Leonard Cohen - by Jeffrey Lewis (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A man who shares his name with a famous singer must grapple with his identity, purpose, and love.

The Leonard Cohen at the center of Leonard Cohen: A Novel is an everyman, a would-be artist, a would-be lover, a would-be tragic figure, yet a man haunted by the greatness of his namesake. He struggles to compete. He struggles to be more than a punchline in his own mind. He struggles, in particular, to write one song as great as the least of the great Leonard Cohen's songs.

At the center of Leonard's life is Daphne. In their meeting on a Greek island, a contemporary fable of Daphne and Apollo plays out. But even with Daphne, Leonard is shadowed by the other Leonard Cohen, whom he fears is the real Apollo. The ancient myth haunts the fated lovers, and the nobody Leonard Cohen's life becomes at once a mystery, a miracle, and a myth on its own terms.

Once upon a time, Apollo fell hard for Daphne, who turned herself into a laurel tree. No less a fate awaits the protagonists of this slender yet universal novel, where art, love, and fame all fatefully intertwine.

Review Quotes

"Leonard Cohen is a slim book, and its structure includes Leonard's letters as well as third-person accounts of his trip to Greece and his life in the years that followed. It's a story that feels both highly specific and rooted in legend; either way, it feels like a sharp break from Lewis' recent work. But it's also a memorable immersion into its protagonist's sense of himself -- and his growing feeling that he may never have understood his life as well as he once believed."-- "Portland Press Herald"

About the Author

Jeffrey Lewis has won numerous awards for his novels. He has received two Emmy Awards and has been nominated twelve times for his work as a television writer and producer, most notably for Hill Street Blues.