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I'm breathless. The star rating doesn't fit this book. It is wildly wonderful. Of course, so was Tuesdays with Morrie, but The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto had so many more dimensions, so many incredible loops and tie-ins and -- well, magical happenings. I know it's large, nearly 490 pages, but if you can read it in one sitting -- and it is easy to race through -- then the rhythm, once begun, never gets interrupted, and the rhythm adds to the richness. The story is at once legend, parable, fable and fairy tale, but not fantastical. Frankie Presto had a guardian angel, yes, but don't we all? What brightened his life was Music, his talent and the book's narrator. Yes, narrator. That's part of what makes it so lyrical. But music was also Frankie's curse. We are there when Francisco (Frankie) is born, and we are with him when Frankie dies, and everywhere in between. It's an epic journey, but that should come as no surprise. It does span a very special lifetime. Be prepared, though, for many Aha! moments, and have a box of tissues nearby.