The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music

A real eye-opener

I first saw the trailer to the movie and only caught the end but was already so intrigued. I come from an area where there are so many homeless people that I decided to read the story to get another side of an unfortunate circumstance. I really felt for Nathaniel. At times I thought he was ungrateful, but that was just my spoiled self speaking before thinking. I realize that Nathaniel went through so much more than I ever have and it's so unfortunate that his dreams suffered from his condition. I recommend this story highly, and i wish Nathaniel the best. I'm sure the movie won't be as good because let's face it, they hardly ever are. I think this puts such a great light on the people who end up homeless out of uncontrollable events in their life. I have a new respect for music and mental disabilities.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Bravo Mr. Lopez!!!

BRAVO!! Beautifully orchestrated....thank you for sharing your compassion and perserverance in bringing 'The Solist' to light. I 'felt' so much as I turned each page. Thank you for reminding us all of the pain and anguish of mental illness and social neglect.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Recommend it!-Try it

The Soloist by Steve Lopez was a smooth and graceful read. In this story, a successful column writer for the LA Times tries to help a schizophrenic, ex- Julliard violinist get off of the streets and back into recital halls. The still talented violinist, Nathaniel, learns to overpower his illness through friendship and classical music.
Steve Lopez did a wonderful job with explaining the bond between him and Nathaniel, but I felt as though Steve Lopez would get off topic and rabble about his own life. He specified his career too much and I didn’t see a lot of point to this information. For example in chapter 6, he forces the subject of the changing newspaper industry. He talks amount his colleges, bosses, and profit, which truthfully put me to sleep. He did not summarize that part of his life as well.
Other than a couple of off topic chapters, Steve Lopez portrayed his relationship with Nathaniel extremely well. He writes about the ups and downs he had while boosting Nathaniel’s confidence. Steve also reunited the mother son relationship between Nathaniel and his mother. That part was my favorite.
Overall, Steve Lopez writes a heart- warming story about the importance of friendship. This is a wonderful family read. Hope you enjoy it.

Powerful and Poignant!

Rarely does a book possess the power to change one’s view of the world. The Soloist, by Steve Lopez, opened my eyes to the social tragedy of homelessness, and after reading it, I will never look at a person sleeping on the sidewalk the same way again. In simple and direct journalistic diction, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez provides frightening insight into homelessness and mental illness. As a columnist, Lopez constantly searches for his next story. He encounters “vagrant violinist,” Nathaniel Ayers on Skid Row playing Beethoven on a beat up, two-stringed violin and discovers that the promising classical musician studied at New York’s prestigious Julliard School until paranoid schizophrenia assaulted his mind. What started as an attempt to get a few columns worth of material turns into a friendship, as Lopez makes it his personal mission to get Ayers off the street. His poignant columns about Ayers in the Times result in donations of musical instruments and financial aid, but Lopez learns that despite help from others, the mentally ill must first learn to trust. After slowly building a friendship, Lopez establishes communication with Ayers’ estranged sister and seeks professional help for the mentally ill musician in an effort to get him off the dangerous streets of Los Angeles. Every step Ayers takes toward shelter, care, and safety leads to two steps back to Skid Row. In the process, Ayers teaches Lopez not only about music, but also about himself. The Soloist poignantly articulates the themes of lost dreams, friendship, and one man’s power to make a difference.

Phenomenal Book For Musicians and All Alike

Nowadays homeless people are ubiquitous within society, there reasons for becoming homeless unknown. Nathaniel Ayers was once at the height of musical genius, when a corruptive disease took over him. Steve Lopez comes upon this violin virtuoso on Los Angeles skid row, by accident and sees his newest story. But this is not the only thing that will come of these two; an unlikely friendship will begin to bloom. And the two will make each other¿s lives turn for the better.

This book has one major theme that friendship is the only gift that can feed the soul. This story makes all question what they stand for and what they really want from life. The greatest friendship is one in which a great beginning and ending is inevitable.

For any musician anywhere this is a book of pure genius. Ayers became what every musician desires, to make something of his music. This book is a personal favorite for me, due to the ties and understandings of the concepts that the book addresses. This book stands among itself due to the exceptional writing in which the author uses, due to his experience in writing to entertain a reader.

