"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Thursday, March 28, 2019

Review and quotes: The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City ReaderShare the opening quote from the book.
Th
e Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's VoiceFind a quote from page 56.

Review, of sorts, to follow.
This is the book I'm highlighting right now---



Title: The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom

Book Beginning:
"I have come to claim my prize. He is there, inside the coffin. In truth, he is mine already. But a good musician holds respectfully until the final notes are played."
Friday 56:
"'You will call me El Masestro,' he said."
Summary: Frankie Presto is the greatest guitarist to ever live. This is his story, as told by MUSIC itself. It is also the story of a boy who is born in the lowliest of circumstances, raised by someone other than his parents, and taught to play the guitar by a blind drunkard he called El Maestro. When he is sent away from Spain at the age of nine, all he has to call his own is a guitar and a set a strings. As it turns out the strings seem to have magical qualities, each saving or changing a life before turning brilliant blue. Frankie just wants to make music and to reunite with the girl of his dreams, Aurora. But fame gets in the way of both. When he finally can't stand himself anymore, he disappears for years, finally re-emerging for one last spectacular concert before his death.

Review: I was quite taken by this book and was enchanted by the narrator: Music. Several reviewers said they didn't like the shtick that Albom used by making everything about music which included musical terms to describe the action. But I loved it. For example, he said that every love story follows the four parts of a symphony: Allegro, Adagio, Minuet/Scherzo, and Rondo. Thankfully the narrator explains each term, not leaving musical intelligence to the reader. My favorite parts of the story were supplied by the musical interludes---interviews with actual musicians about their interactions with Frankie Presto. At the end of the book, Albom explained that he contacted each of the real musicians and asked them if they would allow some event in their real life to have Frankie Presto inserted into their history. It was so clever. Apparently Albom is quite musical himself and has played in many bands during his life.

My sister gave me this book for my birthday even though she hasn't read it because she (and I) are Mitch Albom fans. His books are very readable and often deal with spiritual themes. I gave the book 4 stars on my Goodreads review because it seemed a bit too long, though I really shouldn't be picky since it only took a few days to complete. It is the second book I finished for the "My Own Books' reading challenge. Part of that challenge involves deciding what to do with the book after finishing it. I will share the book with my sister and my cousin-once-removed. The book deserves wide distribution.









Source: Albom, Mitch. The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto. HarperCollins, 2015. Print.

24 comments:

  1. An extremely creative premise! I love the idea of Music as the narrator.

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    1. Yes, it was very creative. It reminded me of The Book Thief where the narrator was death, though that one was more morbid than this.

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  2. I love Mitch Albom, but I've never heard of this book! Thank you for posting this!!

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    1. I attempted to leave a comment on your blog, but you do not have your comments opened up, at least for me. Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  3. Now I really must read this author. This one does sound very good. Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

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    1. Yes. If you haven't read him, start with TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE.

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  4. "Sounds" like an interesting mix of fantasy (music narrator) and reality (actual musicians). Sometimes I enjoy it when an author is clever like that --using musical terms-- but sometimes not when it becomes more about "look at my cleverness" and less about storytelling. Hope your family enjoys it, too.

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  5. Sounds like a rewarding read. I like stories with symbolism.

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  6. Curious beginning... claiming a dead person as a prize. I get it's a euphemism but not sure the rest. Best it's good reading. Happy weekend!

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  7. Sounds interesting. I haven't read anything by this author. This week I am spotlighting Grave Destiny by Kalayna Price. Happy reading!

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  8. I love the idea of music as the narrator. So unique! Hope you have a great weekend! :)

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  9. I've never heard of this book or author, but the music aspect sounds amazing. I'll have to pick it up. Thanks for spotlighting it!!

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    1. I thought everyone read TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE but maybe it has been too many years.

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  10. The extracts sound so James Bondish)))

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  11. One of these days I'm going to read more from Albom.

    Lauren @ Always Me

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  12. What a great opening line! And I think I'd like all the musical correlations. :)

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  13. Mitch Albom is a great author and this sounds really good.

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    1. This is my third book by him and I enjoyed all of them. I have a fourth on the shelf I should get to soon.

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  14. Whoa, this sounds rather unusual with the focus on music. I'm intrigued.

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    1. I hadn't heard of it before but I really enjoyed it and hope others want to read it.

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