So long, Marianne

by Kari Hesthamar, Κρυστάλλη Γλυνιαδάκη (translator)

Αυτή είναι η ιστορία της Μαριάννε, της γυναίκας που ερωτεύτηκε ο Λέναρντ Κόεν, κάποτε στην Ύδρα, της γυναίκας που σημάδεψε τη ζωή και την τέχνη του.

Στα 22 της χρόνια, η Μαριάννε Ιλέν εγκαταλείπει το παγωμένο Όσλο και μετακομίζει στην Ύδρα, μαζί με τον αγαπημένο της Άξελ Γιένσεν, ήδη καταξιωμένο συγγραφέα. Αυτός γράφει· η Μαριάννε ασχολείται με το νοικοκυριό, μέχρι την ημέρα που ο Άξελ θα την αφήσει για χάρη μιας άλλης γυναίκας, στο μικρό ελληνικό νησί, μ’ ένα νεογέννητο μωρό στην αγκαλιά. Μια από τις γκρίζες εκείνες μέρες, η Μαριάννε βρίσκεται στο μπακάλικο του νησιού. Ένας γοητευτικός άνδρας εμφανίζεται μπροστά της από το πουθενά και της ζητάει να καθίσει με τον ίδιο και την παρέα του στα λιγοστά τραπεζάκια της αυλής. Της συστήνεται ως Λέναρντ Κόεν. Η συνάντηση σηματοδοτεί την αρχή ενός μεγάλου έρωτα, που θα διαρκέσει όλη την ταραγμένη δεκαετία του ’60 και θα τους ταξιδέψει στο Όσλο, στο Μοντρεάλ, στη Νέα Υόρκη, στο Παρίσι και ξανά πίσω στην Ύδρα. Την ίδια περίοδο, ο Κόεν, θα δει την καριέρα του ως τραγουδοποιού να απογειώνεται και θα γράψει ένα από τα ωραιότερα τραγούδια αγάπης, το So Long, Marianne, για την όμορφη Μαριάννε.

Tο βιβλίο, αποδίδει καθηλωτικά την εικόνα μιας άλλης εποχής, ιχνηλατώντας το πορτρέτο της διεθνούς, καλλιτεχνικής «αποικίας» της Ύδρας στη δεκαετία του ’60. Οι πρωταγωνιστές του είναι όμορφοι, νέοι και ανήσυχοι, υπέρμαχοι μιας ζωής αντισυμβατικής, αφιερωμένης στην τέχνη και την αναζήτηση της εσωτερικής ελευθερίας.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Music, Memoir, Scandinavian Literature, Biography Memoir, Greece

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2014

About the author

Kari Hesthamar arbeider med radiodokumentar i NRK P2 og er prisbelønnet en rekke ganger for sine produksjoner.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everybody was beautiful and young and full of talent and covered with a kind of gold dust. -l.c.



so long, marianne

for hardcore cohen fans, this book is a must, but for more casual fans, there is not much for y'all. it is only a 200-page book, and marianne doesn't even meet up with cohen until about halfway through, and it is less illuminating-biography than casually anecdotal-snippets. also - be warned that as far as all the extra material goes: the unreleased photos and letters and poetry - the ARC has much less of this than the finished book, which i went out and bought after reading the ARC. not because it was the best book ever, but since the whole purpose of reading this book was for the extras, i wanted to have it in its completed form.

marianne left norway when she was 22 to follow her writer-boyfriend alex jensen to the greek island of hydra where she became involved in an expatriate-artist community, had a child by jensen, was abandoned by him, married him, was abandoned by him again, and then met leonard cohen. expatriate-artist communities like these are typically made up of people prone to drifting, and who have a flexible sexual loyalty - leonard ended up with marianne, axel ended up (briefly) with leonard's girlfriend, etc etc.

axel was pretty much a dick. he constantly left marianne for other women, and for the pursuit of his craft, and was generally condescending and belittling towards her. here is an excerpt from one of his letters:

It is night on this little island of ours and two lamps are burning, it smells of them, and my head is tired and I'm thinking of Little Axel and you, and it brings light and movement in this tired brain. When I come to Oslo in February he'll be walking, won't he? And he'll have a head of hair? God, I'm sitting here and it's night and the lamps are smelling and I'm a pretend family man and have left so much to you. But what else could I do than to write this book? Everything else is just a waste of time. Comical and posturing. So I'm writing a book.

