FRANK The Voice

James Kaplan, co-author with Jerry Lewis of DEAN AND ME, has written an intelligent, incisive, and often-poignant chronicle of Frank Sinatra. The biography covers his fascinating life, character, and spirit from birth through the mid-1950s. Narrator Rob Shapiro has a voice that is resonant, authoritative, and engrossing. Like a musical standard sung by a great singer, he delivers the book “from the inside out.” Kaplan’s extreme, sometimes-exhausting, detail is enlivened by Shapiro’s well-suited narration. He gives a dynamic and sensitive performance through which younger listeners and long-term Sinatra enthusiasts alike will gain meaningful insight into a great artist who typified the best of the twentieth century. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2010]