Review by Booklist Review
Cohen is known best as a songwriter--everyone's heard "Suzanne"--and a performer, but he is also a poet with eight collections to his credit. This fine volume brings together a great number of Cohen's striking poems and memorable song lyrics from 1956 to the present, including lyrics from his newest album, The Future, which is one his most powerful and exciting releases. Reading Cohen is just as pleasurable as listening to him, especially since his writing has an aural energy. Cohen is direct and precise, a no-fuss-no-muss sort of poet who gets the maximum meaning out of homey words and an invigorating jolt out of clashing images. By turns caustic and charming, Cohen is often caught between the magnetic poles of love and art, claiming in an early poem, "The reason I write/is to make something/as beautiful as you are." He's too experienced to be truly romantic, but he still longs for innocence and purity and frequently writes about faith and redemption. Politics creep in when Cohen muses over class differ~ences and war, but he most often focuses on the subtle palette of emotions from loneliness to passion, bitter humor to serenity. ~--Donna Seaman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Cohen is probably best known as the writer of the lyrics for the song ``Suzanne,'' made famous by Judy Collins, but has written a great many other songs, too, as well as poetry and prose poetry not set to music. In reading through this generous selection, one often hears the ghost of musical accompaniment, and sometimes its actual presence is missed. The writing alone, forthright in its rhythms, plain of speech, often rhymed, and almost immediately accessible, seems well suited to the ears of a live audience. So fans of the songs will be in luck, here; but readers who prefer slow subtleties, or a kind of poetry that gradually expands in meaning on rereading, or ambitious craft, won't find it in a piece like ``For Anne,'' which begins ``With Annie gone, / Whose eyes to compare / With the morning sun?'' Cohen's writing is oral in flavor, and asks us to ``read'' it mainly by hearing it. This works to the disadvantage of a book, where words stay put and aren't sung. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
To appreciate these poems, we must suspend any notions of poetry as an intellectual art form and approach this work as one would a rack of greeting cards. Rhyme abounds, frankly showing Cohen at his best because it holds his didactic nature in check. Although there are few surprises, such as the wonderful early poem ``Beneath My Hands,'' the songs from Cohen's first album, written over 30 years ago, are still his finest displays of outrageous yet stunning imagery. The presence of woman as lover, prostitute, or slave, celebrated in these early songs, continues into his latest work, making over 400 pages seem remarkably flimsy. That these women never seem to exist as individuals will possibly offend readers with a feminist bent. Yet despite almost pornographic descriptions, this Jewish poet still will not write outG-d's name. The Buddhist element in his 1984 poetry collection, Book of Mercy , is now scarcely evident. Despite its flaws, this book is recommended for popular collections.-- Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, ``Soho Weekly News,'' New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