The reporter does tend to have an overly biased opinion. Being Ayers biggest supporter, and never looking at the glass half empty. This situation is a bit heavy and the writer needed to address the situation more head on and less diverted. Homelessness is a major problem of society nowadays.

I would recommend this book for all musicians, more specifically orchestral instrument players. However I believe if you don¿t play instruments this book would be a bit confusing but still a good book. You should read this book if you enjoy books in which pursue the ideas that anyone can redeem themselves. No matter the lengths or boundaries that stand in the way.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed myself reading this non- fiction book. I would recommend fiction any day of the week. So make sure you have lots of interest in non - fiction books before picking this book up.

The Soloist is the best book

The Soloist has inspired me to help other people. Read the book and find out how special this book is.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

THE SOLOIST, Simply Stated, Is a Powerful Revelation

I'm three quarters of the way through reading THE SOLOIST, but I already know I love this story. Steve Lopez has masterfuly investigated his reporting on a human interest piece of journalism that stirs my heart.

I am with Steve all the way through the roller coaster ride of trying to help a homeless street person with a mental illness. I feel what he feels: the conflict of trying to balance his efforts to help Nathaniel with the rest of his life. And, all the while, he's learning how to accept this person by granting him respect as rightful owner of his chosen lifestyle.

Great credit is due Lopez as he deeply studies Nathaniel, going extraordinary miles to discover what lies in the background of the life of Nathaniel Ayers. The riviting situation of this brilliant, musically trained genius (Nathaniel Ayers) and his struggle with mental illness keeps Steve Lopez intrigued throughout the story.

In studying Nathaniel, Lopez studies many others who live in another world, whether it be mental illness or another anomaly of those who live outside the norm.

Who could NOT connect with this story?

BetsyMI

A Story of True Friendship

The Soloist is a heartrending story of mental illness, perseverance and true friendship. Steve Lopez does a wonderful job of describing the hell of skid row, the frustration of being mentally ill and working with the mentally ill. This is a real eye opener and should be required reading for high school and college students.

Good book!

The Soloist is a story of a newspaper reporter who comes across a homeless musician that he can't get out of his mind. It is the story of how he spends the next year developing a relationship with this man and helping him as much as he is able. It shows the struggles all of us face helping people with mental illness. It is a heart warming story, well told.

Went Straight to my heart!

I laughed, I cried, I shared! This book touched me deeply.

A Good Read

The beginning and middle were very addictive type reading. You want to keep reading, the writing sytle flows easily and brings you through the story. Then toward the last third of the book I was a little bored as the story became predictable. Still, overall a good read.

Touching and thought-provoking

A very real look at mental illness told from the perspective of a journalist who befriends a man who is a Julliard-trained musician and schizophrenic. Our book club had in-depth discussions about who decides what is best for the mentally ill.

Good read.

I enjoyed this book and would suggest it to others.

The Soloist -

The Soloist was a bittersweet, raw and unforgetful insight into the lives of two men who, against all odds, became good friends. What started as a news story turned out to be a lesson in life for the reporter and a friend in the midst of what was sometimes sheer madness for Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Jr It is a book that will be with you when you go to sleep and when you awake the next morning. It is inspirational and lets the reader go deep inside the mind of a person who is both a musical genius and a schizophrenic. For me, it affirmed that genius and mental illness are only a breath away from each other.

What a talent, both author and subject.

This book used all my emotions. What more can I say?

Mental health disease has a face

A face has been given to a disease that 25% of the population suffers from . . . mental health illness. A compelling read. Would recommend this as a must read for everyone.

