Anna S. (annapi) reviewed on 1/3/2010 + 334 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

Steve Lopez, columnist for the LA Times, chronicles the development of his friendship with Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, a former Julliard student who developed schizophrenia and eventually ended up on Skid Row. Lopez had encountered Nathaniel playing his violin on the street and stopped to listen. Sensing a story for his column, he approached him, but what followed was a friendship that transformed the writer as much as the subject.

I had followed Lopez's articles on Nathaniel for some time, so reading the book felt like revisiting an old friend while getting the back story. It is as much uplifting and inspirational as it is depressing and haunting, and Lopez lays bare his soul while telling Nathaniel's story, which becomes inextricably his as well. Through patience and persistence, with the help of social workers as well as readers who became mesmerized by his articles, Lopez slowly tries to help Nathaniel off the streets, though the story is by no means complete as the vagaries of mental illness inevitably include setbacks among the small steps of progress. The articles and now the book did much to raise awareness of Los Angeles's homeless problem, although progress is slow. Hopefully the movie that is scheduled for release in November 2009 will do even more. This is a stark look at the realities of mental illness and the redemptive power of music, a heartbreakingly magnificent story and a must-read.

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