Reviews with content warning for Slavery - The Violin Conspiracy

Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

108 reviews

ireanirean's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-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

3.25

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livforreading's review against another edition

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informative inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

I enjoyed this one! Definitely needed to audiobook to get through it, because even as someone who used to play violin, I just wasn’t so so interested in some of the technical musical stuff. The mystery wasn’t very hard to solve, and some of the characters were pretty archetypical. I loved the messages about being Black in classical music, even if the messages were a bit heavy handed at times. Overall, a very plotty book that I enjoyed listening to because it was easy to follow and filled with drama

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tetcha's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

I was disappointed by the “mystery” in this story but it wasn’t really about the theft of a priceless violin, it was about Ray’s family history and the struggles he overcame to achieve his dream of becoming a concert violinist. I loved that despite how he was treated, he stayed kind to others, true to himself and never gave up.

Instead of for mystery lovers, I would recommend this to anyone who like a good family saga or coming of age drama instead.

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shelbyl's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

Really great book. Excellent audiobook. Author note is perfect and poignant. This book is about racism, classical music, but most importantly being true to yourself and doing what you love.

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eicart_reads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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bonniejpg's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0

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maryannc's review against another edition

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challenging tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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gillenwaaah's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was much more a reflection on the weight of being black and existing in life and the complicated family dynamics that come from being poor and black and without hope than a thriller set in the world of classical music. It is a book written by someone who loves music the most and is an incredible tale of Ray overcoming literally every obstacle to do what he loves most but I found it just weighing so heavily on my heart. Maybe I’d have a different perspective if I wasn’t black and if I didn’t know what he said was true. Idk.

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reading_ladies_blog's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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krys_kilz's review against another edition

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mysterious 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

3.5

This book was engaging and interesting, but I wouldn't really classify it as a thriller. It's more of a character study with some elements of a whodunnit mystery. The ending was a little predictable and the story was a bit repetitive at times. I feel like the repetitiveness speaks more to how most white folks completely deny the impacts of racism and anti-Blackness in the present than it does to Slocumb's writing. He was clearly trying to get his point across and he was definitely successful in that.

There was an underlying theme of respectability politics woven throughout the novel that I struggled with, but it's not really my place to weigh in on that. There also was a lot of thinly veiled fatphobia particularly the trope of associating fatness with the villain, which I wish the author had left out.

Overall, I thought it was a good book and I can see how it might be an eye opening reading experience for a lot of folks.

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