The Soloist (Vintage Contemporaries)

As a child, Renne showed promise of becoming one of the world's greatest cellists. Now, years later, his life suddenly is altered by two events: he becomes a juror in a murder trial for the brutal killing of a Buddhist monk, and he takes on as a pupil a Korean boy whose brilliant musicianship reminds him of his own past. From the Trade Paperback edition. "I'll be thirty-six years old this spring, which is young for a retired concert soloist, but old for a virgin. I started out as a musical prodigy....". So begins the third paragraph of the opening chapter of this incandescent novel. As an adolescent, Renne Sundheimer had the musical world at his feet; hailed as potentially the greatest cellist who ever lived, he toured the world's concert halls, basking in the adoration of his fans and the admiration of the critics. Then suddenly, at the age of eighteen, his gift deserted him, and for the last fifteen years he has made his living as a cello teacher at a large university in Southern California, practicing five or six hours a day in the hope that his gift will return. Suddenly Renne's life is altered radically by two disparate events: receiving a summons to jury duty, where he unwillingly becomes a juror in a murder trial for the brutal killing of a Buddhist monk; and becoming the teacher of another cello prodigy, an unprepossessing nine-year-old Korean boy whose brilliant talent, potential and musicianship remind Renne of his own past. The Soloist is an extraordinary achievement, and one that Random House feels privileged to publish.

Salzman captures post-cultural revolution China through his adventures as a young American English teacher in China and his shifu-tudi (master-student) relationship with China's foremost martial arts teacher.

Library Journal

This is a book full of China, full of wonder. Salzman taught English in Changsha, Hunan, for two years, studied Chinese boxing with a master, helped his Chinese friends, and perceived Chinese life with the writerly eye of a young Hemingway. Although, or because, he flies no political banner and takes no ideological stance, he gives us a bouquet of sketches which distill a range of Chinese people into essences and scenes we immediately understand and feel. Some scenes are sharply, unpretentiously funny; others start the tears to which China reduces (elevates?) her friends. For those who see ``China'' as an abstraction, whether as enemy, hope of the future, or market, this book is the cure. Read it and get your friends and patrons to read it too. A quiet classic, not to be pigeonholed as a China book. Charles W. Hayford, Ctr. for Far Eastern Studies, Univ. of Chicago

Iron & Silk, Mark Salzman's bestselling account of his adventures as an English teacher and martial arts student in China, introduced a writer of enormous charm and keen insight into the cultural chasm between East and West. Now Salzman returns to China in his first novel, which follows the adventures of Hsun-ching, a naive but courageous orphan, and the formidable and mysterious Colonel Sun, who together travel from mainland China to San Francisco, risking everything to track down an elusive Buddhist scripture called The Laughing Sutra. Part Tom Sawyer, part Tom Jones, The Laughing Sutra draws us into an irresistible narrative of danger and comedy that speaks volumes about the nature of freedom and the meaning of loyalty.

Publishers Weekly

Hsun-ching and his mentor, Colonel Sun, travel from China to San Francisco in their quest for the Laughing Sutra, a text that allegedly holds the key to immortality. PW called this ``a novel whose sincerity, good spirits and imaginative high jinks make up for some weaknesses in prose and narrative momentum.'' (Jan.)

