Crazy (novel)
Crazy is an autobiographical novel by Benjamin Lebert about the time of youth, which was published in 1999. The author portrays his experiences as a half-page spastic and also deals with the problems of growing up, puberty , envy and jealousy , friendship and love .
content
16-year-old Benjamin is sent to boarding school in New Zealand by his parents . This is not the first change of school for the boy, who is paralyzed on one side, especially because of his poor grades in mathematics . Benni has to share a room with Janosch , who is more interested in girls and a good time than in school. Both boys are in love with Malen , a classmate of the same age, which is not pursued further in the book, unlike the film adaptation of the book . When Benni and his friends, who also include the silent Troy , fat and thin Felix and Florian, who all just call "girls", are invited to a night party in a girl's room, he gets to know Marie there, who like he's only recently started boarding school. Benni has his first sexual intercourse with her in the course of the evening . However, Marie then turns away from Benni and they have no more contact.
In the next big step, the boys want to run away from the boarding school. They put this idea into practice and travel to Munich with the help of an old man, Sambraus , who himself was once at the New Zealand boarding school . The bitter widower lives above a strip club where the youngsters can have fun at his own expense. After that one night outside the boarding school, the man drives her back to school. At the end of the book one learns that Benni did not make it through the school year and therefore changes school again.
The novel mentions numerous problems that teenagers often struggle with, such as Benni's separation from his parents; In addition, one sees bitter existences that take refuge in violence or pornography.
useful information
- Benjamin Lebert wrote Crazy at the age of 16. He attended New Zealand boarding school , which is also the location of the film.
- Benjamin Lebert left school illegally after 9th grade; However, when he had great success with Crazy , he made the secondary school certificate; During the final exam, he learned that the students from the neighboring secondary school had to write an essay about Crazy in their exams .
- The author himself later said of the book: “Most people think“ Crazy ”is my autobiography. That is wrong.“ Crazy ”is a novel in which there is a character who is similar to me and bears my name everything. My autobiography is a completely different book, namely: "The Story of the Little Dog That Couldn't Bark. "
- Crazy was filmed under the same name in 2000 , although the plot of the film differs significantly from the book.
Reviews
"It is a tender, unpretentious, utterly amazing and wonderful book by a highly talented, very young author."
"This damned little superman, for example, can describe the blackness of a night sky so desperately beautiful and sad that you think no one else has ever done it before."
Individual evidence
- ↑ Deutschlandradio : " The Sorrows of Young B. " (May 22, 2005)
- ↑ Literaturtipps.de: "Benjamin Lebert" (accessed on August 23, 2020)
- ↑ An autograph from God . Elke Heidenreich on Benjamin Lebert's debut novel, DER SPIEGEL 7/1999
- ↑ Review: My Guilt by Maxim Biller. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, February 25, 1999, No. 47 / p. 52