The Case of Lena S

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

The literary credentials of Winnipeg author David Bergen are truly
impressive. He received the 2000 CBC Literary Prize and the 1997 New
York Times Notable Book Award. The Kirkus Review has pronounced him
“one of Canada’s best new writers.”

The Case of Lena S deals with adolescent angst in Winnipeg in telling
the story of Mason Crowe, a youth from a dysfunctional family who has
sex with an unstable waitress. Subplots involving supporting characters
(such as Mason’s older brother, Danny, and Hyam Ferry, the blind man
who hired the youth to read to him) are abandoned—a device that
accurately reflects life’s randomness but may frustrate some readers.
More impressive is Bergen’s innovative use of footnotes to advance the
plot.

This book offers a uniquely Canadian view of the universal themes of
love and pain.