Reading Leonard Cohen: Untold Stories is like being in a roomful of people who had known the poet, singer, and songwriter, and catching snippets of their conversations. Every so often, theauthor, Michael Posner, interjects with a few sentences of explanation, to give context to a conversation or clarify a reference. The crowded room includes family members; former neighbors in Montreal, where he grew up; classmates from elementary and high school through his years at university; long time friends, teachers, rabbis, writers, singers, fans, and of course, lovers. It's an eclectic mix, reflecting the man himself.
The first of a projected three volumes, this one covers Cohen's childhood in the 1930s and 40s to 1969.