The Soloist

Steve Lopez tells the story of The Soloist in first person. It is from his point of view as a reporter that is desperately trying to find a story in a homeless musician he encounters on the street one day. The mans name in Nathaniel Ayers, he is African American and he is an alumni of Julliard, which is a very prestigious music school in New York. It perplexes Lopez how an African American kid could triumph through a time when racismn was very strong and most of his age mates were barely managing to survive. He tries to find out as much as he can about this homeless musician, connects with his sister, finds some of his old friends and aquaintances, and writes his article. In response to the article, many people send him insstruments to give to Nathaniel. Nervous that he will get mugged having all these expensive insturments attached to his shopping cart, Lopez convinces Nathaniel to go to a nearby angecy that works with mentally ill homeless people called Lamp Community. He is reluctant at first, but the desire to play the new instruments drives him there.

So far, this story is different than any other story that we've read in class and I think that it fits the genres of 'non-fictional/inspirational' or a 'real life human drama'. It deals with the issues of mental illness, racial over comings, homelessness, and unlikely frienships. There is a quote at the beginning of the book from the Bloomberg News. It reads "The Soloist is a beautiflluy written story that will forever change the way you feel when you walk down the street and pass a person who sleeps on the sidewalk." This quote fits perfectly because The Soloist tells the other side of the homeless persons story. Most aren't born to live on streets with shopping carts, roaming the streets day in and day out and it is very intriguing to hear about the lives of these people ebfore they became what we see on the streets.

Steve Lopez writes to the ignorant individuals for the misunderstood people of this world. He writes to inform people about issues that they aren't educated in and he wishes to tell of people all about those who are abandoned and have no one else to tell their stories for them. I think that when he tells these stories he goes into a lot of detail and he really descriebs things one-hundred percent. This is most likely becuase he is a reporter and he is used to telling stories like this.

I can't wait to read further and learn about the outcome in store for Nathaniel and Lopez.!!