The Favorite Game

Rating:
Summary: A Guide to Men
Review: As a woman in her mid-twenties this has been quite a revelation for me. It has opened my eyes in so many ways with regard to men and their nature, and I mean this in a kind and tender way. Growing up I have passed myself through many of the stages that Lawrence is going through, from the sexual awakening to the loss of spiritual innocence, yet the occasional paragraphs to which I cannot instantly relate make for the key to the enigmatic difference between man and woman. A must for any passionate of human nature.

Rating:
Summary: Sadly ahead of its time
Review: I enjoyed this book because it helped explain sexual deviance. It's even more relevant now that it was then. Sex is certainly not held to be sacred, or even valued at all by most people today. One thing I don't agree with the author on is whether this is a good or bad thing- he actually seems to think it's enlightened and for the best!

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent
Review: I was forced to read this book in my English 101 in college. Having only known Leonard Cohen by reputation, I was reticent of reading it but I did because I had to. At the end, though, I learned to appreciate this book because everything made sense and I started relating to his character. It's quite touching. Having seen Ghost World about a year after, it reminded me of this book, same basic, same principal of being disappointed by the poeple you care about and not being able to accept those changes. I suggest you read this book, it's a good read and a good intrusion into the mind of a little boy growing up.

Rating:
Summary: Genuine Cohen
Review: If you are a fan of our fellow Canadian's work this is a must-read. This novel is very 'real', 'true' and consequently I'm tempted to say autobiographical of Cohen (then again isn't most of his work?). The characters are tangible and captivating, the writing superb and rich with metaphorical flavours. Well worth your time, it's addictive.

Rating:
Summary: Cohen-as-Salinger
Review: The Favourite Game is wistful and sentimental (in a good way), well-written, fun to read, and especially evocative in recreating the early 1960's in urban North American and Montreal in particular. It's a coming-of-age novel in the Salinger vein, following a Young Bright Man (too young for the Beats) and his midadventures. This is only Cohen work that could be optioned for the movies (and succeed as a movie, too). Not as heartbreaking as Cohen's other work, more straightforward than Beautiful Losers, The Favourite Game is arty entertainment that's worth taking on the train or to the beach. (And cheap, too!)

Rating:
Summary: The Favorite Game both a Hit and a Miss
Review: There's no doubt that I'm a Cohen fan. I enjoy his poetry and believe his songs are some of the best compositions I've ever heard.

That aside, I'm a little astonished to find out that The Favorite Game has thus far received only glowing reviews on Amazon.

Now don't get me wrong. I already said I'm a Cohen fan, and not a fair weather one at that. And I agree whole-heartedly that this book beautifully documents processes of growing up and self-realization - I DEFINITELY recommend this book if you're exploring the tougher times of those processes yourself. There's also no doubt that his use of metaphor is incredibly brilliant, some of the best I've read out of any writer.

However, I find the writing in a life-transitory novel like this one to be unexpectedly weak. One of the major transition points in the book is underexplored in a way that I think leaves major holes in the story. I felt I was at a very critical point in the book when Cohen summed up very major events in a few paragraphs and raced me to the end of the book. Sure, maybe that's how life works ... the traumatic events happen quickly and there's not much to say about them, and you're raced to a conclusion. Either way, that's not what I want or expect out of an artist who's as brilliant as Leonard Cohen.

I'm no lit major, but when I pick up a book with as much weight as this, and from someone with as much to say as Cohen, I expect to reach the end without the feeling I've been cheated because of a lack of detail. More importantly, I want to get to the end knowing that in 250 pages I know this character, really know him, and maybe see myself in him if I'm lucky. Unfortunately, Cohen just didn't get me there.

Definitely read this book. But don't read it expecting a Catcher in the Rye or a Bell Jar, because his writing here simply doesn't live up to that. At least not for me.


Rating:
Summary: A good introduction to Cohen's written work
Review: This is a book that few people other than Leonard Cohen would ever dare to write -- or even be able to imagine; especially in the early 60's -- but which, for him, is a fairly straight-forward work. Much more literal and novelistic than Beautiful Losers, Cohen's second novel, and far less obscure than most of his poetry, The Favorite Game is the ideal entry point into Cohen's writing. Cohen write very provocative, very beautiful, highly lyrical poetic prose that is not for everyone. Some will be turned off by the frequent use of allusion and metaphor and the not-always-linear narrative structure; however, for those who like literate, poetic writing, Cohen is a goldmine. Whereas Beautiful Losers and much of his later poetry is very abstract, The Favorite Game is a novel in a traditional and familar form -- the coming-of-age of a young man -- but done in a highly unique and endearing fashion. The language used in the novel is strikingly beautiful, and uniquely Cohen. His writing is of a style that I can only describe as the mastery of Joyce crossed with the eroticism of Miller. He is very frank and candid about sexual matters; but, unlike those two authors, he writes about it in such a way that it is erotic as well as artful and beautiful. The book is also very funny in the uniquely Cohen way -- drier than a bone. Like most of Cohen's works, this is highly autobiographical, and most of us -- certainly those who have experienced either side of love -- will be able to identify with much of it. One might even call it the Canadian Catcher In The Rye, although its literacy and pretentions to high artfulness render it less transcendent than that American masterpiece. Still, for all Cohen fans, this is an absolute must; for readers unfamilar with or curious about the author, it is the ideal place to start.

Rating:
Summary: Sweetly and self-consciously veiled autobiography
Review: This novel is charming, and is a must-read for any Cohen fan, whether fanatical or merely curious. It reads like well-wrought and sophisticated free-verse poem, but is highly novelistic in its content. What is presumed to be misogyny by Cohen's critics is made to feel, if not natural, then reasonable, and understandable. Readers are invited in to his self-explication and self-exploration; he carries us through a maquette of his youth and his young-adulthood. (Remember, he wrote this when he was in his late twenties.) He may be criticized for romanticizing his past, but any such faltering from the truth is attributable to his writing style, and that he changed some details for novelistic reasons (it is not intended to be an actual autobiography). Those who are familiar with Cohen's lifetime and writings will recognize his "larger than life" persona in this novel, as the protagonist Lawrence Breavman, as a near-replica of Cohen's self, a self that is the self that Cohen enjoys painting for his readership via his writing and interviews. This novel presents an interesting view of a famous person's understanding of who he is, and of his personal philosophies.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully Potent
Review: What a genius Lenny is! Having struggled through the wild magnificence of Beautiful Losers, this novel was a breeze... Each sentence is amazing. Not a single word is wasted. This IS the essence of Leonard Cohen. I love his music, but his written word is something else. This is an intense, honest, and poetic novel. It is art.