MADreads

Soon to be a major motion picture

December 30th, 2008 Mary K. - Central

As a heavy user of the Overdrive audiobook collection, I am always checking the listings for good books to download, and the book The Soloist: A Lost Dream, An Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music, by Steve Lopez, definitely fits the criteria.  Part of why I picked this one was because I wanted to read the book before the movie comes out early next year.  After reading the book, I am looking forward to seeing the movie to see how Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx handle their roles.

The Soloist is Steve Lopez’s story of his friendship with Nathan Ayers, an African American man, who he sees playing a battered violin on the street on Los Angeles’ Skid Row.  Lopez, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, is always searching for topics, and that was his original motivation for befriending Ayers.  He quickly discovers that Nathan is a schizophrenic who was at one time a classical bass student at Juilliard.  Nathan stays in L.A. because there is a statue of Beethoven there, and therefore, it is where Beethoven lives.

Lopez portrays his involvement with Nathan over a period of a few years.  He works hard to improve Nathan’s life and get him off the streets.  There are many setbacks, and although Nathan’s quality of life improves, he will remain mentally ill and will have many ups and downs.

There are many moving scenes in this book, many involving music.  One of them is when Lopez takes Ayers to a Los Angeles Symphony rehearsal, which leads to one of the players offering him music lessons.  On another occasion, they attend a performance featuring Yo Yo Ma, whose time at Juilliard briefly intersected with Nathan Ayers.

Lopez is a skilled and polished writer, who is very familiar with Los Angeles. His description of Skid Row, and the treatment of the mentally ill and the homeless is grim.  And this is a story that seems tailor made for the movies. If done right, it should be a very inspirational and worthwhile film with a great soundtrack.

Entry Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Nonfiction