Reviews

The Soloist by Mark Salzman

skochara's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

misslezlee's review against another edition

4.0

I have no idea where this book came from, but there it was on my to-be-read bookcase. And it was well worth the wait. I’m not sure I would have appreciated reading this whenever it was purchased even half as much as I did this week. I know so much more about cellos, Bach, and Zen Buddhism now than I did back then so there was more to smile about and enjoy. I especially loved the little stories about Bach. The protagonist is a failed child prodigy who is called upon to serve jury duty around the same time that he agrees to tutor another child prodigy. Through the process of determining the accused’s innocence or guilt and assessing his student’s talent he is forced to examine his own life.

georges_mom's review against another edition

5.0

I can’t remember which craft-of-writing book cited this book, but it was a good recommendation as I work my way through the “literary fiction about classical music” canon (is that a thing? Sure!).

I appreciate the inventiveness of the story of Reinhart (Renne), a former cello prodigy turned professor who unexpectedly finds his life altered when he’s called up for jury duty in a Los Angeles murder trial. The writing is gorgeous in many places. I enjoyed the subplot of Renne’s bittersweet first romance with a fellow juror. I loved all the music sections and flashbacks and didn’t think it got too into the weeds on music shop talk (though maybe I’m not the best judge of this as a music person…who knows).

The trial sections were obviously the subject of exhaustive research and well done overall (though maybe could have been just a little shorter—I think it’s what a verbatim trial transcript would look like translated into prose…). This was a very interesting book and an enjoyable, fast read.

svaze2004's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

jsanderson's review against another edition

4.0

My grandmother gave me a copy of this book when I was fifteen (ish) and I loved it.

keshiajarosz's review against another edition

3.0

"God tests us to make us stronger."

wmhenrymorris's review against another edition

My wife checked this out from the library along with Salzman's novel "Lying Awake" (which I have already read). I decided to give it a go too. I like his style -- it's literary but not overly so. Very good novel. The type of small novel that I could see myself writing and that I'd like to see being written (and published) for the Mormon market.

It lacks the sheer impact of other work so only three stars. I liked it. I would recommend it.

bartendm's review against another edition

5.0

My favorite of Mark Salzman's books, so far.

cierrasreads's review against another edition

3.0

The only reason this book took so long to read was because it was in lit circle format for my AP Literature class! It was very insightful and interesting to read, although it definitely wouldn't be the type of book I'd read on my own. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.

whitneysederberg's review against another edition

4.0

Being a Korean-American cellist, this one really resonated with me! A sensitive cross between The Friend and Your Lie in April. I’ll probably think about this one for a while, I really like this style of writing, too. I found the trial to be a bit boring compared to 기영이 but as someone who didn’t know much about jury duty before this, I thought it was interesting enough.