Book Review - The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto: A Novel

Mitch Albom produced another book that I loved so much. From Tuesdays with Morrie to the Five People You Meet in Heaven, and also my favourite, the First Phone Call from Heaven, he has not failed to produce great work that touched the heart in more ways then I can imagine. This book, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto is a book about love; a wonderfully narrated story of the life of a musician, from the eyes of none other than music itself.

The chapters in the book are short for some. The entire life story of Frankie Presto was told through close friends, acquaintance and most of all, music personified. If you have some appreciation of music terms, you will be able to see the inferences littered throughout the novel. The love-hate relationship of Frankie with Aurora, for example, followed that of a symphony of four movements - Allegro, Adagio, Minuet/Scherzo and Rondo. Each movement was a significant stage of their lives; each movement was another phase of their relationship. What is truly enduring is the love Aurora had for Frankie. The faith she had that he still loved her and will always loved her was amazing to the point of incomprehensible. How simple was the love that surpassed all understanding, even through the times where Frankie was married to the actress Delores Ray. Below is one of my favourite dialogue from the entire book:

"Are you done with that actress"? She asked.

"Yes."

"Paperwork finished?"

"Yes."

"We can get married now?"

"If you want."

"The real way?"

"The real way."

Simple dialogue; uncommon love. 

Another uncommon love so deeply narrated in this book was the love of the hairless dog, the faithful companion from Frankie's childhood. The dog was supernatural in many ways, because it was a miracle sent by music to protect Frankie. The dog was there when Frankie learnt guitar from the Maestro for many years; he was there when the enemy caught Baffa and caused a diversion for little Frankie to escape. He miraculously stood outside the wall of the orphanage in Detroit, waiting to catch him when he sneaked out. He was with Frankie through those years he searched for Aurora, until finally when his duties were done, he jumped into his chose grave, the river. A faithful companion for Frankie through those lonely times of his childhood, the hairless dog renamed nameless in the story, but touched the heart of the readers more than any other named character.

At the late stage of Frankie's life, his love for his adopted daughter Kai kept him going even after Aurora passed. It was because of Kai that Frankie retraced the steps of his childhood and unrevealed many mysteries left unexplained in the earlier chapters. The memories and what he found in this life journey was painful even to the reader, but it was necessary, to close the loops of many stories that started but not quite ended. One very significant open loop was the mysterious heavily hooded person that popped up following Frankie and his family off and on in the last section of the novel. The love of this pitiful women, one filled with guilt all her life, was understated, but finally given full credit in the end. She finally revealed to Frankie the identity of his true father and mother, providing closure to Frankie on the disappearance of his beloved Maestro. 

When Frankie stood on the stage for one last time in his life, he played together with his beloved daughter and got the chance to be reunite with the first love of his music - Franciso Terrega's Lagrima. Like a teardrop, Frankie's mother sang this song to her new-born years ago. Thus it is fitting that Frankie would play this piece as his final song to the world. Because of this novel I was brought to the link below with a most beautiful rendition of this sweet sad music. Because of this novel, I knew love, bitter sweet love that existed so exquisitely in the world of Frankie Presto.

Everyone joins a band in this life; I am glad I joined Mitch Albom's band through the Magic Strings of Frankie Presto.

Book Challenge:A book with a title that's a character's name; a bestseller.

Book Review - The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

This story is not just about one girl, but 3 main female characters. It is told through the eyes of 3 ladies - Rachel, Megan and Anna. The narration comes in the form of diary entries, from the perception of 3 unreliable narrators. Seeing the same day and similar events through the eyes of 3 person is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle; the whole can only surface completely when all 3 pieces are interlocked at the right places. This immediately post a challenge to the reader, especially since Rachel's story started on 5 July 2013; Megan's story started 1 year prior to this date and Anna's story didn't start until 15 days later. The entire story spanned only 6 weeks, till 18 August, but if we add a whole year of Megan's story to it, it felt like we knew her and Rachel all their life. Megan's bits and pieces of the past was interwoven into the relevant events of Rachel's present, and thus, it is very easy to be misled by who exactly was Megan having an affair with that eventually led to her murder.

There was another female character who was a constant in this story, and that's Cathy, Rachel's sympathetic girlfriend. She patiently put up with Rachel's need for an accommodation, her uncountable times where she needed a drink and her sympathy for Rachel even after she found out that her friend had lied about her job.

And finally the two male characters who interacted with Rachel extensively - Tom, her ex-husband and Scott, Megan's husband. Not forgetting Kamal, the strikingly handsome psychiatrist who was my prime suspect for a good part of the book. The fact that Kamal was who I thought as an obvious answer to the mystery was largely due to the lagging storytelling of Megan's life in between the timeline of Rachel's. Megan's relationship with Kamal didn't exist; but the reader is led to believe it did, due to the cleverly placed timelines adjacent to each other. The really relationship was with someone else, and it wasn't reveal until the very end.

