The Soloist by Mark Salzman 

From the opening anecdote about a sixteenth century saint who apparently suffered from a "neurological disorder known to cause hallucinations," The Soloist captures and retains its reader's attention and imagination until its final words.

The story revolves around a faded musical prodigy, Renne, who has lost the ability of his childhood to perform as a world-class cellist. His life falls into a daily grind of tedious lessons with his uninspired and uninspiring students. Two separate occurrences serve to oil the wheels of his sparse existence: a new student emerges who shows the same spark of brilliance Renne himself exhibited as a child, and a summons arrives for him to serve as a juror in a trial involving the brutal murder of a Buddhist monk.

Mark Salzman exhibits an impressive ability to write with a simple yet exquisitely fluid style. his storytelling is gently humourous and eloquently witty. He has obviously done some research on both the mystical subject of Zen Buddhism and the equally enchanting topic of music. The Soloist is not Salzman's first literary offering. His fascination with Asian cultures which was revealed in his two previous books, Iron and Silk and The Laughing Sutra, again leads to the exploration of an angle of the asian psyche, Zen Buddhism. When he writes about music, it becomes evident that Salzman himself is a musician. His description of the pressure put on young musicians is uncannily accurate.

One of Salzman's gifts if his ability to create a cross- section of characters which seem to ring as true as people one might meet in real life. All of the author's characters are beautifully drawn, from the narrator Reinhart Sundheimer and his Korean student Kyung-hee Kim, to the participants in the trial. Even the characters whom the reader barely encounters, such as Martin, the know-it-all violin instructor, and Tokku Hayashi, the serene and unfailingly honest expert on Zen Buddhism, are carefully and delicately developed. It is characters like these who put the finishing touches on an already beautiful story.

While hardly flawless, this novel is truly captivating. With this book, Mark Salzman has provided a perfect example of why one should write about one knows. The ethereal qualities of the subjects combine with the cleverly crafted narrative to produce an absorbing tale full of wit and intelligence. it is absurd to describe this book as one would describe a thriller, yet it can honestly be said that this gem is difficult to put down. The Soloist is as enchanting as the subjects it discusses, and Mark Salzman must be complimented for producing an engaging piece of literature.

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