Book description
Absent Friend is a meditation on a thirty year friendship between Leonard Cohen and Irish writer John MacKenna. Through their letters, emails and MacKenna's exploration of his favourite Leonard Cohen songs, the book builds a picture of a comradeship that culminated in their creating Between Your Love and Mine, a…
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Why read it?
1 author picked Absent Friend as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Absent Friend is a heartfelt and heartwarming tribute to a man and his work.
The man in question being Leonard Cohen. Part memoir, with illuminating glimpses into the author's own life, part biography, Absent Friend is the Irish author's homage to the man he describes as full of style, grace, and humility.
The words flow as sweetly and as easily as any of Cohen's lyrics. Recurring themes from Cohen's work are teased out: our reluctance to make the sacrifices necessary to form lasting relationships, what, if anything, awaits beyond life, and meditations on the lives of martyrs. Transcending all the…
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