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The Case of Lena S.
Selected as one of the Top Ten books of the year by the Toronto Star. Winner of the Carol Shields Award.
296 pages, Paperback
First published September 17, 2002
About the author
David Bergen
29 books118 followersBorn in Port Edward, British Columbia, author David Bergen worked as a writer and high school English teacher in Winnipeg, Manitoba, before gaining a great deal of recognition in Canada when his novel The Time In Between won the 2005 Scotiabank Giller Prize, one of Canada's most prestigious literary awards. The novel also received a starred review in Kirkus Reviews and was longlisted for the 2007 IMPAC Award.
Bergen's debut novel, A Year of Lesser, was a New York Times Notable Book, and a winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year award in 1997. His 2002 novel The Case of Lena S. was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for English language fiction, and won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award. It was also a finalist for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.
Additionally, Bergen has received the 1993 John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer, and the 2000 Canadian Literary Award for Short Story.
In 2008, he published his fifth novel, The Retreat, which was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and which won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.
Bergen currently resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba with his family.
Bergen's debut novel, A Year of Lesser, was a New York Times Notable Book, and a winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year award in 1997. His 2002 novel The Case of Lena S. was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for English language fiction, and won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award. It was also a finalist for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.
Additionally, Bergen has received the 1993 John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer, and the 2000 Canadian Literary Award for Short Story.
In 2008, he published his fifth novel, The Retreat, which was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and which won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.
Bergen currently resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba with his family.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 6, 2022
This is the second book I’ve read by this author and I am a fan! I love his writing. I must admit that I seldom connect with male writers as much as I do with female, but I really connect with his writing.
David Bergen was born in 1957. He is a Canadian novelist.
I learning about the inspiration for writing a book. Here’s how this one came about.
In an interview, the author said he’d been walking home one day when he spotted a teenage girl on the railing of a bridge with her legs dangling above the river appearing as if she was going to jump. The author managed to get a hold of her until help arrived. It turned out she was a patient from a nearby psychiatric hospital. He never heard what became of the girl he rescued, but she stayed with him.
This novel, The Case of Lena S., the main character is a suicidal, sexually provocative 17-year-old girl who will also find herself on a bridge.
The novel follows Mason Crowe, a 16-year-old boy who learns lessons in despair and desire. The story captures the yearnings of youth. Teenage love.
The story is dark and like real life. The way I like my stories to be.
Here are some lines I love from the book:
His brother Danny was like an animal that would eat until it was sick.
Danny touched her breast with his hands. He looked like a blind man feeling his way through a strange house. The bowl of popcorn spilled but they didn’t notice. Seeta placed her hands on Danny’s forehead as if she were checking for fever. They pulled away and looked at each other.
“It’s possible to love more than one person. This may not be a good thing that it’s a fact.”
He said he wanted to talk about stories. He said that the goal of telling the story was not to amuse. The writer was not a magician sent forth to beguile, neither was the goal to teach as if the story were a map rolled out and held flat with weights and the reader a lost traveller bent over that map trying to find the way. The purpose of the story was to enchant, and the reason we like stories, he said, is because they are truer than our own lives.
In fact, in this whole world there are only a few stories to tell. It is how we tell them that is important.
The box had a small window. Once she had watched her father asphyxiate a squirrel. “You must be careful,” he had explained as he attached the hose to the tailpipe, “that no exhaust leaks into the garage.” Then he had turned on the car’s ignition and they had watched together. “See,” her father said, “it just falls asleep.” And this was true; there was nothing ugly or violent about the squirrel’s death. Her father had killed Pontoon their
cat, in the same way. Lena had watched and when it was over she looked down at Pontoon who was laid out on the cement floor like a small rug. She saw her father’s large hands and the black pipe and she saw her own feet, her grey runners. “We should put them on a blanket,” she said.
Later, after closing time, she looked at the pamphlet her father had given her. It was called “Youth and Depression” and there was a cartoon figure of a teenager looking glum and there was a definition of depression — a very deep and prolonged feeling of hopelessness — and there were the symptoms — withdrawal, anxiety, and turning to alcohol, drugs, promiscuity, and suicide — and finally there was the suggestion that God might be able to help. Lena threw out the pamphlet and that night, in her room, she made a pencil sketch of the girl on her back with her legs spread, knees bent, and beside the drawing she wrote the dictionary definition for “promiscuous”: “casual, as in casual shoes, casual labour, casual sex. Or: indiscriminate, as in promiscuous massacre, promiscuous hospitality.” The word massacre attached to promiscuous interested Lena.
