Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - The Violin Conspiracy

Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

131 reviews

mavemarie's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

The journey of this story's structure mimics both what we expect, and what we fail to see in the world around us. It highlights the flaws in doing so.

It sets out to unravel a traditionally coded crime mystery, simply from a black perspective on the surface, but instead, the story lulls and expands to showcase a background with ranging intricacies and a more prominent, and more worthy, story instead. It is tense and uncomfortable. Heartwarming and soothing. Prideful, encouraging and sometimes disappointing as well. And it is a love note to music in every single page. I wish I had more of a musical background to appreciate it more.

As a contemporary piece, it makes the encounters within the story that much more jarring. We have all gone to school with Ray. We have sat next to him on the plane. Listened to him play at our aunts wedding. We have all seen him on the side of the road next to some flashing lights. Hearing the authors life experiences as they inform the story and these moments... is beyond heartbreaking.

The time spent diverging from its genre makes rating it as a simple thriller/mystery... almost lackluster. But this is not just a story about a missing violin. It is about connection, trust, perseverance, family, and friendship. It is about race, culture, heritage and hardship. It is about love.

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thisbookrox's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

4.0

moving descriptions of music, and a good twist. a little repetitive but i’ll chalk that up to debut writing.

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amandadelbrocco's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

For being marketed as a mystery/thriller, that sure was lacking in this book. Overall I thought the social commentary made the book worth reading but I think this would be better marketed as literary fiction.

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zanhoven's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I have mixed views of this novel. so much so that I've delayed writing a review for It. In some ways this novel is insightful - like the reactions of the classical world to Ray and the history of the violin. In other ways I found it frustratingly stereotypical in Its portrayal of characters. This novel deals with racism but also encourages it with stereotypes. Additionally, this novel appears to have a mixed idea of what type of novel it is, resulting in less fleshing out of ideas presented. You have the missing violin, Rays Journey, and Rays family history all competing for the readers attention. I wonder if the author may have been able to create a series or narrowed down the scope of the novel, It would have helped with me conflicted response. I enjoyed the premise and I definately became emotionally involved. I found so much to like about this novel, and yet I felt let down aswell. I would recommend this read.

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laurenleigh's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I had an idea that this would be more thrilling, more ‘whodunnit,’ but I let that expectation go pretty early on and enjoyed the book much more. It’s a story of growing up as an American Black man in an exclusionary (and extremely white) field: classical music. The writing was approachable and well paced, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Though the overt racism and the unsupportive mother character were so infuriating! And even if the whodunnit plot was kind of a side note attention grab, it did keep me engaged throughout.

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ajay913's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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a_b_hall's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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caittothelin's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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mekilouise's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

I liked the plot but the execution missed for me.

“Musicians of color are severely underrepresented in the classical music world.” This, according to the author, was one of his motivations for writing the book. But the racism and the violin conspiracy plot were disjointed. There were two books here and neither was done a service - the mystery was boiled down to a theft and then a realization that led to the solution. The racism experience was a relentless series of events, unmoored from any other experiences with the violin or the mystery.

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adrienneleigh's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I really enjoyed reading about Ray and his connection to music and his connection to his family through the music. My favorite scenes were his performances, especially the Tchaikovsky competition. The instances of racism were hard to read, and I’m glad that the author included in the author’s note that these were real things that had happened to him.

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