This book is so beautifully written. Classic Cohen. There isn't much story but there are so many amazing paragraphs in this novel that it doesn't matter. ( )

A much more accessible novel than Leonard Cohen's later Beautiful Losers. That book was experimental and often impenetrable, but the structure of The Favourite Game is more regular. It is essentially a coming-of-age tale and a pseudo-autobiographical account of Cohen's youth.

The regular structure allows Cohen to shine at the things we know he is good at: lyricism and emotion. His poetic touch, whilst a drawback when it comes to plot and pacing, is excellent for scene-setting and for articulating emotion, and for a coming-of-age story that is key. There is a quiet majesty and intimacy in the interactions in The Favourite Game that elevate it above the self-centredness of most youthful bildungsromans.

Whilst a compelling novel in its own right, the book is more likely to be read nowadays by dedicated fans of Leonard Cohen, and in this respect it proves even more compelling. His penchant for eroticism is, thankfully, much less crude than in Beautiful Losers and whilst the womanising and bed-hopping might not play well in our more regressive, puritanical times, we do get a good insight into what makes Cohen tick and what makes him click with women. And the young Cohen who wrote The Favourite Game in 1963 can still be found in the courteous fedora-wearing gent of 2016; if you ever wondered why the man who wrote so earnestly about love could never find 'the one' and settle down with a wife, read The Favourite Game. "I'm not a good lover or I'd be with you now. I'd be beside you, not using this longing for a proof of feeling… I want no attachments. I want to begin again. I think I love you, but I love the idea of a clean slate more." (pg. 264). The book speaks of the heart of Cohen as he was, is and hopefully will be for a good while yet. ( )

Poetic, lovely writing. Amazing images: rooms become living things while bodies become objects of beauty. And, we have the story of a young man coming to grips with his heritage, his success, and his isolation. ( )

I should start by saying a little something. I adore Leonard Cohen...I actually think he's one of the best lyricists out there (if not *the best*) and on a visceral note, often times has his music completely soothed me (especially on trains..if you're taking an overnight AMTRAK ride across sleepy North America, be sure to bring about eight hours of early period Leonard Cohen, mainly: Songs of Leonard Cohen, Songs from a Room, Songs of Love and Hate, and New Skin for the Old Ceremony. Or, if you have a tendency to listen to songs on repeat, bring a comfy set of headphones and play "Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye" to your little heart's content for the next ten hours.)


That said, I should also say I can be somewhat objective about Leonard Cohen even though I will admit to a slight bias. For instance, though his lyrics in more recent albums (i.e. The Future) are some of his best yet, the chosen music accompaniment is downright dreadful. Someone needs to kidnap the man and an acoustic guitar and make sure he doesn't leave a recording studio until "Anthem" has it's true stripped down glory. Not that I'm condoning this sort of musical heist or anything but seriously those good lyrics suffer under such appalling conditions. It's like putting the most decadent chocolate cake in a dark alley by a bunch of feeding rats.


Perhaps, I'm getting off track. I meant to talk about the book here. Well, this is the first book of Cohen's I've read (surprisingly! Boy, do I need to get my act together!) While I'd rather listen to an album of his, I do find some of the similarities interesting. The Favorite Game, first published in 1963 gives us a glimpse of early Montreal and insight into human relationships partially under the guise of a diary kept by a definite Ladies Man (interesting to note, if Cohen's own words about himself are true concerning the lack of adoring females and lustful intimacy, he could have never been this main character) Then again, who wouldn't adore Cohen in just about any fashion? To love a mind is to love a body even if that body is, at this point, 73 years old. Anyhow, at most it's semi-autobiographical and at least pure fiction.


I think the one thing I found fascinating about this book above all else was the emphasis on rooms...which in some way parallels the emphasis in Songs From a Room. For instance, there's this overwhelming sense of the inside private spaces of people's lives and a commitment that seems final even though for protagonist Lawrence Breavman it is anything but. It's almost as if by making this small commitment to share a period of time with a woman in a room, it's the same for him as a lifelong commitment. The problem is, that fidelity only lasts for the time he's actually in the room and then he's off to another woman. He has his definite favorites, though, and will come back to them...calls them long distance right after leaving the last (ahem I believe this was before texting) and even goes to the extent of giving one of his great loves his journal describing recent sexual exploits. This is technically a third person tale but very much so told without a moral perspective or from the point of view of any of the women (though we do have a sense of how they feel but the story is led by Breavman and his actions). It merely is about the way this man is who loves women but perhaps loves his choice and his own solitude more. The most interesting part of the book was towards the end when Breavman sees a male friend of his and volunteers as a camp counselor. I won't spoil it but there's a story that really comes out of nowhere here.


Some of my favorite quotes:


"Your body will never be familiar" p.20


"They held hands tightly and watched the stars in the dark part of the sky; where the moon was bright they were obliterated. She told him she loved him. A loon went insane in the middle of the lake." p.32


"You want to live in a world where the light has just been switched on and everything has just jumped out of the black" p. 141


"We have to bring everything to eachother. Even the times we are corpses" p. 165


"On the Hudson there were other lights, the necklace of the George Washington bridge, the slow-moving barges and the Alcoa signs across the water, The air was clear the stars big. They stood close and inherited everything" p. 173 ( )

Meiner Meinung singt Leonard Cohen eindeutig besser als er schreibt. Allerdings macht er das auch schon viel länger, die 2011 erschienene deutsche Übersetzung basiert auf dem bereits 1963 erschienenen Original. Grundsätzlich schildert Cohen darin seine Jugendjahre mit wechselnden Frauenbekanntschaften, der Lust und dem Leid, Künstler zu werden bzw. zu sein und dem Gefühl der kontinuierlichen Einsamkeit. Es ist jedenfalls besser, das Buch im Original zu lesen, dann kommen einem viele Textpassagen noch bekannter vor, weil sie Cohen ganz offensichtlich in seinen Liedern übernommen hat. Kein großer Wurf aus meiner Sicht, umso erschreckender, dass das Werk im Klappentext als "einer der zehn besten kanadischen Romane des 20. Jahrhunderts" ausgewiesen wird. ( )