so, he basically just called her and the life they created together "a waste of time," and every single thing he does in this memoir points to his selfishness and his carelessness with the feelings of others. have you ever heard of him?? i sure hadn't. have you heard of leonard cohen?? yeah, you have. and that's as it should be. cohen, by contrast, is shown to be ever the gracious gentleman - taking care of marianne's child so she can go help axel out of a difficult situation, offering her support and love and stability. and a song, eventually. he even goes so far as to wear this outfit, which is a true sign of love - the willingness to look like a complete dork:



the book has some problems. it frequently changes tense - from past to present, sometimes in the same sentence, and that can be a bit jarring. it also jumps ahead of itself at times. leonard is described, in their early acquaintance, as being

polite and somewhat old-fashioned, raised in a traditional Jewish family in Montreal. Marianne recognized in Leonard the manners that she'd learned at her grandmother's - the niceties that were rarely encountered among people of their generation. He was the kind of man who removed his hat when a woman entered the elevator.

considering they are still in hydra at this point; a place that doesn't even have running water, this elevator scenario is not something that could have been experienced yet, although i do not doubt it comes up later, in montreal or someplace with more modern conveniences.

and just when they are planning to leave hydra the first time, she to go back to norway and he to go to montreal because he is running out of money, he buys a house there in hydra. which is strange, because i am pretty sure houses cost money, and if you are on your way out and won't be using the house… i don't know - there are just details like that that confused me and aren't helped by the kind of vague structure in which this book is recounted. marianne and cohen drift in and out of each others' lives for a long time, and the book is more of a "highlights reel" than anything truly illuminating.

also, in trying to learn more about this axel jensen guy, i read his wikipedia entry, and while this book talks about his leaving marianne to marry an artist named "patricia," who later gets into a terrible car accident and requires extensive medical care for the rest of her life, in the article, it says her name was "pratibha," and there is no mention of her having an accident. in fact, it states to opposite: that after he contracted ALS in the last years of his life, "His wife also used all of her available energy to nurse her husband until he drew his last breath in his home in Ålefjær." and that some of his medical care was paid for by cohen. who is the classiest guy in the world. so i don't know what to make of that.

so, yeah - if you are a superfan of cohen (and you should be) this book will reinforce everything you already know about him, and will give you access to some poems you have never read, and some letters that he wrote to his favorite muse. but overall, it's a little aimless and spotty on the details.

...............................................................................................................................................

HOLY CRAP!!!

this is my first firstreads win in FOUR YEARS!!!!



DON'T STOP BELIEVING!!!

come to my blog!

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book club choice.

Five stars doesn’t mean that I would recommend this book for everyone – other reviewers raise valid questions about the quality of translation, the simplistic and sometimes whimsical style of writing, and even the factual content. But for me this short book was an absolute pleasure to read, a real gem. I was fascinated by Marianne’s years with Axel and Leonard. I enjoyed trying to understand what their evolving relationships were all about. What does it really mean to say that she was a muse to these men? That’s got to be a rich book club discussion. I loved learning about expat life on Hydra in the 1960s and got a renewed appreciation for Leonard Cohen’s poetry (and music of course). I was so struck by the contrast between Marianne’s free-living life in her 20’s, and the conventional life she went on to lead back in Norway. Do we all have it in us to be such different people? Yes, this special book has me reflecting on my own life too, dissecting the relationships, events and decisions that have led me to where I am today. Loved it.

[Geri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ако ви интересува личността на Ленард Коен, това не е вашата книга.

Написана е от журналистката Кари Хестамар по спомени на Мариане Илен. Не знам защо се представя като документална книга за живота и отношенията на Ленард Коен с Мариане, като това е основно разказ за нейната персона (която впрочем ми беше отблъкваща по много причини). Мариане се запознава с Ленард едва в средата на книгата. И честно казано - научих повече за бившия й съпруг Аксел (по-скоро за неговите нестабилни емоционални изблици), отколкото за Ленард Коен. Той така и остана в сянка през целия текст. Тази книга беше основно за Мариен, която беше неосъзната жертва на обстоятелствата на собствения си живот… и Аксел беше в ролята на злодея, а Ленард - удобен и грижовен, който й дава утеха. Всичко това - през призмата кой как я е накарал да се чувства. Имам чувството, че тя самата не е познавала и не е вникнала в душата нито на единия, нито на другия…

[Patricia Vidal · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have decided to move to sunny Greece because of Leonard Cohen’s mythology of Hydra, this book is meant for us. The cheesy subtitle ‘a love story’ is misleading. You should read it as a way to honour Marianne Ihlen and all those women who couldn’t bloom in the shadow of great male artists.

I remember reading the last note Leonard wrote to Marianne and be moved because this agonising 81 yo woman was not only a lover, she was above all an old friend.

Dearest Marianne,

I’m just a little behind you, close enough to take your hand. This old body has given up, just as yours has too, and the eviction notice is on its way any day now.

I’ve never forgotten your love and your beauty. But you know that. I don’t have to say any more. Safe travels old friend. See you down the road. Love and gratitude.

