A review by mjanssen
Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa by Haruki Murakami

3.0

My rule is that I'll read anything Murakami writes (translated into English, that is). So of course I picked this one up. What I read about it before buying it gave me hope that there might be more discussion of jazz, and I was disappointed in that regard, since it focuses almost entirely on classical music. I don't listen to much classical and have almost no familiarity with Ozawa, other than that I used to work at a public radio station that aired classical where I heard his name on the air pretty often. This book has much more Ozawa in it than it does Murakami, to the point that it almost seems incidental that Murakami wrote it — possibly almost any other writer could have approached this task just as ably. But, Murakami certainly displays a highly sensitive ear for the music he discusses with Ozawa and gives an occasional glimpse of his own thoughts on writing and creation, as well as some typically inventive turns of phrase. And it has also inspired me to try listening to more classical music. So this was ultimately worth reading, but not really for the reasons a typical Murakami work of fiction would usually provide.