The Soloist by Steve Lopez is about a young man named Nathaniel Ayers who attended the music school Juliard, but was forced to drop out, even though he still had world-class talent, because of his growing mental instability. He now wanders the streets of Los Angeles playing a dilapidated violin. Steve Lopez, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, is searching for a new story when he meets Nathaniel and decides to use him. After the reactions he was receiving from his readers, Lopez becomes more interested in Nathaniel's life and wishes to help him. The novel takes place mainly on the poor streets of Los Angeles as well as a mental health facility for the homeless on Skid Row. Through a patient and unlikely friendship, Steven Lopez is able to get Nathaniel Ayers off of the streets and into an apartment as well as treatment for his schizophrenia.
The purpose of this book is to show Lopez's story, showing how Nathaniel changed his life, and possibly change the reader's life as well. I feel that the author is able to accomplish this task, because after his first column, support for Nathaniel, for example by way of letters and instruments, started flooding in. Lopez's original audience was the readers of his column in the LA Times; however it has become more popular, especially after the book was made into a movie.
Similies and metaphors are used in The Soloist as well as rhetorical questions, analogies, and imagery.
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