“What would you give to remember everything? I have this power. I absorb your memories; when you hear me, you relive them. A first dance. A wedding. The song that played when you got the big news. No other talent gives your life a soundtrack. I am Music. I mark time” (page 371 of Mitch Albom’s book The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto).
If you skimmed over the above paragraph, go back and read it again. It will tell you that one of the unusual things about this book is that it is narrated by Music, which is given human characteristics.
If the opening quote seems familiar, you probably read my column last week in which I marked various periods in my life by music that I associated with it. I could not wait until I completed Mitch Albom’s book because I consider Mitch a master storyteller in this work of fiction, and I wanted to tell you about it. I became so engrossed in it that at one point, he had me convinced that the main character of the book, Frankie Presto, was a real person, until I checked Frankie out on the web and found nothing! It is quite evident that Mitch is very well versed in music considering the musical terms he uses and the names and connections of many in the music industry.
Another exhilarating thing about the book is that it is filled with contrasts and the development of the main characters. The book has something for all, no matter your tastes because it is filled with love, protection, hate, violence, mystery, success, downfalls, travels throughout the world and many unpredictable happenings. You will find that water plays a big part in at least three events.
Frankie Presto’s life is followed beginning in 1936 as an infant in Spain, when he is discarded, to his funeral when he is in his 70s. Helping tell his life’s story is Music, as well as the many musicians that appear at his funeral and relate to each other their experiences with Frankie.
Frankie was saved as an infant by Buffo Rubio, who, when Frankie was around four, took him to El Maestro, a blind aficionado of the guitar, who was very stern with Frankie in order to make him a superb guitarist.
While still a young lad in Spain, he climbed a tree to see what a young girl was quietly staring at. The girl, by the name of Aurora (meaning dawn), was watching Spanish government employees burying people in a common hole. Frankie did not know it at the time, but Aurora was to play a crucial part in the rest of his life.
Frankie was smuggled in the bottom of a cargo ship from Spain to England as a child because of the political unrest in Spain, along with a special guitar and its magical guitar strings that would play an extremely important part during the remainder of Frankie’s life, in that he and it had a great impact on the people they touched, at which time the strings glowed blue. The first experience of the strings glowing was when Frankie and his guitar playing saved a young lady’s life. I liked the quote from the book that said, “Talent is a piece of God’s shadow. And under that shadow, human stories intersect” (page 57). This proved to be true throughout the book.
Like some very successful artists you hear of in today’s world, Frankie’s great success in guitar playing and singing were accompanied by drugs, alcohol and depression, so much so that he many times ran from his own identity. He was married to Aurora for a period of time, but she, “knowing how success would soak Frankie like a wave, and its undertow pull him away” (page 289) left him.
There were two things that perplexed me. Since the vivid tale of Frankie Presto’s life was reported by Music and his many friends at his funeral, the story skipped around from one part of his life to another, and I was always trying to figure out how old Frankie was at the time of the story being related. Second, I thought I did not always glean all of the facts while reading parts of the story. I found out it wasn’t me. Not until reading the final 15 or 20 pages of the book did author Albom answer those questions by finally weaving all parts of Frankie’s life into a fine fabric.
I have only scratched the surface of this book. I have not told you so many things, including what happened with the other guitar strings, why Frankie felt such great guilt, how Frankie was protected even during those bad times of his life and the heartwarming conclusion with Kai.
This is the third book I have read by Mitch Albom. Since it is new, I learned of it through an interview on television. Many times I do not read the book flaps before I read the book so I will not be influenced. If you elect to read this book (and you should because it is a wonderful work), make sure you read the back flap to see what a bestselling author Mitch is and, more importantly, what a philanthropist he is.
Jeff Hall, of Honey Brook, contributes columns to Berks-Mont Newspapers.