First published 2012
Music journalist Sylvie Simmons embarks on a biographical journey through Leonard Cohen's remarkable life, beginning in his native Montreal and following his path across continents. She tracks Cohen from London to the Greek island of Hydra, then to 1960s New York where he transformed from poet to musician. Simmons examines the contradictions that defined Cohen: the devout Jew who became an ordained Buddhist monk named Jikan, meaning "ordinary silence." She chronicles his artistic achievements alongside his personal complexities, from his reputation as a sophisticated ladies' man to his unexpected retreat to a monastery in the mid-1990s. The narrative captures Cohen's fifteen-year withdrawal from public life and his triumphant return to sold-out concert halls worldwide. Simmons navigates through Cohen's travels in Mumbai's backstreets and countless hotel rooms, building a portrait of an artist whose work explored love, sex, religion, and power. The book reveals how Cohen's intelligence and emotional depth created music that moved audiences like no other performer of his generation.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, non-fiction, music, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family
Setting: Greece, Hydra, Montreal, Mumbai, New York
Period: 1960s, 1990s
576 pages · Hardcover · Ecco