Crazy

This is the story of Crazy: when the book was first published in Germany it was a literary sensation, topping the bestseller lists. It has been compared to JD Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. It is being made into a film. Its author, Benjamin Lebert, wrote the book when he was only 16 years old.

This is the story in Crazy: Benjamin Lebert, an under-achiever who is paralysed on the left side of his body, is placed in a new boarding school. His father has left his mother for a buxom 20-year-old. His sister's sexy lesbian lovers have been taunting him. He has a bad grade in mathematics. He is cynical about life. At school he makes friends with a motley crew of boys and, despite being disabled, participates in all their nefarious pranks. His friends also provide a network of support for him and a sounding board for his ideas about life, love and happiness. They all share their insecurities, talk about family relationship, chase after girls, smoke a lot, run away from school and get drunk in a sleazy striptease bar.

What's special about Crazy is that Lebert tells us a lot about how teenagers think. We learn about their views on adulthood, sex, family, religion and life. "Old people have a completely different attitude to life. They don't like us. And we don't like them." Crazy is an excellent coming-of-age novel; a charming glimpse of adolescence by a captivating young author. --Edward Bloor