She liked short, quick sentences because as she said, most high school students didn’t know how to write long sentences that looped back on themselves and inevitably the sentences, like snakes, ended up meeting their own tails and the arguments became circular and dangerous, if not downright poisonous.
Sex and death lie in the dark.
Danny was talking, going on about his drawing and his art and how he figured that might be his future. “Being a chef is lousy,” he said. “You create something that gets devoured in half an hour. Just like that.” He snapped his fingers. “And then the next day it gets shit out. With art, at least, it lasts. You can look at it one day and a year later it’s still there.”
A gift was not given an expectation of something in return, the gift was simply that, a gift.
The characters in this book have stayed with me long after finishing the book. This is a book I want to read again. There are so many wonderful passages that I'd like to come back and savour.
David Bergen was born in 1957. He is a Canadian novelist.
I learning about the inspiration for writing a book. Here’s how this one came about.
In an interview, the author said he’d been walking home one day when he spotted a teenage girl on the railing of a bridge with her legs dangling above the river appearing as if she was going to jump. The author managed to get a hold of her until help arrived. It turned out she was a patient from a nearby psychiatric hospital. He never heard what became of the girl he rescued, but she stayed with him.
This novel, The Case of Lena S., the main character is a suicidal, sexually provocative 17-year-old girl who will also find herself on a bridge.
The novel follows Mason Crowe, a 16-year-old boy who learns lessons in despair and desire. The story captures the yearnings of youth. Teenage love.
The story is dark and like real life. The way I like my stories to be.
Here are some lines I love from the book:
His brother Danny was like an animal that would eat until it was sick.
Danny touched her breast with his hands. He looked like a blind man feeling his way through a strange house. The bowl of popcorn spilled but they didn’t notice. Seeta placed her hands on Danny’s forehead as if she were checking for fever. They pulled away and looked at each other.
“It’s possible to love more than one person. This may not be a good thing that it’s a fact.”
He said he wanted to talk about stories. He said that the goal of telling the story was not to amuse. The writer was not a magician sent forth to beguile, neither was the goal to teach as if the story were a map rolled out and held flat with weights and the reader a lost traveller bent over that map trying to find the way. The purpose of the story was to enchant, and the reason we like stories, he said, is because they are truer than our own lives.
In fact, in this whole world there are only a few stories to tell. It is how we tell them that is important.
The box had a small window. Once she had watched her father asphyxiate a squirrel. “You must be careful,” he had explained as he attached the hose to the tailpipe, “that no exhaust leaks into the garage.” Then he had turned on the car’s ignition and they had watched together. “See,” her father said, “it just falls asleep.” And this was true; there was nothing ugly or violent about the squirrel’s death. Her father had killed Pontoon their
cat, in the same way. Lena had watched and when it was over she looked down at Pontoon who was laid out on the cement floor like a small rug. She saw her father’s large hands and the black pipe and she saw her own feet, her grey runners. “We should put them on a blanket,” she said.
Later, after closing time, she looked at the pamphlet her father had given her. It was called “Youth and Depression” and there was a cartoon figure of a teenager looking glum and there was a definition of depression — a very deep and prolonged feeling of hopelessness — and there were the symptoms — withdrawal, anxiety, and turning to alcohol, drugs, promiscuity, and suicide — and finally there was the suggestion that God might be able to help. Lena threw out the pamphlet and that night, in her room, she made a pencil sketch of the girl on her back with her legs spread, knees bent, and beside the drawing she wrote the dictionary definition for “promiscuous”: “casual, as in casual shoes, casual labour, casual sex. Or: indiscriminate, as in promiscuous massacre, promiscuous hospitality.” The word massacre attached to promiscuous interested Lena.
She liked short, quick sentences because as she said, most high school students didn’t know how to write long sentences that looped back on themselves and inevitably the sentences, like snakes, ended up meeting their own tails and the arguments became circular and dangerous, if not downright poisonous.
Sex and death lie in the dark.
Danny was talking, going on about his drawing and his art and how he figured that might be his future. “Being a chef is lousy,” he said. “You create something that gets devoured in half an hour. Just like that.” He snapped his fingers. “And then the next day it gets shit out. With art, at least, it lasts. You can look at it one day and a year later it’s still there.”
A gift was not given an expectation of something in return, the gift was simply that, a gift.
The characters in this book have stayed with me long after finishing the book. This is a book I want to read again. There are so many wonderful passages that I'd like to come back and savour.
