This book is from early on in Leonard Cohen's poetry. You can see signs of himself in the writing, most of it is quite standard, a bit of rhyme here and there, lots of descriptive stuff but no real life to it. A huge amount of the book features poems about his religion and with me not understanding that religion I couldn't really get what was being said. There is also no stand out poem, whilst reading his work nothing much jumped out at me.

At the end of the book he has included some lines from his Grandfather's journals and there you can find some brilliance. Some are obviously his experiences of the holocaust and it was an experience reading them, so much emotion packed into a few lines. A sample of his Grandfather's writing;

Erase from my flesh the marks of my own whip. Heal
the razor slashes on my arms and throat. Remove the metal
clamps from my fingers. Repair the bones I have crushed in
the door.

Do not let me lie down with spiders. Do not let me
encourage insects against my eyes. Do not let me make my
living nest with worms or apply to my stomach the comb of
iron or bind my genitals with cord.