Scan barcode
katyrbw's review against another edition
5.0
All the stores are filled with songs / All the streets are paved with gold / When it comes to telling secrets / I don't tell them till they're old
deeply affecting
deeply affecting
singh_reads_kanwar2's review against another edition
5.0
It’s leonard cohen,last book we’re ever going to get, so even though i breathlessly love every single poem, lyric, scrawled note-to-self he may have been planning to polish at a later date.The Observer wasn’t kidding when it called Leonard Cohen ‘the last word in love and despair
The first has 63 poems, ranging from the sublime to the ‘meh’ to the so odd it has to be genius; the second features the poems that became lyrics from his remarkable last four albums; and the third is an eclectic selection of writings and doodlings from Cohen’s notebooks. I like the way he always talk about sad love like he is standing between regreting how he loved and glad how he never loved beforeThis book covers a great chunk of time, and some of the early writing here does in fact become something else later in his career; there’s even evidence of that occurring within this collection - echoes, phrases repurposed, the under ghosts of familiar songs peeking out elsewhere.
if there had to be a farewell at all, this is a fitting one - the whole range of his writing is on display; all of his wit and erotic spirituality, his self-deprecation and his gratitude, his respect and his delight in the fluidity of language.
the book is almost like being at a memorial ceremony - there are humorous moments to stave off getting too gloomy or somber.
The first has 63 poems, ranging from the sublime to the ‘meh’ to the so odd it has to be genius; the second features the poems that became lyrics from his remarkable last four albums; and the third is an eclectic selection of writings and doodlings from Cohen’s notebooks. I like the way he always talk about sad love like he is standing between regreting how he loved and glad how he never loved beforeThis book covers a great chunk of time, and some of the early writing here does in fact become something else later in his career; there’s even evidence of that occurring within this collection - echoes, phrases repurposed, the under ghosts of familiar songs peeking out elsewhere.
if there had to be a farewell at all, this is a fitting one - the whole range of his writing is on display; all of his wit and erotic spirituality, his self-deprecation and his gratitude, his respect and his delight in the fluidity of language.
the book is almost like being at a memorial ceremony - there are humorous moments to stave off getting too gloomy or somber.
chaun_sox's review against another edition
4.0
Bittersweet collection posthumously released, and mostly written during the last couple years of Cohen's life. Major themes are acceptance, letting go of guilt, grappling with old age and the inevitable feelings of not having enough time, and redemption.
sci_mom's review against another edition
4.0
I received this in a Goodreads Giveaway. Sometimes you win a book in a giveaway and you think, "cool, a free book" and then sometimes you win one that you really wanted and those are the ones that keep you entering. That's what this book was for me. Reading through it, though, was bittersweet, as expected. It was much like watching leaves turn radiant colors only to have them fall from the trees...except, in this case, there will be no spring to follow.
askmashka's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced