Beautiful Losers
by Leonard Cohen
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Okay, this book is mental, and proves Laughing Leonard not just to be the Grocer of Despair as his detractors may have unkindly phrased it, but capable of impressive rudeness and high humour. And then you get exquisite prose poems like the following, which the great Buffy Sainte-Marie extracted and made an incredible song out of. I would say that as one who profoundly believes that if there is a God he clearly has long since got bored with the human race if he ever noticed he'd created us in the...more
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Read in May, 2008
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Read in June, 2007
I don't know what the hell to say about this book. So I'll talk about the feelings. Sometimes, I had to shut it because it was too nauseating. Sometimes I thought it was delicious, and disgusting. Sometimes my thoughts ran in parallel with it. At one point I declared that it was the best book in all the world because it just felt...so good.
I'll try to break it down. This was by far the strangest and most uninhibited thing that I have ever read. I felt as though I had never read a book befor...more
I'll try to break it down. This was by far the strangest and most uninhibited thing that I have ever read. I felt as though I had never read a book befor...more
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I read this in college, at about the same time as I first gave "Songs Of Love and Hate" a spin.
!?!
It's sort of strange to think of it now, having these two bizarre (not a word I take lightly) and manaical texts as my introduction to Sad-Eyed-Lenny of the Lowlands.
I'm now a huge fan and I can't shake the magic spell of his music no matter how hard I try to (I don't try very hard). His music puts me in a trance-state, he's a first run songwriter and a poet with real skil...more
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Read in October, 2007
Not finished yet but from the large portion of this which I read during the cross-country trip, I would say it isn't for many -- maybe even most -- readers. It's a bit "blue" for my tastes which is to be expected I suppose but the underlying story of dealing with the grief after losing a loved one is interesting. Time will tell where I come down on this one. I think anyone curious about Cohen (that's how I got here) or who likes Cohen's work and music would be fine with this while o...more
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recommends it for:
Leonard Cohen Knows Something About Eternity That We Mortals Do Not
You'd think this would be fucking devestating, but it's not. I love Leonard Cohen. Who doesn't? Maybe if he read this to me it would be different, because that deep voice really adds so much to his songs, but I just couldn't get into this save a few passages that were excellent.
Are there songwriters that can be good novelists? Maybe good poets, but most often not. I bet there are a lot of songwriters with ambitions of writing novels, but then they lay those ideas out, and those few pa...more
Are there songwriters that can be good novelists? Maybe good poets, but most often not. I bet there are a lot of songwriters with ambitions of writing novels, but then they lay those ideas out, and those few pa...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Jocelyn by:
Inuitdebonair
My thoughts are everywhere in regards to how I want to write this review. A friend of mine bargained me into reading this, so I went into it with a bit of a bias. I think he influenced me to like it more than I might have otherwise.
Nonetheless, this book is a unique collection of beautiful ramblings regarding love. Disturbing, depressing, obsessive love. It's confusing and complex until the very end when Cohen wraps up all of his little plots. The love in this book is conveyed a lot in rela...more
Nonetheless, this book is a unique collection of beautiful ramblings regarding love. Disturbing, depressing, obsessive love. It's confusing and complex until the very end when Cohen wraps up all of his little plots. The love in this book is conveyed a lot in rela...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to Liza by:
Cory
This was a surprise that has interrupted my War and Peace musings (though that one'll take a while since it's too heavy to take anywhere). My friend Cory gave it to me as a belated present for something that I deserve a present for (like the birth of jesus). I didn't really know much about it and I started reading it on the plane back to SF and immediately got embarrassed because it's quite erotic and I was sure that the business men next to me were reading over my shoulder. There are things ...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
Magda
Leonard Cohen is my favourite foreign singer.I love his voice and the lyrics.I found this book while I was in a six days trek.It was the strangest trip for me because all I did was sitting in a bed and reading.I recognised myself in Cohen`s book.Bisexuality was for me at that time a tabu.Then,I became too open-minded(not good).
This novel is misterious.You don`t know all the names.The author calls his best gay friend F. . F. has a relationship with the author(who`s an historian or something lik...more
This novel is misterious.You don`t know all the names.The author calls his best gay friend F. . F. has a relationship with the author(who`s an historian or something lik...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
Fans of Cohen, Quebec Libre, students of the Iroquois
I like Cohen's music a lot, and I am fond of that of his poetry that I've read. This work is well-written, moving lyrically through a picturesque landscape of Iroquois Montreal and the interweaved sex lives of two orphans, F. and the narrator, and the narrator's wife. I was challenged to care about the book. While the story of Catherine Tekakwitha was interesting, I didn't have much interest in or familiarity with the Quebec Libre movement. I do think that the book would be of interest to fa...more
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Read in November, 2006
I was recently introduced to Leonard Cohen's music and it immediately hit me. and when I found out he was an author I was excited. and then when I found out he used to study Buddhism at the mt. baldy zen center and hung out at the press my place of business that blew me away. so I picked up his poetry and this novel.
this is quite a disturbing book and it is more than likely and account of his personal experiences. mostly dealing with a love triangle, death and drug abuse. they style is like ...more
this is quite a disturbing book and it is more than likely and account of his personal experiences. mostly dealing with a love triangle, death and drug abuse. they style is like ...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
e. & c. green.
