The Key of Life

  Garrett Hongo’s The Perfect Sound: A Memoir in Stereo is a symphony in words nearly impossible to encapsulate. [It] is not a single narrative but rather several narratives in one: a history of music and recording across time and genre; a son’s reminiscence of his father; a social history of California, Hawaii, and America since the 1950s; and perhaps more importantly, a poet’s notes on how he found his voice.  It comes framed as a personal exploration of audiophilia, which it is in part, and yet for all the discussion of amps and vacuum tubes and speakers, the relative benefits of analog or digital recordings, Hongo has something broader and more elusive on his mind.