Primary Cullers: BOOK - BOOK OF LONGING

BOOK - BOOK OF LONGING

Aight so yo. My introduction to Leonard Cohen came from that real good song Hallelujah- a song that Jeff Buckley, in my humble opinion, made better, and then Alexandra Burke in what should be everyones opinion, made worse. Then my friend dropped this book through my window one day (not as weird as it sounds I promise) and i started to read it (because that is what you do with books). Its a collection of Cohen's poetry, some short prose, and his crazy but cool drawings.

(crazy but cool drawing)

There's no general plot to outline here- Well there might be but i didn't read the book cover to cover, i kinda dipped in here and there until i read the whole thing (there goes my internship at any and every newspaper reviewing shit). But the important thing is that its pretty sick. If I took this blog seriously I'd try to find my own way to describe this book properly, but the 'Independent' (Newspaper, magazine, secret society?) pretty much sums it up perfectly - "Cohen maps the wasteland of the heart with humour, and sometimes anger". In my defence, I could add something- go for the rule of three and say humour, hostility, and sometimes anger (i'll make editor one day Mum).

There is a pretty awesome combination of short but emotionally charged poems (notably 'Sweet Time' and 'The Sweetest Little Song'), with longer and more expressive pieces where he says cool shit like 'I am the voice of suffering and I cannot be comforted' ('Something From The Early Seventies). Speaking pretty simply, it just makes it kinda fun to turn the page (remember, I'm a barrel of fun) or dive it at random, because you never know what type of poem or entry you're going to read, or how Cohen's going to leave you feeling. Content with a beautiful simplicity, inspired by a moment in his life, or (for me at lest, pleasantly) saddened by one of the darker entries.

He says some real cool shit in there, with a mixture of simplicity and complexity that lead to equally profound and poignant realisations.

Plus there are drawings of titties and vaginas and butts.