The Soloist

After reading these first few chapters, I'm on the edge of my seat. I'm pretty anxious to finish the book because I feel that there are a lot of things yet to unfold. For example, Nathaniel's mental health. I'm wondering what might be wrong, maybe schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, I'm not sure but I'm pretty excited to find out. Also, id like to find out what may have caused this behavior. I'm thinking that maybe his mental disorder is a result of his childhood or family issues.

Obviously, I'm enjoying this book so far. Something in the book I found really interesting was in chapter 6. When Lopez is in Dr. Ragin's office, Ragin's say to him "If Nathaniel is going to get better, it won't be because of a correct diagnosis and textbook treatment program, but because he develops enough trust in me and others to pursue his own recovery." When I read that I thought, wow, that's really true. By searching long endless hours, going around talking to hundreds of doctors will not help Nathaniel, that wont solve anything. I feel that it's very important that Lopez heard that because he can really help Nathaniel, especially now, after hearing what Dr. Ragin's had to say.

I love the contrast between Lopez, the successful journalist, and Nathaniel, the ex Julliard student gone homeless. It's a very different combination. Its sort of a change from the not so modern books we've previously read. Also, this story has a lot of mystery in it, when reading, It gets me thinking and it keeps me up on the edge of my seat. I'm absolutely looking forward to the chapters ahead.

Points to focus on when reading this are flow and structure, but I'm also welcome to any grammatical comments you'd like to make.