September 25, 2019
David Bergen is perhaps Canada's best male author. Based in Winnipeg, he has written a collection of probing novels, some (like this book) focused on the wide variety of people in his own home city and some set abroad (like the excellent "Stranger" that I read last year.)
Written in 2002, this book looks at both sides of a passionate teen-age love affair between Mason, a developing young poet, and Lena S., an imaginative and seductive young woman, who gradually declines into a depressive state that affects the love affair and damages her life. This is a novel that captures well the dimensions of life for young people in Winnipeg. It is also a deep and powerful examination of mental illness and what it can mean for such young people.
The structure of the novel is interesting. The first long section charts the love affair from the perspective of Mason; then the second section presents some of the same developments from Lena's viewpoint. This makes for a skillful and dramatic novel, particularly as the trends in Lena's changing character become evident.
In the end, this is a sad and emotional book. I enjoyed it and felt fully engaged throughout my reading. But it will leave you drained, too, and convinced of the importance of attention to mental illness in our changing world.
Written in 2002, this book looks at both sides of a passionate teen-age love affair between Mason, a developing young poet, and Lena S., an imaginative and seductive young woman, who gradually declines into a depressive state that affects the love affair and damages her life. This is a novel that captures well the dimensions of life for young people in Winnipeg. It is also a deep and powerful examination of mental illness and what it can mean for such young people.
The structure of the novel is interesting. The first long section charts the love affair from the perspective of Mason; then the second section presents some of the same developments from Lena's viewpoint. This makes for a skillful and dramatic novel, particularly as the trends in Lena's changing character become evident.
In the end, this is a sad and emotional book. I enjoyed it and felt fully engaged throughout my reading. But it will leave you drained, too, and convinced of the importance of attention to mental illness in our changing world.
June 6, 2015
a dark story, perhaps realistically describing lives of mentally ill, and the angst of teenage years, but not an uplifting story. The most interesting aspect was the difference in family members, the central character, Mason much like his plodding father, while his older brother Danny more closely resembled his mother, both somewhat promiscuous.
August 7, 2019
This was a dark book about a 16 year old boy who falls in love with a girl who eventually kills herself. His mother leaves his father and his whole world is just in chaos. The setting is in Winnipeg. It was a dark book about teenage life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 25, 2019
This was a really interesting book about a relationship between two highly challenged highschoolers. There was a lot of interesting stuff in it but it just didn't grab me or move me in the way 4 and 5 star books have
October 3, 2023
interesting to say the least. while the uniquely matter-of-fact writing style was fun, the overall plot and the way it jumped between perspectives, times and settings didn't exactly work for me. an incredible work as a snapshot of life, but a 4/5 as a piece of literature
January 3, 2010
The Case of Lena S. by David Bergen, is about a sixteen year old boy named Mason Crowe, growing up in Winnipeg with his mother. The story mainly revolves around him and his twisted and very complicated relationship with Lena Schellendal, a seventeen year old girl who also lives in Winnipeg. Lena is very troubled, no one can ever understand what she is thinking and Mason only starts to realize this after he has fallen very hard for her. Whenever Mason isn’t with Lena, he reads to a blind man named Mr. Ferry, who lives by himself and has two cats.
I enjoyed this book very much, probably the main reason that I did was because the author described adolescence in a way that I could relate to. The problems Lena and Mason face in high-school, and outside with their families and work, is definitely happening in real life. This book is very well written, the phrases and the characters seem very real, almost like I’m meeting the people in the book. There is one point in the book, earlier, where Mason is in a café and watching Lena go to her voice lessons, because he likes her a lot. And that is something that boys do these days, they are sometimes too shy to talk to the girls they like, so they just watch. David Bergen describes the relationship between Lena and Mason to very great detail, and the strong love that Mason feels for her, despite her personality and lack of morals.
THE ONLY THING I DONT GET IS THE ENDING, does she die?!??!?! HELP.
I enjoyed this book very much, probably the main reason that I did was because the author described adolescence in a way that I could relate to. The problems Lena and Mason face in high-school, and outside with their families and work, is definitely happening in real life. This book is very well written, the phrases and the characters seem very real, almost like I’m meeting the people in the book. There is one point in the book, earlier, where Mason is in a café and watching Lena go to her voice lessons, because he likes her a lot. And that is something that boys do these days, they are sometimes too shy to talk to the girls they like, so they just watch. David Bergen describes the relationship between Lena and Mason to very great detail, and the strong love that Mason feels for her, despite her personality and lack of morals.
