The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by: Mitch Albom

Rating: ★★★

Word Association: Music, Magic, Fathers, Enchanting, Lyrical

Pacing: Pretty good. The main plot of following Frankie’s life is split up by stories from other famous musicians recounting their adventures together. Some of those were a miss for me, but overall I enjoyed them

Pros: Awesome father figures, Lyrical writing, Importance of connections and relationships, Not what you’d expect, Unpredictable twists

Cons: Dragged on a bit and then all of a sudden felt rushed at the end, lots of tragedy

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Summary via Goodreads:

This is the epic story of Frankie Presto—the greatest guitar player who ever lived—and the six lives he changed with his six magical blue strings.

Frankie, born in a burning church, abandoned as an infant, and raised by a music teacher in a small Spanish town, until war rips his life apart. At nine years old, he is sent to America in the bottom of a boat. His only possession is an old guitar and six precious strings. His amazing journey weaves him through the musical landscape of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, with his stunning playing and singing talent affecting numerous stars (Duke Ellington, Hank Williams, Elvis Presley) until, as if predestined, he becomes a pop star himself.

He makes records. He is adored. But Frankie Presto’s gift is also his burden, as he realizes the power of the strings his teacher gave him, and how, through his music, he can actually affect people’s lives. At the height of his popularity, tortured by his biggest mistake, he vanishes. His legend grows. Only decades later, having finally healed his heart, does Frankie reappear just before his spectacular death—to change one last life. With the Spirit of Music as our guide, we glimpse into the lives that were changed by one man whose strings could touch the music—and the magic—in each of us.

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Review:

"I am Music. And I am here for the soul of Frankie Presto. Not all of it. Just the rather large part he took from me when he came into this world. However well used, I am a loan, not a possession. You give me back upon departure."

One of my favorite books is told by an unconventional narrator (The Book Thief) so I was surprised not to enjoy Music being our storyteller. I think I was supposed to be under the impression that Music doesn’t think like a human, therefore, does not know why humans behave the way they do, but it felt more condescending than ignorant.

Our story begins at the funeral of Frankie. And throughout the remainder of this book, we are led by Music through the events of his life with some stories sprinkled in by famous musicians who worked with Frankie over the years. I will say up front I thought the format was a little bit confusing because we jumped around so much I was never really sure where in Frankie’s life we were, but if you don’t mind not following a straight timeline then it shouldn't bother you.

Music tells us all about the early life of Frankie, how his life was brought into the world just as his mother’s was being taken out. How he was adopted by a nun who did not know how to handle him so he was abandoned and adopted again by Baffa Rubio. Baffa was sweet to Frankie and truly loved him as his own. He recognized a talent early in Frankie and took him for guitar lessons to El Maestro, a blind bitter man who had been treated unkindly by life, but who was an amazing guitar player.

“Music is in the connection of human souls, speaking a language that needs no words. Everyone joins a band in this life. And what you play always affects someone. Sometimes, it affects the world.”

Frankie hones his skill during those early years and takes away many lessons, guitar and otherwise, from El Maestro. Baffa Rubio is imprisoned and Frankie is left in the care of El Maestro, but not for long. Thus begins the journey of Frankie’s travels. He bounces from city to city, country to country with various musicians he befriends along the way. The anecdotes and retellings of these travels are enchanting and were a delight to read. This is really when the story started flowing for me.

Frankie finds fame as a rockstar in America and reconnects with the love of his life Aurora York. I might have an unpopular opinion here, but I did not feel any chemistry between them. We are told that Aurora is the love of Frankie’s life so I just played along, but honestly I never really got it. During Frankie’s rise to fame, he gets into drugs, drinking, and cheating on Aurora and he disappears from the spotlight for a long time. People speculate about him and he becomes a legend among musicians. He has worked with everybody in the business and is well respected as an amazing guitarist and singer.

The rest of the book recounts Frankie finding his way back to Aurora and their daughter, who also plays guitar. He tries to stay out of the spotlight for the rest of his life but gives a couple of final performances in Spain which is where he eventually passes away.

I did enjoy reading this book, but I found every new plot twist put a strain on my ability to suspend disbelief. The ending was tied up in a nice bow if that’s something you're looking for. I would have rather had some things unsolved and left up to my imagination. I would still recommend this book to music lovers, there were some crazy references in there and truly the writing was truly like listening to music in some parts.

“The secret is not to make your music louder, but to make the world quieter.”