The Bird Is a Raven Author:Benjamin Lebert From the gifted young author of Crazy (?A marvel of voice, humor and razor-sharp insight? ?The San DiegoUnion-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 ... more »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.« less