For any reader passionate about music, science fiction, love, loss, Orson Scott Card, or any combination of attributes, this is a must read.

This is the story of Ansett, a boy with a voice unmatched by any in history. We are taken through his childhood, in both a school setting and as a placement to the most powerful man in the universe. We are carried through his inability to connect, despite an amazing ability to communicate. We are shown his final ability to love, and all of the pain that comes with that ability.

I was saddened by the plot turns which propelled a punishment for a certain kind of love, but was grateful for the tact with which it was handled in the story line. At the same time, I found the discussion of serial relationships compared with simultaneous loves to be a breath of fresh air. (Neither is a main plot point in the novel, but both jumped out at me, regardless.)

Despite all of the pain and punishment that Ansett must endure in this story, the ending is a sweet one for me. For the look to the future at Ansett’s death, what he has been able to leave behind, both in political and emotional senses, I was able to take primarily hope away from this story.

While Beautiful Losers is a fascinating read, it was not exactly a page turner for this reader. Yes, there are faults in my reading patterns, so I am sure that I should have gotten more from it, had I been able to concentrate fully… but this felt more like three hundred pages of poetry than it did a novel. Images were stunning, passages lyrical, images burned into my soul. Plot was convoluted and characters with only voice and little in the way of body filled the pages.

After my first experience with the authorship of Cohen, I will be sure to scour the used book store racks for more. I will buy them and hold them, and be ready to absorb myself in them fully before I take on the task of another of his books.

I like the challenge of books like this, but all readers should be ready to tackle the intricacies of Cohen before cracking one of his books. I’ll be better prepared next time, I hope.