The Soloist by Mark Salzman
Hardback Edition: 304 pages
This novel took me about two nights to read. It's a little bit abnormal for my usual style of reading but with the way that it is written I'm not really surprised that I finished it that quickly.
The storyline looks at the life of a sheltered child musical prodigy. Renne (short for Reinhart) spent much of the first 18 years of his life learning the cello and touring through Europe. After his teacher died and Renne was trying to become his own person his music failed him (or he failed his music) by focusing too close on the pitch and not the overall piece.
Several years later and Renne is teaching at the university, unhappy with his life but unable to see how to change it. He is called up for jury duty on a case that involves Zen Buddhism and the question of insanity and at first he wants to decline to jury duty but soon the case sweeps him up in its grasp.
So between the case and Renne's newest pupil, a nine-year-old musical prodigy from Korea, Renne must examine his past (both right and wrong moves) and decide how best to move on into his future. It is a very introspective book with very little real action. Somehow though that doesn't impede the interesting nature of the book. Some parts are quite sad but at the end I was feeling quite hopeful for Renne.
Hardback Edition: 304 pages
This novel took me about two nights to read. It's a little bit abnormal for my usual style of reading but with the way that it is written I'm not really surprised that I finished it that quickly.
The storyline looks at the life of a sheltered child musical prodigy. Renne (short for Reinhart) spent much of the first 18 years of his life learning the cello and touring through Europe. After his teacher died and Renne was trying to become his own person his music failed him (or he failed his music) by focusing too close on the pitch and not the overall piece.
Several years later and Renne is teaching at the university, unhappy with his life but unable to see how to change it. He is called up for jury duty on a case that involves Zen Buddhism and the question of insanity and at first he wants to decline to jury duty but soon the case sweeps him up in its grasp.
So between the case and Renne's newest pupil, a nine-year-old musical prodigy from Korea, Renne must examine his past (both right and wrong moves) and decide how best to move on into his future. It is a very introspective book with very little real action. Somehow though that doesn't impede the interesting nature of the book. Some parts are quite sad but at the end I was feeling quite hopeful for Renne.
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