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Average Customer Rating:

A dishy little epic

Customer Rating:

The book is fantastic. I picked it up last night, and I hadn't been able to put it down, but for sleep and work, until I finished today. Lopez writes with the good humor and honest introspection of a news columnist, but for an entire three hundred pages instead of 1000 words. The crux of the story remains Steve Lopez' good-natured cajoling of schizophrenic Nathaniel Ayers into treatment, and the world that broke him. The story is simple. Lopez hears Ayers as a street musician, realizes that he sounds better than most, and thinks to make a few columns out when he finds out that Ayers, 30 years ago, was a scholarship student at Julliard before suffering from a mental breakdown. Where Lopez succeeds in telling this story is in showing the dignity and sense with which Ayers has lived his fractured squalor. Ayers is unhinged, dirty, and overly paranoid. But Lopez surely has his own interest involved when stories of Ayers light up Lopez' column and insure Lopez' own relevance in an overly saturated news market, all of which begs the question-- which Lopez if fully aware of--is Lopez using Ayers in an untoward way, while at the same time, coaxing Ayers into housing and seeing a doctor. The twin stories of trust and vulnerability make the book riveting. Ayers' real illness, instability, and capacity for the most refined joy and dignity adds a thrilling dimension to this book. Classical musicians across the world will lament the number of patrons who attend the concerts purely out of a sense of class or society, but Ayers' is a musician's dream. His learned and genuinely felt appreciation of music, balanced with his dangerous instability, makes for an enchanting story. Buy this book, just don't buy it here. Go to your local bookstore and buy this book.

Thank You Mr. Lopez

Customer Rating:

Steve Lopez has written a masterpiece shedding light on mental illness, social work, the lack of government support, the human spirit and the homeless. The Soloist takes the reader on a journey inside one mans heart as he tries to help a lost soul -- Mr. Ayers. So many up and downs are had that in the end he realizes that some things can't be fixed and he can truly only provide the one thing that all of us need -- friendship. As a nation we are spending billions of dollars trying to bring democracy to a land that continues to resist change, it is of my humble opinion that we need to focus on the needs our growing homeless and those of that suffer from mental illess. Steve Lopez's The Soloist paints an accurate picture of the untold truth on a subject that isn't discussed nearly enough. Very well written and thought provoking. Kudos to all social work professionals and people like Steve Lopez. Highly recommended reading to all those who dare to know the truth.

Lopez Is Back!	Customer Rating:
The Soloist recaptures the passion for the story that made THIRD AND INDIANA great. Written in a reporter's style, this is a story that will make an even better movie.

An uplifting and touching story

Customer Rating:

In The Soloist, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez tells the touching story of his friendship with Nathaniel Ayers, a gifted musician with a mental illness who ended up on Skid Row. In 1972, Ayers was a student at prestigious Julliard. His bizarre behavior, however, landed him in the psychiatric emergency room at Bellevue Hospital. Diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic, Ayers took medication, tried counseling and even shock therapy, but nothing seemed to work. He eventually ended up homeless on the streets. Early in his encounters with Ayers, Lopez describes him as a mentally ill musician. He is corrected by a reader that Ayers is a musician with a mental illness. It is one of many lessons Lopez learns in his alternatingly frustrating and rewarding relationship with Ayers. Lopez learns a lot about himself, Ayers, friendship, music and mental illness along the way. As their friendship strengthens, Ayers makes some progress that didn't seem possible. It makes your heart sing and tears flow. Lopez shows that one person can make a difference. I have purchased a number of copies of this book to give to my friends and relatives. I highly recommend it and I wish everyone would read it.

the soloist	Customer Rating:
I bought this book two days ago and it is amazing it shows how everybody has a past I kind of picked it at random and was spectacular but I have to say this book is not for younger kids they say some mild cusses but it is not that frequent so I would say if you are 11+ go for it younger kids may actully not understand words this book is amazing