The Soloist: A New Beginning

During these chapters, Ayers life went through a complete change from being a poor homeless man on the streets of Skid Row to living in an apartment with his own studio. Before He was alone and had no one, no friends, no close relationships, and no one to care for him. Then Lopez came into his life and filled in the gaps. I was really shocked when Ayers has on of his episodes and even threatened to KILL Lopez…I really never would’ve seen that coming. This shows that no matter how much help he can give/offer to Ayers, this will always have to be expected because it’s something that HE can’t change. Towards the end of the book, you really wouldn’t call it “the end”. With Ayers and his new apartment and studio, he is able to produce music with the inspiration from his old and new friends and begin a new life.

Soloist 3

As I was reading through other peoples’ posts, a good point that was made was that Lopez swooped into Ayers’ life and made all these changes without being asked to. He publicized Ayers’ life without permission and even though he was helping, he kinda began leading his life for him. Now, whether or not everything Lopez has done is beneficial, which it is and was, what would happen if it weren’t? Everything Lopez did could’ve backfired, and if it did, what would happen and how would they solve it? Maybe Ayers would hate Lopez in the end? Anyway… even though Lopez has given up a lot of his own time…he is denying Ayers the experiences of dealing with problems and situations on his own. Eventually this could lead to a dependency on people for Ayers.

Soloist #2

During chapters 7-12 we meet Joseph Russo, whom considered himself a good friend of Nathaniel. He talks about how he made it all the way to Julliard and his experiences, memories, and relationship with Nathaniel. He also says that the first time he ever thought something may have been wrong with Ayers, is when they were at a party and Ayers got furious when Russo referred to him as “kid”. Ayers thought Russo was being racist towards him, even though they were close friends and he had invited him over for the holiday. This part of the story really gave some insight into the life of Ayers before he became homeless and schizophrenic.

Lopez at this point has become more than just a reporter. He has become Ayers’ friend and he cares about him and tries to help him out and he also acts as a guardian by looking out for him and worrying about his safety. Although it seems as if Lopez truly cares, it makes me wonder whether he cares for Ayers personally, or because he is so talented; and whether if he weren’t so talented, if he wouldn’t even bothered with him.

Soloist Numero Uno

The Soloist is told in the first person point of view of a reporter trying to find a story in Nathaniel Ayers, an African American homeless musician he encounters on the street one day. Ayers is an alumni of a prestigious music school in NY, Julliard. Lopez is amazed at how an African American kid could triumph through a time when racism was apparent and most of his age group was barely surviving. Lopez attempts to find out any information he can about Ayers and connects with his sister, finds some old friends and acquaintances and writes his article. In response to his article on Ayers, people send him instruments to give to Ayers. Lopez was nervous that Ayers might get mugged with all the instruments attached to his shopping cart, so he convinces him to go to a place called Lamp Community, which offered services to mentally ill homeless people. At first Ayers didn’t like the idea, but he was eager to play his new instruments and that gave him the motivation to go there.

Up to this point, I like the book…it’s different than most stories that I’ve read in the way that it really fits its genre of being a non-fictional inspirational novel and it really gets to the issues of mental illness, racism, homelessness, and unlikely friendships between complete strangers. Most people would walk by homeless people on the street and not even care, so this story kind of opens up your eyes to the world and the few people in it who do the good deed. Steve Lopez writes to inform people about issues that they aren't educated in and wants to get those peoples’ stories across to other people and since he is a reporter, when he tells these stories he tells them in complete detail.