Publisher's Weekly Review: "The Perfect Sound: A Memoir in Stereo"

Poet and essayist Hongo (The Mirror Diary) delivers a memorable memoir on reflection and artistry, as rendered through his audiophile tendencies. He relates his fascination with music as a kid in Hawaii—from his obsession with countertop jukeboxes to seeing the calming effect Hawaiian singer Marlene Sai had on his parents’ oft-stormy moods. When his family moved to Los Angeles in 1957 when he was six years old, music became a vehicle to escape the confines of racial expectations, and his “first lessons on love and poetry, ardor and longing” came in the form of The Penguins’ doo-wop hit “Earth Angel.” ....