The only frustration while going through the book is Rachel's ever need to drink; it was just a little to much before Rachel started to sober up. The turn from addiction to drinking to fully free of alcohol was a great relief to the reader, especially since it was the drink that made Rachel blackout at the most crucial moments before Megan was taken away. It was frustrating seeing Rachel searching through her leaky memories to try to reconstruct those moments.

Rachel's unreliable narration was brilliant in bringing the readers into her world and seeing things in her perspective. She was not the only Girl on the Train; we all were on the same train with her.

Reading Challenge categories - unreliable narrator; female author; book made into film; debut novel.

Book Review - The Children Act by Ian McEwan

The Children Act is about choices. Choices that we make in life that have profound impact on the people around us. The impact could come only in weeks, or months, and sometimes, we may not even know what they are when it happens.

Fiona is a very level headed Judge. She has a big heart and cared that she made decisions that are well thought through in the eyes of the law, and always have in mind the interest of the children involved in the cases. The case of the Jehovah Witness and the legality of the blood transfusion is the main case that underlies the better part of the story. Other cases described in the books include the Chareidi children and the conjoint twin, Matthew and Mark. These cases are all controversial in nature, deeply rooted in religion and morality. The fact that there could be a legal stand and a very logical one in such cases, is an eye-opener for me. The law is always on the side of the decision that is made for the interest, and especially the health of the children in these case, but the religious backlash could also be tremendous. In the case of the conjoint twin, venomous letters came to refute Fiona's judgement. In the case of Adam Henry, he renounced his faith immediately upon getting well, only to die for his faith at a later stage. Did Fiona regret after making her judgement? To this end, McEwan did a great job portraying the real human being behind a fierce and intelligent judge. It is no longer about right or wrong, it is about the ability to live with the decision and move on.

It is worth noting the brilliant account of Adam Henry's psychological state after he recovery. He renounced his faith after he found out about the hypocrisy of his parents - how they thought they had manipulated the law to their advantage without having to sin against their faith.  He seemed to have gotten back to normal life of a teenager, however, his mind was already pinned on Fiona. He expressed his feelings through his letters and poems, and even acted out his fantasy for Fiona through his actions. All alarm bells should have sounded when he tracked Fiona down in the rain. What Fiona chose to do next was not realistic. With all the experience she had with children, being a protector of them through the Children Act, it is not believable that she would be so weak and so emotionally unstable as to kiss a 18 years old boy, especially one that exhibited psychotic symptoms. However, the final poem written by Adam with vivid description of what transpired was truly brilliant. I totally enjoyed the poem, especially the last sentence when the truth was finally revealed. The poem made much sense from the perspective of the boy. The kiss was the kiss of Satan; Fiona knew it was wrong and there are bound to be repercussions. The fact that McEwan chose not to address it could only be accounted by Fiona's character weakness. Finally the boy decided to get back to his faith and refuse a second blood transfusion. The book claimed suicide; I like to think sweet revenge - revenge for the parent who lied on their true intention in the first instance, and revenge on Fiona for the kiss and the first decision that caused him to deviate from his faith. Is it a good ending? Not at all, but it is an unexpected twist in the book and a very daring one.

What I definitely did not enjoy was the relationship between Fiona and Jack. Jack was portrayed as the husband that any woman would loved to have. He asked permission to have an affair! How realistic is that in real life? Surely there are more husbands who ask for forgiveness than for permission? What was truly enduring was the patience he exhibited to Fiona upon his return and how he truly wanted to make the marriage work. On other hand, Fiona was the principled wife that would not even see any virtue of her husband and kept pushing him away. At age sixty, maybe all that Fiona needed was her job. However, the emotional unstable state that she got into after a difficult case seemed to indicate vulnerability, yet not needing the only one that truly cared for her? It is always good that the ending is a happy one. It gives the reader a sense of completeness; and put the good and evil in the book right back to their rightful place.

The title of the book seemed to infer to the work done by the Family Division in using the Act to protect the interest of the children in family disputes. However, I wasn't really sure if the essence of the Act was brought out deeply in the book, or was it the original intention to do so? The children cases mentioned in the book were controversial, but they were hardly deep enough or detailed enough to warrant the book title. If this is a book about Fiona and her husband, it is rather difficult to follow that line of writing sometimes. The case of the conjoint twin was described while Fiona and Jack were having an argument, inserted somewhere in the middle of a conversation. The case was interesting but it was a distraction from the storyline of Fiona and Jack.

Overall, it is an enjoyable read for 2 hours, easy enough. Interesting ideas were built into the book, but nothing truly spectacular to ponder after.

Book Challenge: a book that you can finish in a day; a book on a difficult topic.