Book Review: A Broken Hallelujah: Rock and Roll, Redemption, and the Life of Leonard Cohen, by Leil Leibovitz

To learn more about L. Cohen is always gratifying. In this biography, Liel Leibovitz does a very good job at introducing Leonard as the artist he was, as the man, but also as the mind. Cohen was part of several important moments in the history of the world, as an observer, or participating through his music, giving concerts to the troops in Israel, talking about the issues of the times he lived in. He defied the status quo of the music industry, of the rock and roll as known in America. There were too many famous musicians then (Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Kris Kristofferson, Judy Collins, Toni Mitchel), and Cohen was starting his career late, after being essentially a writer, mostly a poet. And then he decided to move into that other world that looked more attractive to him, even when he didn't know more than three chords (he used to say five). But he had what Federico García Lorca described as "duende", a power and not a behaviour… a struggle and not a concept that lives within the poet, and later on, in the singer-songwriter.

He carved his way through that abyss and finally got all the experiences, the satisfactions, the highs and lows, the depression, the women and all the learnings during a long and robust career.

He had the will, the persistence and the resilience to get exactly where he wanted to be. He didn't care about the apparent obstacles, he used a bit of the Canadian naiveté, his bold vision of the world and a pinch of cynicism to break the "I can not's" and turn them into a fruitful production.

Leibovitz made me think of him in a different way and helped me understand my favourite writer and musician from another perspective, more political in a way, that I haven't fully understood before.

That's why I love biographies. They situate the reader in the time and context of those who we admire.

You can complete the reading of this book by listening to Cohen's albums, from the first one to the last. You will understand a lot more of what's detailed in the book. The music gives the words an ambience. You will almost feel his presence while you dive into his mystical universe.