The Case of Lena S.

Excellent,amazing. I can't explain in words, this book has to be read in order to understand.I can give you a summary, but this isn't an english assignment. This book is a must read, and if this review didn't help at all, read the book, that will help...its captivating, mentally scarring..ahh its juss good damn it!

After reading The Case of Lean S., I am struck that a satisfying "coming of age" story can have a great significance for the reader who feels the youthful search for identity is past. The sensitive sixteen year old Mason Crowe explores opportunities which will be lost in adulthood. He seeks a meaningful life. While admiring his English teacher, he gives critical observations about the superficial values of his older brother's life. Lena's allure is engaging and damaging, but unavoidable for the development of his character. Mason's story shows the prescience of our youthful observations. The reader is reminded that a better understanding of ourselves lie in dreams and lessons of our youth.

David Bergen's latest book, The Case of Lena S. is set in Winnipeg, Canada. In this story we meet 16-year old Mason Crowe, youngest and most stable member of a family which is falling apart. Mason is bewitched by Lena, a girl from a solid religious family, yet, she herself is falling apart.Lena is a bold and intelligent teen-ager possessing an empty soul which she attempts to fill with sex and sometimes with religion. She seems to view Mason as having potential in filling her and he does his best to please her sexually and otherwise but ultimately she withholds herself.Mason's longing for Lena parallels that of Kierkegaard's longing for Regine. Kierkegaard's works are introduced to Mason by a blind and elderly voyeur, Mr. Ferry, to whom Mason reads on Tuesday and Thursday nights.Reading and books concern Mason. Besides reading as a job, he receives and gives books as gifts, he steals them, and it is when discussing books that he develops a crush on his English Teacher. Mason himself keeps a book in which he records his yearnings, titled, "The Lena Poems."Mr. Bergen provides the reader with backstage asides via footnotes. These comments provide sexual details, analysis, and mostly comic relief. When Mason wonders if his mother's lover has a larger penis than his father, Footnote#10 tells us.."He did. It was thicker and longer."This book, however does not leave one laughing. When the last page is turned the reader is deeply satisfied with this look into teen-age lives and human longing, but not happy. But then, as Mr. Ferry says to Mason, "Happy books aren't as interesting."