Leonard


When both died in 2016, I wanted to know who was behind this lingering love and silent beauty, mentioned over and over again in every documentary about Cohen. Marianne’s own voice as grasped by Kari Hesthamar flows in many directions. But instead of a great love story, I read a warning. Marianne seems an extremely beautiful and rather naive young woman who happened to give herself too much. She dated artists while desiring a sorts of security. She got caught in the desire to be loved by free-spirited men while expecting a stable home. She dreamed about creating something beautiful and wild, to become an artist herself and wander around the world, while being tied to her child, abandoned by his self-absorbed father.

First part of the book is dedicated to her memories with the despicable father of her child, the Norwegian famous author Axel Jensen (tbh never heard about him but as the ex-lover of Leonard’s lover). An absolutely miserable petty white man whose whole work of art is a grandiloquent reflection of his miserable delusional idea of himself, a hodgepodge of misreadings of Nietzsche and Jung. I don’t know if his psychiatrist diagnosed him as a maniac but those letters to Marianne are enough evidence to lock him in a sanatorium. Marianne was basically a child, young enough to let Axel convince her that he was a genius and passionate artist. She was in love… so in love that having a baby with a man who clearly emotionally abused her was natural. Of course until the baby was born and Axel leaves with another woman.

It took that a Canadian poet named Leonard Cohen, a knight in shiny armour, with a guitar and a typewriter under the arm arrived to Hydra in the 60s. This is what the other half of the book is about: a portrait of Cohen’s magnetism when Marianne and him were almost young.

“Just that feeling of being grown up, with somebody beautiful that you’re happy to be beside and all the world is in front of you. Your body is suntanned and you’re going to get on a boat. That’s a feeling I remember very, very accurately”

Unpublished letters from Cohen explore his oscillation between drugs and parties in NY, and fresh flowers on a desk in Hydra, the obsession with hotels while feeling that once you lived in Hydra you can’t live anywhere, not even in Hydra: all these extreme choices signalled the road for Leonard. It is also clear that his chronic dissatisfaction could never lead him to be content only with one of these poles. He needed both. And needed both worlds to be apart.


Although it is obvious that Leonard was rather unkind towards the end of his relationship with Marianne, she clearly had forgiven him. Leonard ended up marrying Suzanne but the loss of Marianne and Hydra marked his future work.

What I loved in my old life
I haven’t forgotten
It lives in my spine
Marianne and the child
The days of kindness
It rises in my spine
and it manifests as tears
I pray that loving memory
exists for them too
the precious ones I overthrew
for an education in the world

Hydra, 1985

Sure it must feel absolutely epic to be the gorgeous girl they write songs about. But Marianne ended up working in the oil sector, carrying a pretty normal life in Oslo while Leonard married another woman and had his own children. Not to mention that Axel Joachim was abandoned and ended up living a troubled existence. She was far away of Hydra and her days covered in gold dust nurturing big dreams.


Disappointments: I expected to read about Marianne’s abortion and Leonard’s heavy use of drugs. It was not only fresh bread and rain water in their household.

Marianne’s voice has made me think why I kept my untouched devotion to Leonard’s music during the last 15 years. When I was 15, I knew it was his literary background: a writer before a musician. In my twenties I realised it was all about his wandering AND that other sunny life in a Greek island with a beautiful blonde woman and her child. His chaotic soul along his tyrannical need to have spiritual order fascinated me. Recently, I can see that I admire his search for freedom only because of his kindness (or attempt of it) I try to convince myself that this is not a self-absorbed Dylan ditching Joan Baez. I try to convince myself that he was not repeating the male artist habit of pursuing beauty rather than brains. I like to think that Leonard saw in Marianne something beyond her looks. Something beyond the freshly cut flowers and homemade food in his desk. And I like to think that he let her go as he understood his life was becoming increasingly incompatible with what she needed and with what they both wanted.

[Aud-Margrethe Nord · Rating 4 out of 5]

Såg filmen først, hørte så på lydbok.
God innleser.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was thrilled when I received this book from First Reads. A longtime fan of Leonard Cohen, I knew his poems before his music and own every book and album he has ever produced, plus a number of biographies and critical analyses of him and his work. I was looking forward to this exploration into his relationship with Marianne. To my surprise, the book really isn't about him, but that turned out to be OK.

Marianne is an interesting, if frustrating, character in her own right. I felt sorry for her, wrapped up in a tight Norwegian sensibility that didn't allow her much emotional freedom. Like many women of her time, she made herself revolve around the man in her life, consistently being drawn to "artistic" temperaments, unable to ask for what she needed. Not surprisingly, she tended to get left behind when these men stretched their wings, leaving her bewildered and sad. I was happy to read in the Afterword that she did ultimately find a good husband, ironically in a very conventional marriage that has lasted many years.

