A Broken Hallelujah: The Life of Leonard Cohen

  A Broken Hallelujah: The Life of Leonard Cohen

by Liel Leibovitz
Biography
WW Norton & Company
Paperback, 288 pages
$15.95

Being of a certain age and temperament, we are dyed-in-the-wool fans of the inimitable Canadian poet, songwriter, and singer Leonard Cohen. Liebovitz declares categorically at the outset, “This is not a biography of Leonard Cohen.”  That has already been done quite admirably by Sylvie Simmons in I’m Your Man (2013). This one is more a spiritual fan letter. It delves deeply into his Judaism and traces his influences from the Gregorian monks to Rinzai Zen Buddhism. It’s a small and slender book that captures an essential side of this unique character, but it’s not the whole story. Nicely written.