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evanmcomer's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Slocumb describes “Symphony of Secrets” as a musical thriller. However, the slow pace of the plot and the rushed pay-off at the end made this book just OK for me.
Let’s start with the good. For me, the strongest parts of Slocumb’s book were the chapters set in the 1920s. The author clearly did a lot of research and had a good feel for setting. The characters in that part of the book were richer and more fully drawn. And Josephine, who is neurodivergent, was written with significant care and depth. The book shines brightest when it’s in historical-fiction mode.
As for the bad, this book’s plot felt stagnant. It really only felt like a “thriller” in the last third. The rest seemed like set-up. The portions of the book written in modern times were slow, and Bern and Eboni were both less interesting than Josephine and Fred. Bern’s character arc, where he tries to navigate the internal politics of and comes to terms with the realities of the philanthropic organization for which he works, felt boring. The interesting parts of Eboni’s storyline all seem to happen off page. This meant that, for me, some of the big reveals that happened at the end of the book felt unearned.
As I said above, it wasn’t until about the last third of the novel that “Symphony of Secrets” lurched into the thriller genre. We see Fred’s psychological manipulation of Josephine transform into physical abuse. This all builds to Fred murdering Josephine and another music publisher in the final chapters of the book. That was also a deeply unsatisfactory development tor me. I never had any sense of justice or closure from this part of the story. The nuance that Slocumb used to show how Fred manipulated and gaslit Josephine at the beginning of the book fell by the wayside, and Fred spent the last part of the story being little more than a cartoon villain. Reading the end, it felt like the plot that Slocumb spent so much time setting up became too much for him to handle, so he opted for the most abrupt, shocking ending he could think of.
The Delaney Foundation, which Slocumb paints as a corrupt philanthropy project, was so exaggerated that it took me out of the story. If Kurt Delaney started twisting his mustache at some point in the book, I would not have been surprised. This really boils down to a problem of stakes. The basic conceit of the plot—a musical historian discovers that a famous composer stole his most famous works from a black woman–was strong enough. Giving the philanthropy trying to cover up that discovery the kind of reach that they could buy off the NYPD, pay criminals to hunt down the main character, and manufacture criminal charges against him ratcheted things up to a high enough level that I was no longer able to suspend my disbelief. While things like police corruption and the racism inherent in white philanthropy are real, a book about intellectual property theft doesn’t seem like the proper forum to address them. My brain just could not make sense of the idea that a nonprofit foundation would go to such extremes to protect a piece of classical sheet music—one that it intended to release to the public anyway!
Many of my negative feelings about the ending stem from Slocumb’s treatment of Josephine. While I think Slocumb wrote Josephine well by-and-large, he does give savant-like properties to her neurodivergence, which is a stereotype that is harmful to people living with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other conditions. And to make matters worse, he uses the richness of her character to set up her death. He wanted us to love Josephine and to see her complexities, only so he could make her a victim. Josephine really doesn’t get to tell her own story; she’s there so that Fred, Bern, and Eboni can tell it.
3.25⭐️
Let’s start with the good. For me, the strongest parts of Slocumb’s book were the chapters set in the 1920s. The author clearly did a lot of research and had a good feel for setting. The characters in that part of the book were richer and more fully drawn. And Josephine, who is neurodivergent, was written with significant care and depth. The book shines brightest when it’s in historical-fiction mode.
As for the bad, this book’s plot felt stagnant. It really only felt like a “thriller” in the last third. The rest seemed like set-up. The portions of the book written in modern times were slow, and Bern and Eboni were both less interesting than Josephine and Fred. Bern’s character arc, where he tries to navigate the internal politics of and comes to terms with the realities of the philanthropic organization for which he works, felt boring. The interesting parts of Eboni’s storyline all seem to happen off page. This meant that, for me, some of the big reveals that happened at the end of the book felt unearned.
The Delaney Foundation, which Slocumb paints as a corrupt philanthropy project, was so exaggerated that it took me out of the story. If Kurt Delaney started twisting his mustache at some point in the book, I would not have been surprised. This really boils down to a problem of stakes. The basic conceit of the plot—a musical historian discovers that a famous composer stole his most famous works from a black woman–was strong enough. Giving the philanthropy trying to cover up that discovery the kind of reach that they could buy off the NYPD, pay criminals to hunt down the main character, and manufacture criminal charges against him ratcheted things up to a high enough level that I was no longer able to suspend my disbelief. While things like police corruption and the racism inherent in white philanthropy are real, a book about intellectual property theft doesn’t seem like the proper forum to address them. My brain just could not make sense of the idea that a nonprofit foundation would go to such extremes to protect a piece of classical sheet music—one that it intended to release to the public anyway!
Many of my negative feelings about the ending stem from Slocumb’s treatment of Josephine. While I think Slocumb wrote Josephine well by-and-large, he does give savant-like properties to her neurodivergence, which is a stereotype that is harmful to people living with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other conditions. And to make matters worse, he uses the richness of her character to set up her death. He wanted us to love Josephine and to see her complexities, only so he could make her a victim. Josephine really doesn’t get to tell her own story; she’s there so that Fred, Bern, and Eboni can tell it.
3.25⭐️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Ableism, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Hate crime, Racism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Mental illness
kaseycanread's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Racism
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