If I have a complaint about the book, it is mainly two faults. First of all, there were some careless editing errors. The Hungarian Uprising was in 1956, not 1965. There were numerous grammatical and spelling errors, but this might be because the book was translated from Norwegian to English. Also, the author's (or maybe the translator's) tendency to switch between the past tense and the present tense within the same paragraph was a bit disconcerting. Oh well, small faults overall.

This book offers little depth or insight into the lives of anyone, not even Marianne herself, but it is a nice addition to a body of biography about two renown writers and their mutual muse. It was a light read, not at all boring or a waste of time.

[Kirstine Knudsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forhåpentligvis en stund til jeg skal lese på nynorsk, det er ingen favoritt.. Når det er sagt, knuser denne kjærlighetshistorien hjertet til enhver bokmålsforkjemper. To sitater som sitter igjen etter og ha lest om denne sanne historien fra 60-tallet;

«Ho klarte ikkje kvila i kjærleiken Leonard gav henne, og følge at dei levde på lånt tid»

«Ingenting fungerte for meg. Heilt til eg forstod at det er slik livet er.»

[Bettie]

Description: Petrarch had Laura, Poe had Annabel Lee, and Leonard Cohen had Marianne Ihlen, the central subject of Kari Hesthamar's So Long, Marianne. While many muses' identities are confined to their role in the art they sparked, Hesthamar's thoughtful and empathetic biography centers on the woman herself, elevating her from an inspiration to a full-fledged human, interesting for her own life, on her own merits.

Hesthamar, who first delved into this story for Norwegian radio, wisely treats Marianne as her primary focus. It would have been easy to analyze her strictly through the lens of her relationships. Originally, Marianne moved to the Greek isle of Hydra with her husband, Axel Jensen, an accomplished novelist who left her for another woman shortly after the birth of their son. She met Cohen when she was still married, and slowly spun friendship into love. Cohen said, "There wasn't a man who wasn't interested in Marianne, who wasn't interested in approaching that beauty and that generosity."

But Hesthamer also paints Marianne Ihlen--through her early 20s as a new, young mother to the end of her time on Hydra, which she left in her mid-30s--as a blonde, tan beauty with a proclivity for new age psychology and a habit of pulling up her roots. We follow her from Norway to Greece, from Greece to Montreal, and while Hesthamar makes no effort to hide her subject's faults, Marianne is ultimately a likable and beautifully imperfect protagonist. It's the mark of a wonderful biography that we, too, fall in love. --Linnie Greene, freelance writer and bookseller at Flyleaf Books


Fresh from 4* A Broken Hallelujah: Rock and Roll, Redemption, and the Life of Leonard Cohen I immediately jumped on this and added it to wishlist. However looking at the reviews, So Long Marianne does not look as if it is of the same caibre. So the 'maybe' shelf instead.

[Kirstin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had some awkward moments stylistically--particularly the big block quotations that sometimes seemed unnecessary. Several times there were small fairly insignificant details that were repeated unnecessarily over the course of the text. I think also the awkwardness stemmed from the process of translation, which is never easy.

That said, it still deserves five stars. Any book that causes me to mull over the characters, material or situation repeatedly once I've finished the book, that causes me to stop and wonder and re-examine my own life...these are the good ones.

It was an interesting time to be a young adult, the 60s. The drugs, free love, the wonderful folk music. What an amazing thing to say, that you were living on a small island in Greece at the same time that Leonard Cohen was there.

I loved all the psychological details of Marianne's coming-of-age--her agonizing over her relationships with the men in her life, her insecurity as a woman and mother and her search for meaning in life.

I enjoyed getting inside her head...and of course how her relationship with Leonard Cohen fit into it all.

[CynthiaA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclosure: I received this book as a complimentary advance readers copy.

Marianne's story has left me wishing I knew more about why she felt the way she felt about herself, and her relationships.

She lived in an amazing place during an amazing time. With amazing people. And yet she never seemed fully happy. The book does attempt tell the reader why but I never fully felt I understood her.

Perhaps if the story had been told in the first person, from Marianne's perspective, rather than as a third person narrative. Or perhaps the confusion is a reflection of Marianne's own feelings during that time.

Also, I know this is an arc copy and typographical and design errors have yet to be ironed out, but at times the design issues, in particular, were distracting. Halfway through the book subheadings started to appear, but there was no stylistic distinction. No bold or underline -- nothing. So they felt like incomplete sentences.

Those things aside, I did enjoy it.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for more information on Leonard Cohen this really isn’t the book for you. 70-80% of the book is about Marianne and her life. It does however give you a sense of this time during Leonard’s life and his relationship with Marianne and other artists of the time.

