Mozart in the Jungle

I got the book because I had been hugely enjoying the TV series based on it on Amazon Prime; I was astonished at how very different the two versions were. The series is a jazz riff on the book’s theme, playing for comedy, while the book is a sober account of the development and life of a musician, une vie boheme with sex and drugs (and the ingnue is TB-free) that is more fun in the opera than in real life. It begins with a government decision to add a culture war to the Cold War by promoting (and funding) the arts. With that substantial encouragement, arts schools opened and students flocked to them to become artists for a public very much less interested in their art than the government had been. Instead of finding decent positions to practice their art with a decent return on their investment, they became freelancers in a crowded field (and becoming more crowded every decade). Classical musicians in the U.S. live a precarious existence, getting gigs wherever they can for whatever is being paid; most lack health insurance and any savings toward retirement: they are happy to make it to the end of each month without owing more money than they had at its beginning. Having been a freelance writer/editor myself for ten years, I know what that can be like: the same arts funding that generated musicians cranked out a lot of marginally employable PhDs in literature at the same time. In academia, the snobbish joke about music majors is that they are as interested in education as are jocks, and vocalists even less so. Blair Tindall confirms that in her account: seeking a real college degree and taking a cram course for admission, she could not pass a practice math exam because she had no idea of what “x” meant. Perhaps the brightest moment of the book was of her paying $500 for a personal evaluation that revealed more potential talents than just the oboe. Accepted at Stanford with a scholarship in her thirties, she emerged with a fluid and muscular prose to which many an English major may only aspire. She was surprised that real college professors never allowed their office doors to be closed while talking with students; closed doors and sexual “instruction” was the norm at her musical arts high school. Her book is a joy to read, even if it has more sobering thoughts than laughs. The television series has the laughs and excellent performances. It is worth watching as well: it is the champagne froth of this profound book.

If you have come to this book from the Amazon Original Series you need to know that the series IS just BASED on this book. There is little similarity. That being said, the book by itself is a mixed bag. “Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music” play a part, but the book is more personal biography than orchestral expose. Some names are changed, to protect the guilty I suspect, and those not changed, at least those you really want to know more about, play a small part only. I was hoping for more insight into the conductors and players themselves, especially where the music is concerned, but soon came to realize that music was secondary to the personal trials and tribulations of the author and her acquaintances. Unfortunately, at least for the creation of this book, their lives were fairly ordinary and uneventful. The affairs, casual sex, weed and cocaine use, and misfortunes of life that might be interesting if we were reading of John Kennedy or, in the musical venue, Leonard Bernstein, here are nothing more than anecdotes about the semi-ordinary lives of classical musicians. At least their lives came across as that. Though at times interested, I often found myself skipping pages looking for something more compelling.

I was looking for, and expecting, a read that would let me get the feel, vicariously, of what it is like to play the greatest music ever written among some of the classical elite, but in the end I only felt glad that I had not become a classical musician as I have often wished I had. At the end, I did not feel the author had much to work with.

Great book. I bought it because I love the series, but the book is very different — not in a bad way. Both are worth the time. If you are a fan of the show, though, I’ll warn you that there are plenty of times during the book when you cannot even begin to understand how a comedy series — well, more of a dramedy — came from this book. There is some sensitive subject matter that may be hard to read, and is far from the light, comedic tone of the show. But, once you get past that, and separate the book from the show, this is an amazing read, especially for people with a background in classical music.

A reasonably good read. But, once you’ve read this, go and watch the TV series. It’s so much better than the book and the soundtrack is wonderful.

Very well written, fascinating account of New York’s art scene. Shocking, funny, interesting.
The Amazon series of the same name is only inspired by this book but they are not the same.

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