Reviews with content warning for Slavery - The Violin Conspiracy

Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

105 reviews

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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agemme10's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

2.5

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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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anabak's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

3.0

the suspense of the theft really disappoints especially in the end.

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honeywaffles's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

An intriguing story. Sometimes the characterization of the foibles the protagonist encountered seemed cartoonishly villain. The racism was quite overt. I think it would have been interesting to unpack more of the micro aggressions he experienced, but I also admire his perseverance to overcome them and defy expectations. The protagonist’s dedication to his craft and effort to open doors for other musicians, especially POC, was inspiring. The mystery about who stole the violin seemed pretty obvious throughout the book, to the point of distraction about why that wasn’t investigated.

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passionatereader78's review against another edition

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emotional 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? Yes

3.5

This book is an emotional read. It's so sad. Ray is a great violinist! His mother hates that he plays and wants money. He faces racism at every turn. The only light is his grandmother. She tells a story about her grandfather playing a fiddle like Ray plays the Violin. She loves hearing Ray play. She gives Ray the fiddle and asks him to use that as his instrument. When Ray has the instrument cleaned and appraised he finds out it is a rare Violin worth millions. Ray wants to honor his grandmother and great grandfather and play the instrument. Everyone else has other ideas.

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disguisedposer's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious sad 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

5.0

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