[Ann Diamond · Rating 3 out of 5]

For all its studied naivete, Marianne Ihlen's book could be a cautionary tale about the dangers of swimming in unknown waters.

Follow the money, and the CIA-MKULTRA connection. It's 1961 and Leonard's true whereabouts -- the Bay of Pigs invasion -- is not even mentioned even though it's well documented elsewhere and Marianne had to know, even if only in retrospect. Fall of 1961: six months later, payment has materialized and she leaves her mother's house in Oslo to live with Leonard in Montreal, a short walk from the Allan Memorial Institute -- she doesn't mention Dr Cameron, just that the couple lived for a time in spacious luxury, along with baby Axel, son of Norwegian novelist Axel Jensen.

No explanation for where the money supporting this lifestyle came from, only that it wasn't from poetry, or even the alleged "television series" that Leonard was working on with Irving Layton. Also it didnt last long because soon they were back on Hydra scrounging for cast off clothes and furniture. So I think this 1961 windfall came courtesy of Allen Dulles and his ragtag Cuban brigade that took Leonard to Havana and probably served as the inspiration for one of his very first songs, "A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes."

Because I knew these people, years later, I find the artsy cover story trite - why do people buy the "flowers on the table" nonsense? It was not a stable or happy relationship even in 1960, before Leonard took off for America, and Marianne sent her 6 month old son to her mother in Norway on a SAS plane after meeting some pilots in the port of Hydra. After her baby departs for the north, Marianne stays on Hydra with Leonard, who was perfectly capable of putting his own flowers on the table. Maybe he needed a cook and bed-mate -- although we're told that most of the housework was done by a neighbour, Kiria Sophia. What kept her and Leonard so occupied in their new life together, before their long drive up to Norway? As someone else has noted, everything about 1960 seems slightly iffy and dreamlike, at times cringe-worthy, as writing can be when it's avoiding some unmentionable truth. My guess is that Leonard was getting ready to go to America on a mission, which entailed a period of training before the CIA invasion brigade reached Cuba in the spring of 1961.

Significantly that same year, Marianne's estranged husband was spending much time with his new American girlfriend Patricia whose life revolved around the US base in Athens. Later he would write that he felt "banished" from Hydra (he had wrecked their house in a fit of rage one night, propelling Marianne into the arms of the Canadian poet who lived up the hill.) We learn of Jensen mainly through his letters, usually angry in tone and content, however he never seems to have a bad word to say about the man who adopted his wife and child. "Leonard has the gift of making himself admired," writes Jensen, "which is why I will keep myself lurking in the background." It almost sounds, at times, as if the two men were cronies instead of rivals. Although broke (like Leonard, he never made real money from writing) the elder Jensen flies off to Mexico to be with his mysterious American friend (handler?) John Starr Cooke, over the winter of 1960- 1961. Cooke feeds him LSD and later Axel and Leonard get their novels reviewed and become famous writers overnight although reviews are just mixed--

(That same year LIFE magazine puts together a feature on the artists of Hydra, showcasing Leonard in particular, as a guitar-playing entertainer although at the time he had not yet written any song. The article is never published and Marianne doesn't mention it in her memoir, but many of her Hydra circle appear in the photos. LIFE Magazine was heavily CIA-controlled, of course, and Hydra writer, George Johnston, was one of its stringers, although by 1960 he was ill with tuberculosis.S0 1960 was some sort of turning point, not just for Leonard and Marianne, but for the island -- stars were rising, powerful people were taking notice -- or perhaps all this was being orchestrated from elsewhere? )

LSD played a bigger role on the island than one would expect in 1960 and also later on. Kari Hesthamar notes that the wife of Hydra resident Georgo Cassipides was the niece of LSD guru Aldous Huxley and liked to cook with marijuana for their circle of friends. For anyone familiar with the history of the Tavistock Institute, and its role in promoting the "counter-culture", it should be clear that all this was happening a little ahead of schedyle. Either these future cultural icons were amazingly prescient in their drug-taking habits, or someone was the handing them the blueprint for what would become Flower Power and the sixties "revolution". Like her fellow island-dwellers who were busy breaking up their marriages in an endless cycle of drinking and partying, Marianne went along with the trends before they were really trendy - not always to her own benefit.

Later (ca 1967) the same "John Starr Cooke" character invites Marianne to his Oaxaca estate where he feeds her more LSD -- apparently the only form of therapy available at the time. You have to wonder about the presence of so many well-funded gurus whose only job is to encourage people to turn in, tune in and drop out. How could all this not be, somehow, outside the realm of coincidence? Rather it seems that Hydra was chosen as a floating human laboratory, a place to bring together a flock of "unstables" - a social engineering term for change-bringers, the kind of people who influence others to accept new ideas and ways of life.

