Rating:  ☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:   

Author:   Mitch Albom

Genre:  Historical Fiction, Music, Fiction

512 pages, published November 10, 2012

Reading Format:  Audio Book

Summary

With a focus on the music scene starting in the 1940’s and a touch of magical realism, Mitch Albom tells the epic story of Frankie Presto, the greatest guitar player who ever lived and the lives he changed with his six magical blue strings.  Frankie is born in a burning church during the Spanish Civil war, abandoned as an infant, and raised by a blind guitar teacher until he is sent to America at nine years old with only an old guitar and six precious strings.  His amazing journey weaves him through the musical landscape of the second half of the Twentieth Century where he encounters D’jango Reinhardt, Duke Ellington, Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Tony Bennett, Lyle Lovett, and many more.  Along the way, he becomes a pop star, meets, marries, loses and regains the love of his life, battles addiction, depression and hopelessness and changes many lives with the power of his magic strings.  

Quotes

“All humans are musical. Why else would the Lord give you a beating heart?”

 

“This is life. Things get taken away. You will learn to start over many times — or you will be useless.”

 

“You cannot write if you do not read,” the blind man said. “You cannot eat if you do not chew. And you cannot play if you do not”—he grabbed for the boy’s hand—“listen.”

 

“Everyone joins a band in this life. And what you play always affects someone. Sometimes, it affects the world.”

 

“EVERYONE JOINS A BAND IN THIS LIFE. You are born into your first one. Your mother plays the lead. She shares the stage with your father and siblings. Or perhaps your father is absent, an empty stool under a spotlight. But he is still a founding member, and if he surfaces one day, you will have to make room for him. As life goes on, you will join other bands, some through friendship, some through romance, some through neighborhoods, school, an army. Maybe you will all dress the same, or laugh at your own private vocabulary. Maybe you will flop on couches backstage, or share a boardroom table, or crowd around a galley inside a ship. But in each band you join, you will play a distinct part, and it will affect you as much as you affect it.”

 

“In every artist’s life, there comes a person who lifts the curtain on creativity. It is the closest you come to seeing me again. The first time, when you emerge from the womb, I am a brilliant color in the rainbow of human talents from which you choose. Later, when a special someone lifts the curtain, you feel that chosen talent stirring inside you, a bursting passion to sing, paint, dance, bang on drums. And you are never the same.”

 

“You humans are always locking each other away. Cells. Dungeons. Some of your earliest jails were sewers, where men sloshed in their own waste. No other creature has this arrogance—to confine its own. Could you imagine a bird imprisoning another bird? A horse jailing a horse? As a free form of expression, I will never understand it. I can only say that some of my saddest sounds have been heard in such places. A song inside a cage is never a song. It is a plea.”

 

“Sometimes I think the greatest talent of all is perseverance.”

 

“I have said that music allows for quick creation. But it is nothing compared with what you humans can destroy in a single conversation.”

 

“Silence enhances music. What you do not play can sweeten what you do. But it is not the same with words. What you do not say can haunt you.”

 

“At a certain point, your life is more about your legacy to your kids than anything else.”

My Take

I’ve read several Mitch Albom books (including The Time Keeper) since starting my thousand book quest and The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto is my favorite one.  Not only does the book offer the reader an interesting retrospective of music since the 1940’s, but it also contains compelling insights on the nature of talent, the choices we make in life and the meaning and importance of love.  With many different voices used to great effect on the Audio Book, I would recommend listening to, rather than reading, this book.