Janosch the ringleader, Troy the bed wetter, and Florian aka Girl go in search of an existential experience, which includes sex but also encompasses finding the meaning of life with a capital L. The boys develop a philosophy of the soul that includes keeping yourself spiritually alive into adulthood and doing the crazy things that enable life to speak through you, in all its hard, crappy glory. The obvious comparison to Holden Caulfield is misplaced here; the adults who surround these students are not phonies or actively evil, but presented as minor obstacles to the experience of real life, when they appear in the boys' consciousness at all. The novel is nearly over before an adult assists the runaways by buying them tickets to Munich and introducing them to adult entertainment. Comparisons of the teen novelist to S. E. Hinton are somewhat obvious, but what is more important than outcast status and the bonding of family in this novel is the ability to create a family among people far from home, with only one another to draw on.-Sheryl Fowler, Chantilly Regional Library, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.