Maybe what Leonard saw in Marianne, was not just a Muse -- I'm sure she was one -- but also a borrowed wife and child to serve as a foil for his secret activities? Am I being cynical for suspecting his motives in living with a woman he repeatedly cheated on and eventually abandoned?

In one letter he refers to Axel Jensen's son, baby Axel, as "Barnet" (?) What were they all thinking? Apparently nobody including Marianne really wanted this little boy. Not mentioned: When he was 11 baby Axel took LSD provided by wealthy Hydra resident and self-appointed guru George Lialios. The story of little Axel is one of the saddest chapters in the history of this famous couple - today he remains a casualty, permanently residing in a mental institution in Norway. How could Marianne not have realized their magical mystery tour would end tragically as she packed the boy off to private schools in Switzerland, then to Summerhill in the UK, ignoring his pleas to be rescued from this experiment? In the end Axel joined a lost generation that included Lilly Mack's son Sergei and Magda ' s Alexander, both drug takers and drug dealers. Although Sergei has survived, Alexander died young of complications from a sponge diving accident - I was on Hydra in 1981 when the accident happened.

When will these Hydra cover stories stop dipping into the same barrel of clichés? Yes, the expatriates who flocked to the island were talented and young and ready to do anything to make it - but let's not pretend all this is only about the artistic life. Some were artists but others were mercenaries and intelligence operatives in search of a safe haven to do business. Art was present but - especially after the Greek junta (timed to coincide with the Flower Power revolution) -- the real money came from inherited fortunes, as well as drugs and weapons. When Leonard and Marianne arrived on Hydra, Operation Gladio was in full swing -- and western governments and their intelligence arms were intent on taking control of culture in order to engineer and disarm future generations of potential resisters . All this was part of the agenda that aimed to profit the wealthy - and Greece was a magnet for all kinds of shady offshore investments. Ambitious young writers seeking quick fame and fortune soon learned they needed to moonlight to get by - and the rewards for secret work in the service of the CIA could be impressive.

**********************************
TWO DAYS LATER
Now that I've finished, I'm giving it 3 stars instead of 2. Later chapters had more to offer - including inadvertent but valuable insights into the 'hidden hand' operating behind the curtain of Leonard and Marianne's lives, but I can't list them all right now. It seems more than odd that Axel Jensen just happened to check into R.D. Laing's private clinic in London for more LSD and therapy -- psychoanalysis was another preoccupation for the Hydra crowd but couldn't he have looked farther afield. There is a colourful chapter set in Mexico where Marianne goes seeking solace from American guru "John Starr Cooke" - whose teachings sound straight out of Esalen and sensitivity training - and Tavistock's panoply of mind control projects. A strangely compelling chapter about New York in the Chelsea Hotel days as Leonard was starting to make a career in music - while Marianne struggles with poverty and abandonment on Clinton Street -- reveals much sadness and desperation between the lines.

Marianne at times comes across as a lost creature -- not at all how I had imagined her. I met her once, on Hydra, in 1981 - she had recently remarried and seemed solid, sane, and matronly if shy and withdrawn. As she looks back, in her seventies, at her life as one half of a legendary couple, she seems incapable of seeing through the myths, the amazing deceptions, that made up the legend. But this is true of all the characters, even the hyper-critical novelist Axel Jensen whom she married, and his poetry-spewing rival Leonard Cohen who never really noticed other people.

So Long, Marianne is peopled by ghosts who gave themselves up to the tainted zeitgeist, sacrificing their own, and others', lives in pursuit of fame and momentary 'enlightenment' -- which are hard to reconcile with Buddhist principles, or the Golden Rule for that matter.

When I closed the book last night, my overwhelming feeling was of pity for the players in this tragedy -- myself included -- and I'll probably have more to say later. For another account of what Hydra and Leonard were like in the early 80s, read my self-published memoir The Man Next Door. There was more going on than met the eye or made it into Marianne Ihlen's ghost-written book, which I still recommend for what it doesn't say about that time and place and the people who made it so, ah, mind-blowing ...

[vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mamma mia, here I go again
My my, how can I resist you?
Mamma mia, does it show again
My my, just how much I've missed you?
(a summary)

This is a book about love, life, youth and taking chances, focussing on Marianne Ihlen. Probably not for you if you want a detailed account of Leonard Cohen's early years or anything of that sort- but I'm much more interested in the muses anyway. It's not perfect, but it was my ultimate summer read (a lot of it takes place in the colony of expatriate artists on Hydra, Greece in the 60s), it touched and inspired me! I loved the picture material included at the end.

