Crazy

An autobiographical novel by the then 16-year-old Lebert, Crazy opens with his arrival at Castle Neuseelen boarding school, his fifth school and one on which his parents are pinning hopes for improved grades. Benjamin introduces himself as a 'cripple' -- he has partial paralysis of his left side which limits the functioning of his left arm and leg but the focus of the story is not on this difference but rather on the 'weirdness' and intensity of the experiences and comradeship he and his group of friends recklessly throw themselves into (climbing up to the girls' dormitories, running away to Munich and so forth). This narrative theme is interwoven with concerned thoughts of Benjamin's parents who are at war with each other and of his much loved older sister. Written in a taut, colloquial yet poetic prose, this extraordinary novel from 'inside' the world of the adolescent has a documentary quality that is both gripping and melancholic. It puts to shame much of the cliched writing from adult writers about contemporary youth and their preoccupations. Published here in translation from the German, Crazy was an understandable literary sensation in Germany.