An amazing debut: a fast, funny, wry autobiographical coming-of-age novel by a sixteen-year-old — a runaway bestseller in Germany that is causing excitement everywhere. "Hi folks, my name is Benjamin Lebert, I'm sixteen, and I'm a cripple." This is the narrator introducing himself to his class on his first day at a remedial boarding school (he's been thrown out of four schools already), where he's trying to pass ninth grade and maybe even graduate from high school. However, most of his education takes place after hours: with five other kids who rapidly become a gang of friends, Benni is hot on the trail of the Secret of Life — which involves everything from raids on the girls' dorm, booze, first sex, and rock 'n' roll to going out on the sly to a Munich strip club. Fresh, full of energy, unsparingly self-aware, here is a teenager learning about what friends are, what girls are, how you make the best of the hand you've been dealt, and how you find your way in a crazy world by just being your crazy self.

Crazy

Literature & Fiction

Lebert, Benjamin

Literary

KNOPF

A smart, funny, poignant, very modern autobiographical coming-of-age novel, written when the author was sixteen years old. LikeCatcher in the Rye,Crazy appeals to the teenager in us all. Benni himself is partially paralyzed and a serial failure (he's been kicked out of four boarding schools in his short life and has just entered his fifth). So he's a little odd, but he's cool and he finds other strange boys to hang with. Together they set out to experience what they can: girls, booze, sex, philosophy, drugs, sex, books, music, sex–pretty much everything whatever. And Benni lets us in on "the crazy life" he figures is the only way to deal with the crazy world.

Crazy: A Novel

United States

Vintage

From the gifted young author of Crazy (“A marvel of voice, humor and razor-sharp insight” –The San Diego Union-Tribune), an edgy, psychologically riveting novel about sex, love, and secrets. Henry and Paul — young men still new to adulthood — are strangers when they find themselves sharing a sleeping compartment on a night train from Munich to Berlin. When they begin to talk, their stories appear to be variations on the same theme: kids adrift in the big city, relationships gone awry, young hearts broken. Both are disillusioned by their awkward journey from the innocence of childhood to the responsibilities expected of grown-up life. Henry is running away from a triangle of friendship that was becoming a dangerous ménage à trois. Paul is running away as well, but as the night unwinds and the train speeds north across the German landscape, his story turns ominous: desperate and lost, he has fallen in love with a prostitute who spurned him. What he reveals finally to his unsuspecting traveling companion goes far beyond the boundaries of postadolescent angst and into the darkest sphere of human behavior. Fast-moving, immediate, shocking — The Bird Is a Raven is the work of a writer at the beginning of what promises to be a stellar career.

The Bird Is a Raven

Contemporary

Henry and Paul are strangers when they find themselves sharing a sleeping compartment on a night train from Munich to Berlin. When they begin to talk, their stories appear to be variations on the same theme: young guys adrift in the big city, relationships gone wrong, broken hearts. Henry is running away from a triangle of friendship gone sour; Paul is running away too, but as the night unfolds and the train speeds north across the German landscape, his story turns ominous. What he finally reveals to his unsuspecting traveling companion goes into the darkest sphere of human behavior. Shocking and raw, The Bird is a Raven is the work of a writer at the beginning of a stellar career.

A fast-paced, captivating epic fantasy from Benjami Lebert, one of Germany's most talented authors!\nTwo messengers, six allies, one fight for survival!\nA gateway to a world of the past, of vanished names, hopes and dreams has opened in the depths of the Black Forest. Two messengers have come to our present from the immense sunken realms of time.\nTristan is the messenger of doom. Martha is the messenger of preservation. They used to be lovers, now they are sworn enemies. They have come together to fight one final, decisive battle.\nBut they cannot fight this fight alone. Both must win allies to fight by their side. Time is of the essence and there can only be a few - everything revolves around the eight, a mystical number that refers to infinity.\nTristan and Martha must search the Black Forest to find six comrades-in-arms to join their fight. Ultimately, five fighters for doom and three fighters for preservation will face each other. And the battle of the eight will continue until only one of them is left and the fate of humanity is sealed.\nFor many years Benjamin Lebert has been one of the most interesting literary voices in Germany. -Joachim Scholl, Deutschlandradio Kultur\nIn short chapters with many changes of perspective, preliminary interpretations and cliff hangers, Benjamin Lebert creates a rapid narrative pace at which he seldom decelerates. Atmospherically dense, he describes uncanny encounters in the forest, and in a sometimes very poetic language he lets the reader participate in the emotional world of the protagonists. -Deutschlandfunk Kultur

Sign of the Eight

Teen & Young Adult

Arctis

Mitternachtsweg

Hoffmann u Campe Vlg GmbH

Der Vogel ist ein Rabe

Kiepenheuer & Witsch

Kannst Du

Kiepenheuer

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