Salzman captures post-cultural revolution China through his adventures as a young American English teacher in China and his shifu-tudi (master-student) relationship with China's foremost martial arts teacher. In 1982, Salzman flew off to teach English in Changsha, China. He writes of bureaucrats, students and Cultural Revolution survivors, stripping none of their complexity and humanity. He's gentle with their idiocies, saving his sharpest barbs for himself (it's his pants that split from zipper to waist whilst demonstrating martial arts in Canton). Though dribs of history and drabs of classical lore seep through, this is mostly a personal tale, noted by the Los Angeles Times for "the charmingly unpretentious manner in which it penetrates a China inaccessible to other foreigners." From the author of Iron & Silk comes a charming and frequently uproarious account of an American adolescence in the age of Bruce Lee, Ozzy Osborne, and Kung Fu. As Salzman recalls coming of age with one foot in Connecticut and the other in China (he wanted to become a wandering Zen monk), he tells the story of a teenager trying to attain enlightenment before he's learned to drive. Annotation. From the author of Iron & Silk comes a charming and frequently uproarious account of an American adolescence in the age of Bruce Lee, Ozzy Osborne, and Kung Fu. As Salzman recalls coming of age with one foot in Connecticut and the other in China (he wanted to become a wandering Zen monk), he tells the story of a teenager trying to attain enlightenment before he's learned to drive In 1997 Mark Salzman, bestselling author Iron and Silk and Lying Awake, paid a reluctant visit to a writing class at L.A.’s Central Juvenile Hall, a lockup for violent teenage offenders, many of them charged with murder. What he found so moved and astonished him that he began to teach there regularly. In voices of indelible emotional presence, the boys write about what led them to crime and about the lives that stretch ahead of them behind bars. We see them coming to terms with their crime-ridden pasts and searching for a reason to believe in their future selves. Insightful, comic, honest and tragic, True Notebooks is an object lesson in the redemptive power of writing. The oldest child in a middle-class household in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the son of a piano teacher and a social worker, the author was, from the age of six, an eccentric with enormous aspirations - none of them ever fulfilled, of course - who stood out not only from his more conventional parents and brother and sister but from everyone else in the neighborhood. In the tradition of Russell Baker's Growing Up and Spalding Gray's Sex and Death to the Age 14, Mark Salzman recalls his tortured years so fondly, so self-deprecatingly and so humorously that readers will devour this delightful look backward with smiles on their faces. "In a Carmelite monastery outside present-day Los Angeles, life goes on in a manner virtually unchanged for centuries. Sister John of the Cross has spent years there in the service of God. And there, she alone experiences visions of such dazzling power and insight that she is looked upon as a spiritual master.". "But Sister John's visions are accompanied by powerful headaches, and when a doctor reveals that they may be dangerous, she faces a devastating choice. For if her spiritual gifts are symptoms of illness rather than grace, will a "cure" mean the end of her visions and a soul once again dry and searching?"--BOOK JACKET. As a child, Renne showed promise of becoming one of the world's greatest cellists. Now, years later, his life suddenly is altered by two events: he becomes a juror in a murder trial for the brutal killing of a Buddhist monk, and he takes on as a pupil a Korean boy whose brilliant musicianship reminds him of his own past.

From the bestselling author of Iron & Silk comes a new novel about two musical prodigies, a murder trial, and a romance. A former musical genius tries to regain his high standards when he meets a woman and a talented six-year-old cellist.

From the author of Iron & Silk comes a charming and frequently uproarious account of an American adolescence in the age of Bruce Lee, Ozzy Osborne, and Kung Fu. As Salzman recalls coming of age with one foot in Connecticut and the other in China (he wanted to become a wandering Zen monk), he tells the story of a teenager trying to attain enlightenment before he's learned to drive.

Publishers Weekly

Salzman's memoir of his Connecticut childhood tells of his early adolescent devotion to Zen and Kung Fu. (July)

In A Carmelite Monastery Outside Present-day Los Angeles, Sister John Of The Cross Experiences Visions Of Such Dazzling Power And Insight That She Is Considered A Spiritual Master. But They Are Accompanied By Powerful Headaches, And When A Doctor Reveals They May Be Dangerous, She Faces A Devastating Choice Since She Fears A Cure May End Her Spiritual Gifts. Mark Salzman. Originally Published: New York : Knopf, 2000 "The author tells of his two years teaching English to medical students in China's Hunan Province following his graduation from yale University in 1982. This book is 'not so much a treatise on modern Chinese mores as a series of telling vignettes ... [The author] describes his encounter with Pan Qingfu, the country's foremost master of wushu, the traditional Chinese martial art.'" Time Follow the adventures of Hsun-ching, a naive but courageous orphan, and the formidable and mysterious Colonel Sun, as they travel together from mainland China to San Francisco, risking everything to track down an elusive Buddhist scripture called The Laughing Sutra. -- cover Renne Sundheimer's life as a cello teacher is abruptly changed by two events: his participation as a juror in a murder trial, and his association with a new student, a Korean prodigy who reminds him of his own past This morning I read an article suggesting that Saint Theresa of Avila, a sixteenth-century Spanish mystic noted for her ecstatic visions, suffered from a neurological disorder known to cause hallucinations. The author recounts his experiences in China, as the sole private pupil to Pan Quingfu, China's foremost martial artist, discusses his relationships with the diverse Chinese people he came to know The author shares his experiences working with kids in Central Juvenile Hall, a jail for kids located near Los Angeles, assisting them with their writing An American describes his experiences after his arrival in Hunan Province in 1982 to teach English, including wushu training and life in post-Mao China. When I was thirteen years old I saw my first kung fu movie, and before it ended I decided that the life of a wandering Zen monk was the life for me. Chronicles the author's first years teaching at Central Juvenile Hall, a lockup for Los Angeles's most violent teenage offenders Memoir of author, Mark Salzman, who tried, with often humorous results, to rise above the everyday normalcy of his childhood