The Soul of Imagination

The Soloist is an excellent novel for those who suffer from mental illness. It is enlightening, poignant, heartfelt, and inspiring too. Nathaniel Ayers is a troubled artist who is dicovered by a blue-collar journalist on the streets of Los Angeles. The two form an intense friendship which leads Steve Lopez into the heart of madness. The story is told in various colours. You become empathic towards the former Julliard student from the eyes of the narrator. This movie demonstrates a need for all of us to understand the tortured mind of a paranoid schizophrenic. We all can contribute towards comprehending how this disease overrides our perception of reality. Nathaniel Ayers finds out that recovery is not a simple road to follow. His new friend Steve Lopez believes he can be rehabilitated through psychotherapy & medication. If only schizophrenia was such a uncomplicated disease. I speak from experience. I was highly affected by the experiences of Nathaniel Ayers on Skid Row. Steve Lopez becomes a true, loyal friend despite the anger and hatred Nathaniel spews out his troubled mind. We all should try to educate ourselves concerning these human characters. Our humanity depends on how we all should relate to each other no matter if we are black, white, prejudiced, apathetic, or just sympathetic. Music is univeral. The sounds of Nathaniel's cello that reverberate is quite stirring and beautiful. He is a natural expressionist. The music flows from his mind, through the body, into his fingers. It is important that this novel be recognised for its mercy as well as its humility. Anyhow, the Soloist takes us down a rather unappealing, dark journal of a man plagued his demons. There is darkness that surrounds the novel. There is beauty and grace which appear randomly throughout this book. The quality of Nathaniel life is diminished but with Steve Lopez's encouragement, there is always hope in the most bleakest moments. I want everyone to read this book. Be open to the power and mystery of how mental illness affects us. As Neruda once exclaimed, "the journey is concerned with the walking but not the destination". Walk on brothers & sisters.

Inspirational Story

A very inspirational story - heartbreaking in some ways. A disturbing reminder of the power and debilitating nature of mental illness, but also of the resiliency and strength of human beings.

Facing the Faceless

For those of us who avert our eyes from the homeless who cross our path, Steve Lopez allows us to see the face of one of those faceless people who populate the statistics. What could have been merely depressing becomes an uplifting recognition of human potential even for someone whose great musical potential was lost to mental illness. The skill with which Steve Lopez presents Nathaniel Ayers' dignity and absorbing love of making music helps the reading journey to be worth taking. Few writers manage to ennoble without becoming cloying, but Steve Lopez does. His very "failures" in dealing with Mr. Ayers and his willingness to discuss them, show that the final act of respect for human dignity is to recognize that we can't change anyone, nor should we. Mr. Lopez and we learn that helping and being a friend, is all we can and should do.

Engaging and helping others is a dance

Steve Lopez entered the life of Nathanial Ayers in pursuit of a newspaper column. He found far more than he every could have dreamed of finding. He found a man whose dreams had been sidetracked by mental illness. He found a man who, in spite of his losses, retained his inspirations and grew them under harsh circumstances. He found a man whose genius allowed him to demonstrate mastery of his instruments even when they were down to two strings.

The story is about Nathanial Ayers and how he struggled to maintain music in his life. It is about the coexistence of the gifts of music and genius and his determination to preserve that gift and its expression against his schizophrenia in its varying intensity and expression from day to day. It is about Mr. Ayers and how he changed for the moment, at least, as he moved inside and was able to continue his life and give expression to his life with multiple instruments.

The story is about Steve Lopez who developed expectations about how he could help Mr. Ayers as his articles seemed to catch the imagination of his LA readers and to inspire them to contribute intact instruments. Steve Lopez had to revise his expectations about how he could help and about what the limits of how much he could see Mr. Ayers change would be. The outcomes Steve Lopez hoped for were not to be. He discovered that the amount and quality of change had to be within the framework that Mr.Ayers could handle. He wanted it all and had to come to accept what Mr. Ayers, given the mental illness that modulated his genius, would allow.

The story is about and for all of us. It shows how purposeful acts in which we engage to help others are limited in their effects by the amount of change the other can or will accept. We can not make another well or "whole." Steve Lopez shows us that we can engage others, interact with them, encourage them, and act to do things we believe are in their best interests. Steve Lopez struggled with the question of whether Nathanial Ayers' life could be taken over by him and the health and social systems to force the outcomes that he, Steve Lopez, envisioned. When any of us engage another to help them, do the ends that we envision for them justify us taking their lives and their freedom from them? If we intervene in the lives and freedom of others, are we certain that our interventions will produce the outcomes we envision? Do we act in the lives of others unilaterally or do we dance with them and accept the outcomes that they can accept and that they can contribute to?

As I read The Solist, I was captured by the stories of Nathanial Ayers and Steve Lopez. The book is thought provoking, frustrating, and inspiring.