The Soloist is a hauntingly beautiful, deeply moving story of a gifted musician who is unable to make health, cleanliness or other basic choices in life. This family could not get any help from authorities or physicians, because the boy 'had not actually harmed them' YET. One of the saddest stories happened here in Alabama when a teenage boy killed both his parents, and severely injured his siblings, several years ago. There are so many ethical questions, so many questions of safety, not only of the mentally ill themselves, but that of the family members who spend years trying their best to care for their loved ones, many of which end up injured and sometimes killed by the person they are trying to take care of. But I'm not entirely sure that we've done these precious people any service by closing all the facilities which once housed them.

You see, I am the mother of a severely mentally retarded, severely autistic adult, who only through the grace of God, lots of work on our part (mine and my husband's), and constantly advocating for her, is now in an appropriate group home close to us, where she is safe. I am one of those people who have really been angered by the laws which put the mentally ill out on the streets many years ago, when 'in their best interest' the mental institutions were eventually all closed down, along with all the other institutional placements for the severely handicapped.

they usually come no where near the book. It is seldom that I choose nonfiction books, and when I do I am often disappointed.

The Soloist by Mark Salzman