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Readers' Comments
We welcome your responses to our North Reading Reads 2010
selections, The Soloist, a lost dream, an unlikely friendship, and the redemptive power of music, by Steve Lopez and The Soloist by Mark Salzman. or any other book
you have read and would like to share your reactions about. Please email to mnr@mvlc.org
and we'll include your comments.
To me the concept of reading two books with the same title and written about the same mental illness was intriguing and very interesting. Although onne book was fiction and the other a true story, I will remember them both for their powerful stories due to the excellent writing by the authors. Both books pointed out the shameful way this country has and continues to care for its mentally ill citizens is heartbreaking and will continue to haunt me for a long time.
Marilyn Henderson, North Reading Book Discussion Club
The Soloist by Mark Salzman and The Soloist by Steve Lopez are both excellent reading, though completely different in character. I think Steve Lopez's non-fiction story was the better of the two. Both the author and his subject --Nathaniel -- were very compelling people. It was warm, funny and very sad to see Nathaniel struggle with his schizophrenia and his desire to make beautiful music. In Lopez's account, the writer finds enlightenment and purpose from his friendship with Nathaniel. Mark Salman's first-person character Rienhart finds purpose for his life and for his music through new and different life experiences. Definitely both good and worth reads.
Lois Waller, North Reading Book Discussion Club
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Comments from the Friends' Evening Books Group, of Tuesday, March 2:
In Mark Salzman's The Soloist, "...the trial is about sanity...Renne questions his view of the world...he's so isolated...he really does have a different perspective... it's deeply saddening when he loses his ability to play the cello...he's the lone hold out... he has an epihany at the end..he couldn't be perfect... the trial helped to make his whole...for a prodigy to lose his gift it's devastating, so much of your life left without having what you expected to go forward with...the mentoring aspect was interesting...how he will teach the young boy to possibly enjoy life, as well as being able to play."
In Steve Lopez's The Soloist, "the author receives as much, if not more, from Nathaniel Ayers, than Nathaniel Ayers receives from him...some devastating details...the sticks used to keep the rats away...the atmosphere of Skid Row...Nathaniel Ayers is very street savvy, able to survive...his mind is disorganized but his shopping cart, with all his instruments is very organized...sad at the end...it underscores the limits of the friendship between Mr. Lopez and Mr. Ayers... curiosity about Nathaniel Ayers' life before and after the book...both books were more complex than one might first think...good choices for a town-wide read."
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