I want to make a Spotify playlist of all the songs in this book. And when it gets to Absolute Beginners I shall cry. Shouldn't have read this the day Bowie died. 
 It has elements of fantasy, but really it's a character study. It's very good. Sorry I'm not being very coherent right now because I've literally just finished it and I'm still crying. If you were the kind of music geek I was when you were a kid; if you made up soundtracks for your days and had songs that you HAD to listen to in a certain mood then you'll love this book. If you're not that embedded in music then you probably won't.