Getting involved
And that would have been that, except the response to that first column outstripped anything Lopez had ever written. Offers flooded in from people who wanted to donate cellos and violins to the homeless musician. Lopez was roped into being a conduit for the donations, then into finding a place where Ayers could keep them, then into trying to find a place where Ayers could stay and possibly receive treatment.
Suddenly Lopez found himself sucked in, his life upended. He was no longer just a columnist; he had taken on a measure of responsibility for Ayers' welfare. Several more columns ensued, then a series of front-page stories about skid row and the homeless, a book, a movie deal and, perhaps strangest of all for Lopez, whose columns project a rather curmudgeonly image, an unusual -- and mutually rewarding -- friendship.
And that's just the setup for the story told in "The Soloist."
Most of the book consists of the surprisingly suspenseful roller-coaster chronicle that follows Lopez's initial involvement with Ayers, of the hopes and frustrations that arise as he tries to understand and to deal with the intractable problems of homelessness and chronic mental illness.
Lopez also digs into Ayers' past, his musical promise as a youth and his eventual descent into mental illness, homelessness and ostracism from his family. But the most immediate, involving part of the tale lies in Lopez's efforts to help Ayers and the uncertainty of the outcome.
Ayers' wild mood swings and unpredictability -- except when it comes to his passion for music -- challenges Lopez's patience and resourcefulness at every turn. The journalist's initial instinct was to assemble the ingredients that would fix things quickly, then let him move on, back to his wife and child and regular workday, which doesn't normally involve a daily rendezvous with a homeless guy who wears bandannas made of yellow police crime scene tape.
But there were no easy answers, Lopez found. Just tell me the best course of treatment, he demanded, only to find that the experts couldn't agree. He wanted to know if Ayers should be compelled to take medication, but that was a mixed bag too, as was any thought of coercing or forcing him off the streets and into housing for his own good.