And it told the story behind the famous farewell note Leonard wrote to Marianne a few days before she passed away (not included in the book because it was published two years before both of their deaths):

“Well Marianne it’s come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine. And you know that I’ve always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don’t need to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey. Goodbye old friend. Endless love, see you down the road.”

My heart.

💛

“Leonard: I remember Marianne and I were in a hotel in Piraeus, some inexpensive hotel. We were both about twenty-five and we had to catch the boat back to Hydra. We got up and I guess we had a cup of coffee or something and got a taxi, and I’ve never forgotten this. Nothing happened, just sitting in the back of the taxi with Marianne, [lighting] a cigarette, a Greek cigarette that had that delicious deep flavour of a Greek cigarette that has a lot of Turkish tobacco in it, and thinking, I have a life of my own, I’m an adult, I’m with this beautiful woman, we have a little money in our pocket, we’re going back to Hydra, we’re passing these painted walls. That feeling I think I’ve tried to recreate hundreds of times unsuccessfully. Just that feeling of being grown up, with somebody beautiful that you’re happy to be beside and all the world is in front of you. Your body is suntanned and you’re going to get on a boat. That’s a feeling I remember very, very accurately.”

*

“Days of Kindness

Greece is a good place
to look at the moon, isn’t it”

*

“Little one! Good one! Beloved!

The sun is baking, the waves are rolling and I love you. Today [we] went out and sailed in the snipe, enjoying ourselves on the most gorgeous beach, with comfortable mats and the Mediterranean foaming under the soles of my feet. There’s a great wind, and I love only, only you.”

*

“One never got the sense that she played on her looks; it was as if she wasn’t aware of how good she looked. It was as if everyone was young and beautiful– covered with a kind of gold dust. In this glorious setting of Hydra, all these qualities were magnified. They sparkled. To me everyone looked glorious.”

*

“All our mistakes were important mistakes, all our betrayals were important betrayals, and everything we did was informed by this glittering significance”

[Libka Safr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Četla jsem české vydání. A čekala krásný příběh múzy velkých mužů, ale zatím mne čekal poměrně nudný příběh ještě více nudné ženy, která neuměla žít svůj vlastní život do poměrně vysokého věku. Asi bych uvítala ten samý příběh očima těch mužů, kteří by jej okořenili jejich skvělým literárním jazykem.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Priča o velikoj ljubavi Leonarda Cohena. Budući da volim njegovu glazbu, zainteresirao me naslov na koji sam naišla na ovogodišnjem Interliberu. Riječ je o biografiji Marianne Ihlen, Norvežanki koja je osvojila srca dvojice umjetnika (Cohenovo i norveškog pisca Axela Jensena), Marianne iz poznate Cohenove pjesme So long, Marianne.
Priča također daje dobar uvid u život na grčkom otoku Hidri kamo su odlazili brojni umjetnici 50-ih, 60-ih godina 20. st. i gdje su se odavali pomalo boemskom životu, udaljeni od društvenih konvencija i onoga što ih je gušilo u gradovima kao što su New York, Montreal, Oslo... Mogu razumjeti zašto se Marianne stalno onamo vraćala. Vjerujem da će se knjiga svidjeti svim ljubiteljima Cohena. Saznajemo o njegovim početcima kad je zapravo želio postati pisac, a tek poslije dolazi i njegova glazba... Treba napomenuti da u knjizi Leonard nije glavni lik, veći dio knjige posvećen je Marianne, prvo njezin život s Axelom, a kasnije dolazi i Leonard. Ona je bila majka, žena, ljubavnica, kućanica, stalno se tražila, uvijek pomalo u sjeni velikih umjetnika.

[Anne-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt that more could have been done by Kari Hesthamar to give a real insight into Marianne Ihlen, who travelled to the Greek island of Hydra with the husband who abandoned her with their newborn child. Following this betrayal, she met Leonard Cohen and travelled half way across the world with him. She became the inspiration for one of his most famous songs - So Long, Marianne. She appears to be the type of person who tailored herself to the men in her life, and never really lived her own personality. I think many women of this era did much the same thing. Thankfully, this is no longer the case in the 21st century.

I have always been a Leonard Cohen fan and thought the book would have given more of an insight into his relationship with Marianne, but it really didn't. Perhaps it was too short and without very much detail. Marianne comes into being well into the book.

That said, it was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it, but don't expect to glean a lot of information that you didn't already know either about Leonard or Marianne.

[Brian Beatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, compelling love story. One that is both romantic and realistic.....

[Yannis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Καλοκαιρινό, ελαφρύ, γνώριμο, ελαφρώς βαρετό. Αλλά οι εικόνες της Ύδρας πόσο γοητευτικά σκηνικά σε οποιαδήποτε ιστορία κι αν φιλοξενούν.

