Summary: Crazy is originally written in German by Benjamin Lebert and is translated into English by Carol Brown Janeway. It is a story about the author himself, who is partially paralysed down his left side, and follows his escapades while he attends a new school. The story is set in a boarding school in Germany and revolves around the lives of five young men including Lebert and their developing friendship and their theorising and thoughts on what it is to grow up and live life.My Thoughts: This book was a hard one for me to get into and at page 44, I decided to start over. I felt that if I began again I might be able to sink into the story and feel connected to it in some way. Connected is not a feeling I ever obtained while reading this book, but I did on restarting feel as if I had taken in that which I had not done so previously. In my opinion this book captures the way in which some young adults think about life and death and friendship very accurately indeed. However, be it due to the translation or the style of the original text, I found that the way the book was written made it complicated to understand what the boys were trying to talk about sometimes. This portrayed in a fantastic manner the way in which the thoughts flooded the young men’s minds. I found the sexual content somewhat vulgar at times but also believe that this portrayed the way in which some young men may actually view certain sexual situations.There is a lot of use of the term ‘CRAZY’, as in the title, and I feel that the way it is used to depict so many different feelings about things and to describe so many different things is creatively done. Throughout the book it is used to define something that is bad, something that is good and something that is extremely good. The way in which each character uses the term shows how we can all interpret things differently. The edition that I read was not, I believe, the edition that I have connected this review too; as I was unable to find the edition that I purchased. (There is no ISBN). This edition did not have a very descriptive blurb and so it took me right up until the moment Janosch calls Benjamin by his full name to understand that book may have been written by the author and about the authors’ experiences of being disabled and in a boarding school. The length of the book, I don’t think allowed for a great deal of depth of character to be formed. However, in the short span of the book, I found myself completely enthralled by the different characters and able to distinguish them perfectly. To me this book feels somewhat like an excerpt from a much longer novel.I enjoyed reading this book in certain chapters, but in others simply wanted to get through them to the next bit of the story. All in all it was a good read, just not as enjoyable as it could have been.Recommendation: I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a quick read, but has a quiet environment available to them so they can digest the book properly as they read. This is a very philosophical book, so anyone interested in such subjects might also be interested in this book. This is not my usual type of read and would probably not pick up anything similar to this style again.
When I reviewed The Perks of Being a Wallflower (which I loved) Zee of Zee’s Wordly Obsessions recommended Crazy to me, suggesting that it may be something similar. Well I’m sorry Zee but I really didn’t really find Crazy comparable to The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I’m not saying it was bad, I just couldn’t find myself relating to it in the way that I related to The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The one thing I found a could relate to was Benjamin’s annoyance at his body not doing what he wanted but it was only briefly mentioned. I can say I preferred it to Catcher in the Rye though, I never really liked Holden but I didn’t mind Benjamin. In some ways I thought Lebert was trying to make Crazy more like Catcher in the Rye as he often included passages where the boys would philosophise. Mainly though this philosophising seemed pointless, and even annoyed me a little. There was nothing profound about it, but I did kind of like how the boys thought they were being profound, it seems realistic for how teenagers would view their own thoughts- as being really original and earth breaking.One thing I didn’t understand is that the book is categorised as a novel (it even says a novel on the back cover), but the main protagonist has the same name as the writer, which suggests it’s actually and autobiography. Does anyone know what it actually is?A quick and easy read, it took me less than 2 days to read.
What do You think about Crazy (2001)?
A YA book originally published in Germany. Got great reviews, but I'm not all that thrilled with it. Definitely for older kids; there are a couple of pretty "adult" descriptions of sex, plus some deep & bizarre conversations about what the meaning of life is. Basically, about a kid (with the same name as the author) who is sent to boarding school because his grades suck. (?) He also has partial paralysis on his left side which makes it hard for him physically. Maybe I need to read this again...?
—Cat.
Ich war begeistert von diesem Buch, vor allem wenn man das bedenkt dass der Autor erst 16 Jahre alt ist/war. Die relativ kurzen Sätze, die mich in anderen Romane vielleicht gestört hatten, passten hier perfekt. Genau so stelle ich mir die Gedankengänge eines pubertierenden Jugendlichen vor. Und es ist ja nicht so, dass sich der Autor alles ausdenken musste - er schrieb einfach nieder, was er selbst erlebt hatte, inklusive einiger dichterischer Freiheiten hier und da. Sehr gelungenes Zeugnis eines Jahres im Leben eines 16jährigen, behinderten, verliebten Internatschülers.
—Karschtl
2015 reading challenge - a book that was originally written in a different languageI understand the author was 16 when he wrote this. I understand this is Young Adult. But that doesn't mean it has so be so utterly random and pointless. The characters start up deep conversations about God and life, out of the blue. They make reckless moves without any reasoning. I'm not sure to which level is this autobiographical, but these boys lack common sense. You can't just let a strange old man lead you around München. It was sometimes fun and the sentences were short and easy to understand, so it's fit for German learners.
—Valentina
