The Soloist, Final Post

My experience reading The Soloist was very different from my experiences reading the other works I read this year. I found this novel to be the most interesting novel that I have read all year. I think part of why it was so interesting was because it is a current story, a story of a real man, still living and still struggling to this day. Another reason why I was so interested was because I made the connection with him as a musician, and I can understand the joy Nathaniel Ayers receives from playing his instruments. The novel also opened my eyes to schizophrenia, a disease I had heard of but didn't really know much about. I now know that this disease, which I never thought could be a really huge problem in one's life, could actually hinder one's dreams and goals, which it did to Ayers. I'm happy this book was chosen for our class to read and I'm very glad to have read it.