Oh Leonard, how I love you, but do not so-much love this book. Again, I am letting myself be lazy and file it away to finish in another era, but from what I have read so far, I need to be in more of a sitting-on-a-dirty-rooftop-in-the-rain-drinking-whiskey-and-smoking-cigarettes -sort-of-mood before I can fully appreciate what you've got to offer here.
I love the poems Man, and I love the lyrics, (and I especially love the club, E & C) and though pieces of it are absolutely stunning, I a...more
I love the poems Man, and I love the lyrics, (and I especially love the club, E & C) and though pieces of it are absolutely stunning, I a...more
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I so wish I could give this five stars. I can give five stars to "Songs of Leonard Cohen", "Songs from a Room", "Songs of Love and Hate", "New Skin for the Old Ceremony", and even "Death of a Ladies' Man" but not this. In fact if Cohen's name wasn't on it I'd probably be giving it one star. Although, there is a pretty cool illustrated portion riffing on the old Atlas muscle man ads. But other than that... nothing. Imagine Billy Budd and Holden Ca...more
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Read in February, 2008
C.S. Lewis' _A Grief Observed_ is to L. Cohen's _Beautiful Losers_ as Angel is to Spike (with Peaches). Both beautifully and painfully focused on grief and loss, but Cohen is a lot more (uh, like pretty much infinitely) more sexual and gritty. I personally could have done with less talk about his (and others') penis(es) and all the fluids involved. But the book was pretty amazing: a lot of passages worth re-visiting and moments I thought were thrown out there to stand alone only to be built upon...more
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Read in April, 2008
I only ever read Leonard Cohen's poetry, & somehow I was sure that I'd love this book. & then I liked it, at least a bit, but the graphic-almost-pornographic-but-not-quite bits didn't do much for me. I suppose I'm too squeamish to appreciate it.
However! I loved the overall feel of Montréal in this book -- the mix of Iroquois & catholic & Québécois, the layers of history & its ironies. The Québec Libre movement & its hilarious, yet endearing portrayal! But then I'm...more
However! I loved the overall feel of Montréal in this book -- the mix of Iroquois & catholic & Québécois, the layers of history & its ironies. The Québec Libre movement & its hilarious, yet endearing portrayal! But then I'm...more
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Read in July, 2008
Leonard Cohen's fiction contains many of the same traits we find in his music: compelling but uncomfortable sexuality, honest and unique character portraits, aching yet hopeful existentialism.
The writing is an unreliable stream-of-consciousness remeniscent of Joyce's "Ulysses" or Faulkner's "The Sound And The Fury" (though not quite as dense as either of those).
The story ultimately is a little too misogynistic and a little too morbid for my tastes, but was still a ver
The writing is an unreliable stream-of-consciousness remeniscent of Joyce's "Ulysses" or Faulkner's "The Sound And The Fury" (though not quite as dense as either of those).
The story ultimately is a little too misogynistic and a little too morbid for my tastes, but was still a ver
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I've read this twice and sometime ago. It was a difficult dose my first read, and I believe I actually set it down after the first 50 pages on that attempt. The quote that finally captured me and has carried me through various other fescennine works is "Are the stars tiny after all?" I was forced to look into the pain and obscenity of these characters, asking what distance my own life, and the yearning that entails, has from each. I greatly value this book but only as a memory.
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
lovers of experimental fiction
After a period of displeasure at the relentlessness of the sexuality, I never wanted it to finish, cherishing each page more and more until it did. I love the oscillation between wildly disparate and different historical settings, 1600s and 1960s Montréal. Ending slightly disappointing and incongruous. The poetry everywhere in it is beautiful. I experienced the rare sensation of being conscious of exactly how gorgeous the words were at the very moment of reading them.
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Read in March, 2008
Xtremely poetic and complex book. It was brilliant until the letter from F., when it got a bit too complex, if you know what I'm saying.
Probably too explicit, too, for a man of my years. But I'm going to read this again when I'm older, and I've already quoted the lonely old scholar fellow quite a lot.
Edit - ROFL at my noobiness when I first wrote this review. I've since reread BATFLLSR lots and declare it my favourite book. Masterpiece.
Probably too explicit, too, for a man of my years. But I'm going to read this again when I'm older, and I've already quoted the lonely old scholar fellow quite a lot.
Edit - ROFL at my noobiness when I first wrote this review. I've since reread BATFLLSR lots and declare it my favourite book. Masterpiece.
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when i first picked this book up i was disappointed as i was hoping for something closer to leonard cohen's lyrics from the same era. i put it down and revisited it later with an open mind and was pleased. challenging conventions of sexuality and human relationships, it inspired a lot of thought. led me to look into henry miller. my copy has a review stating "...like playing russian roulette with a phallic pistol". ha!
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.74 (531 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.74 (488 ratings) number of reviews: 68popular shelves
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quote
"ordinary eternal machinery, like the grinding of the stars"
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