The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom

Full disclosure up front: Mitch Albom is one of my favorite authors. I love all of his books. Mitch is known for Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Usually deep, hopeful, positive themes with life lessons and good morals to strive towards. His books are on the shorter side and to the point, which I like.

The Magic Strings of Frankie Pesto is the story of a made up musician going through the ups and downs of life. What makes this unique and interesting is the entire book is woven through real life musicians and events. Think Forest Gump-esque. I recognized some of the names, but I spent time googling to see if things actually happened as described in the book (a lot of it was true). In turn I learned about music events since the 1940s. Some of the most popular real-life musicians share stories of encounters with Frankie Presto. I thought this was a really cool touch and gave more credence to the realness of Frankie Presto.

The other very unique aspect to the book is that it is narrated by Music. Almost in a God-like tone. Now you might say this sounds ridiculous. But having Music narrate the book makes perfect sense and actually works really, really well. You have to believe me.

If you're into music you will love this book. Even if you aren't, you will still appreciate the highs and lows Frankie Presto goes through. I really liked how the story progressed. I can see some people saying it seems too impossible for everything to be true. Or that the ending was cliche. Maybe so, but given how impossible Frankie Presto's life was, I thought the ending was fitting.

My rating for The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto: 5 stars out of 5. Get it here!

P.S. I am predicting that this will be a top 5 book of 2017. Highly recommended.