THE ONLY THING I DONT GET IS THE ENDING, does she die?!??!?! HELP.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2011
I enjoyed reading this book. I wouldn't say it was very deep. I felt all emotions were shallowly covered. So, his mom moves out . . . Meh. So, his ex gf commits suicide - I'm just going to random live with my mother. What happened to the face he didn't like the other guy and not really his mom either for cheating on his dad?
I was so excited when I found out this book was based in Winnipeg. AMG! I know where you are talking about!
And - in true Winnipeg format, David Bergen got the concept of a Winnipeg girl down to a tee!
Yes, Lena was certifiably insane and ended up committing suicide, she behaved the same as all the other girls in this city.
She played with boys. As in, she flirted with them, drew them in, and then flung them away. Always multiple boys. She had no real girlfriends - just bar friends.
Just - sketchy.
Since I'm not originally from Manitoba, when I first arrived here I couldn't believe the stories I had heard. But after living here for a while and witnessing it first hand . . . Yeah - the women here are cold.
David Bergen did an amazing job at capturing that! Go David!
I was so excited when I found out this book was based in Winnipeg. AMG! I know where you are talking about!
And - in true Winnipeg format, David Bergen got the concept of a Winnipeg girl down to a tee!
Yes, Lena was certifiably insane and ended up committing suicide, she behaved the same as all the other girls in this city.
She played with boys. As in, she flirted with them, drew them in, and then flung them away. Always multiple boys. She had no real girlfriends - just bar friends.
Just - sketchy.
Since I'm not originally from Manitoba, when I first arrived here I couldn't believe the stories I had heard. But after living here for a while and witnessing it first hand . . . Yeah - the women here are cold.
David Bergen did an amazing job at capturing that! Go David!
November 21, 2014
2 STARS
"The Case of Lena S. follows the life, loves, and coming-of-age of sixteen-year-old Mason Crowe during a year in which he will learn what it truly means to be in the world. At the centre of the novel is Lena, a troubled girl who has " chosen" Mason and will teach him something of desire and despair. Impulsive, provocative, vulnerable, and sad, Lena becomes haunting for Mason in ways he does not always understand. We meet Mason's first " love, " an older girl destined for an arranged marriage; his mother, who takes a lover; and a wise and erudite blind man with a voyeuristic streak, to whom Mason reads. Playful, and with deadpan humour, the novel brilliantly captures the yearnings of youth, as well as the tantalizing possibilities and the confounding absurdities that sometimes lie at the heart of our most intimate relationships." (From Amazon)
It is a bit like the Reader but I was not a fan of the writing or the storytelling of Bergen.
"The Case of Lena S. follows the life, loves, and coming-of-age of sixteen-year-old Mason Crowe during a year in which he will learn what it truly means to be in the world. At the centre of the novel is Lena, a troubled girl who has " chosen" Mason and will teach him something of desire and despair. Impulsive, provocative, vulnerable, and sad, Lena becomes haunting for Mason in ways he does not always understand. We meet Mason's first " love, " an older girl destined for an arranged marriage; his mother, who takes a lover; and a wise and erudite blind man with a voyeuristic streak, to whom Mason reads. Playful, and with deadpan humour, the novel brilliantly captures the yearnings of youth, as well as the tantalizing possibilities and the confounding absurdities that sometimes lie at the heart of our most intimate relationships." (From Amazon)
It is a bit like the Reader but I was not a fan of the writing or the storytelling of Bergen.
December 3, 2012
Amazing book. Made me laugh, made me cry (legitimately, it brought me to tears four separate times). Lena was a tragic character, written so beautifully. And Mason was the perfect teenage boy, just trying to figure everything out.
Would HIGHLY recommend!
Would HIGHLY recommend!
July 7, 2013
Interesting writing but otherwise, one of those books I place back on the shelf after saying "so what".
May 5, 2013
Good story line & interesting characters. Rather shallow, more of a teen read.
March 10, 2014
Lena is much like Jessa from Girls.
May 1, 2014
Great coming-of-age story.
February 20, 2015
A book that helped get me through some teen angst bullshit in middle school
October 22, 2015
Don't waste your valuable time reading this one.
I kept hoping something would rise up from the book and tell me it was worth the read, but alas it never did.
I kept hoping something would rise up from the book and tell me it was worth the read, but alas it never did.
December 20, 2015
Well written, but dull story of a depressed teen and her struggles. Couldn't quite bring myself to care about her, or the main character, her on and off again boyfriend.
June 20, 2016
Odd but tender coming of age story of a 16 year old and his interactions with females in his life.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews