The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music
by Steve Lopez
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Book Summary Information
Author: Steve LopezEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Published: 2008
ISBN: 1607512033
Number of pages: 273
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Book Reviews of The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music
Book Review: Redemption Through Music and Friendship
Summary: 5 Stars
Steve Lopez, a reporter for the LOS ANGELES TIMES, sees a derelict on L.A.'s Skid Row playing a two-stringed violin and is sure that there is a story there. And what a story it is. What began as a column for Lopez's newspaper eventually became this heartwarming book THE SOLOIST from which the film by the same name starring Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, the brilliant musician who sadly is cursed with schizophrenia, and Robert Downey Junior as Lopez was made. Mr. Lopez interviewed members of Mr. Ayers' family-- particularly his sister Jennifer Moore from Atlanta-- as well as former teachers and students from Julliard where Mr. Ayers was a brilliant student of the double bass before he became mentally ill, to flesh out his newspaper columns that produced so much interest in the plight of this homeless man in love with Beethoven and who basically lived out of a grocery shopping cart. So many people came forward with musical instruments for Mr. Ayers, that he eventually amassed two cellos, six violins, a double bass and a piano for his enjoyment. He also was given cello lessons by Peter Snyder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a crafty move which was orchestrated by Lopez as a way to get Ayers out of the street and into an apartment. And Mr. Ayers ultimately met Yo-Yo Ma, one of his musical idols. "'I remember your hands from Julliard,'"-- where both men had played in the same orchestra-- Ayers enthusiastically tells Mr. Ma upon meeting him.
Although this book is entitled THE SOLOIST, it really is as much about the writer as it is his subject. Mr. Lopez obviously is the most decent of people and is quick to acknowledge that Mr. Ayers has given him far more than he has given to Mr. Ayers. Mark Ragins, Lopez's "on-call doctor" reminds the journalist: "'It is possible to cause seemingly biochemical changes through human emotional involvement. You [Lopez] literally have changed his chemistry [Ayers'] by being his friend.'" Lopez is not sure if he has changed Ayers' chemistry or not but recognizes their unusual but deep friendship. "He's changed my chemistry too." Mr. Lopez is now a lover of classical music although his beginning violin lessons with Ayers were less than successful. "If a friend is someone who inspires, who challenges, who sends you in search of some truer sense of yourself, Nathaniel is indeed a friend." More from Lopez on their friendship: "Nathaniel is a man unmasked, his life is a public display. We connect in part because there is nothing false about him, and I come away from every encounter more attuned to my own feelings than I would be after, say, an interview with the mayor or the governor. Nathaniael turns my gaze inward. . . I'll never have a richer reward than knowing him well enough to tell his story."
Mr. Lopez is a fine, insightful writer indeed. His descriptions of his life with his wife and daughter are just as touching as those of Mr. Ayers. His profound words about his two-year-old daughter Caroline are as beautiful as anything any contemporary novelist has written: "I've caught all the big milestones, but the really good stuff is nothing you can write in a journal. It's an expression that only you can see the changes in, it's the emergence of a personality unique to the world, it's the way she comes out of the bath with her hair all slicked back and you catch a glimpse of what she might look like when she is older."
I finished this book that I cannot recommend too highly thinking that Messers Ayers and Lopez are both lucky men to have found each other. THE SOLOIST will make you sing.
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Summary of The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music
A lost dream, an unlikely friendship, and the redemptive power of music.Mental Health Books
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