[John DiConsiglio · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wisp of a bio won’t make you “laugh & cry & cry & laugh”—as the title Leonard Cohen song goes—but it’s often as charming as its sprite heroine. Marianne Ihlen was muse to 2 famous writers—Cohen & Norwegian novelist Axel Jensen. The book seems entirely based on chats in Marianne’s kitchen & a 3-day visit with Cohen. The translation feels awkward. But you could do worse than a gentle, unassuming portrait of beautiful young artists lazing in the Greek island sun. “You left when I told you I was curious/I never said that I was brave.”

[Maija Hejgaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

En roman om Leonard Cohens muse, Marianne, som boede med ham på Hydra i flere år. Bogen er god, men tv-serien er fantastisk 🙌🏻

[Wendy Creed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not sure what I expected from this book. What I did get is an overwhelming sense of sadness really. Marianne was quite sensitive and fragile negotiating a path between the restrictive social mores and a new kind of freedom for her. The complexities of relationships are laid bare, her own insecurities, her first husband (selfish and self-indulgent) their son Axel, and then Cohen. Cohen seems to have been a thoroughly nice chap and they seem to have shared something very special…but their relationship was doomed to fail. Well worth reading

[(Lonestarlibrarian) Keddy Ann Outlaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read plenty about the life of Leonard Cohen, it was illuminative to read about Norwegian native Marianne, surely one of the most inspiring muses Cohen has ever known. They lived together on the island of Hydra in Greece during the 1960s and also traveled to Norway, France and other places together. They shared a love of quiet moments (there was a language barrier) and everyday routines. Let's just say, they seemed spiritually attuned. Marianne's son from her starter marriage (with another writer) also grows close to Cohen during this time. Yes, Leonard even changed his diapers! I really related to Marianne's search for her own identity as a twenty-something gal whose orbit was often eclipsed by her powerfully creative lovers. I was happy to learn that Marianne eventually settled down with a fellow Norwegian in her own version of happily ever after post-Leonard, post-Greece. So glad to have met Marianne on the pages of this book!

[Smint100 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good to see the focus on Marianne and her early life and her relaltionship with Axel Jensen before she met Leonard Cohen. However, it isn't a balanced book does seem to focus very heavily on some areas with a very light overview in others.
I also felt it didn't really explain a lot of the decisions she made, particularly around her son and her travels, to France, for instance, and key relationships on Hydra such as with Charmian Clift and George Johnston. There's also very little about her role as Leonard's muse and the poetry and songs she inspired. For instance So Long, Marianne was originally written as Come On, Marianne which gives a totally different meaning to the lyrics, and the inspiration for Bird on a Wire was barely mentioned.
It left me feeling I knew Marianne's early life much better and gave insight into her relationship with Axel who was much more famous than Cohen when they met on Hydra, but that same level of insight became less and less as Marianne grew older.

[Lissa00 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marianne, married to novelist Axel Jensen and later the love interest of Leonard Cohen, grew to adulthood in a time when traditional values clashed with the artistic counterculture of the sixties. Her relationship with Axel forced her into the bohemian lifestyle and she was always searching for her own individuality in the relationship while still holding on to traditional roles. Both of these men had strong personalities and both had very loose views on monogamy. This is an interesting look into the lives of artists and I liked the honest examination of the conflict Marianne felt between the artistic life and her own more traditional domestic yearnings. I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Lizzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a love story between a writer and a young girl in the 50s and 60s, based on a true story. I don't think it works very well because the flow and language just isn't good enough. Lots of name dropping and fawning over the bohemian life style, and the events are listed more than put into a poetic context. Not a good thing to happen to a story about one of Norway's most famous authors if you ask me. Very far from being the work of art a story lie this has the potential to be.

[Andrew Tattersall · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read about the experience of a Norwegian woman who grew up in a relatively well-off household but ran away to Hydra in the 1950's and was the muse for one of Norway's then best writers and then for Leonard Cohen. Paints a picture of living on the island with the locals having artistic foreigners mixed in amongst them. Pleased to see what she went on to do covered but not enough about what happened to the two Axels.

[Sharry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always wanted to know more about Marianne Ihlen, the woman who captivated Leonard Cohen on the island of Hydra in the early 1960s. She's had a fascinating life. Excellent photos complement the text. Some rare material by Leonard Cohen is also included.

[Kimberly Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Her story of loving someone who in the end was not the man she thought was one that a number of women can relate to. She was young and naive. Her relationship with Cohen seemed perfect. They seemed to find in each what the other needed. She lived a very bohemian life that one can only imagine.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fans of Leonard Cohen will enjoy this biography of Marianne Ihlen, Cohen's companion on the Greek isle of Hydra in the 1960s.

[Alejandra Corradine]

Interesting