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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
Beautiful story/mystery of an amazing black violinist who is not taken seriously for most of his life and how a special instrument comes into his life and is more special than he knows.
Well written and wonderfully read (audio). Keeps you engaged in a great plot throughout and points out the struggle of POC making it in roles they are assumed not to be good at. Highly recommend.
This was some great literature. I found the interesting juxtaposition of the white family’s position on property particularly… spot on
informative
slow-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
This is the polemical story of Ray and his struggle with racism in music. There are a number of fantastical plot points that require a suspension of disbelief: a Stradivarius violin makes it 50 years mouldering in a Georgia attic, a person, who, after playing a school violin in High School suddenly is concertizing with major orchestras after 4 years at a non-music centered University; a professor can just suspend her job and become Ray's agent to get him top-playing gigs; the Mozart Concerto is an hour long piece (it's not. It's about 35 minutes long.)
It's a shame, because there is a story to be told about privilege in the music world. This is just too blunt and naive to make the plot believeable.
The plot: a boy is gifted a violin from his grandmother that turns out to be a Strad. He feels imposter syndrome, faces racism, the Strad is stolen, he competes in a competition. And then goes on to be a world class violinist. Oh yeah, and the recovery of the violin feels like a complete after-thought.
The pace was slow and s few times I considered not finishing. The writing is accomplished.
It's a shame, because there is a story to be told about privilege in the music world. This is just too blunt and naive to make the plot believeable.
The plot: a boy is gifted a violin from his grandmother that turns out to be a Strad. He feels imposter syndrome, faces racism, the Strad is stolen, he competes in a competition. And then goes on to be a world class violinist. Oh yeah, and the recovery of the violin feels like a complete after-thought.
The pace was slow and s few times I considered not finishing. The writing is accomplished.
Listened to the audio- I enjoyed the music in the audio, added to the overall experience.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
2nd good violin book I’ve read this year. They’re very different but Light From Uncommon Stars is also excellent!
This one is a true page-turner. It revolves around the mystery of a stolen violin. What makes it stand out is the author’s love for the music and the well-thought-out story of Ray, a Black violinist. The story looks at his past, the cut-throat world of classical music, and the racism he faced on his way to the top. It also showed how delicate family ties are when money (BIG MONEY) enters the game.
I liked how Ray's confidence grew with his musical ability, but he remained humble. The commentary on prejudice and systemic abuse isn’t always subtle, but why would it be?
The Violin Conspiracy is a great mix of mystery, thriller, coming-of-age drama, and social commentary. I had a lot of fun listening to it.
I liked how Ray's confidence grew with his musical ability, but he remained humble. The commentary on prejudice and systemic abuse isn’t always subtle, but why would it be?
The Violin Conspiracy is a great mix of mystery, thriller, coming-of-age drama, and social commentary. I had a lot of fun listening to it.
I loved how music and playing an instrument is described in this book. But I do feel that once that experience was described it didn’t need to be done over and over again. It began to feel repetitive and that took away from the narrative.
The story put the reader into the mind of being a black man in America and it does it so well I felt like I was in the moment with the character. It did feel as though the entirety of white characters were awful racists - it made each interaction seem predictable and not believable. Racism is a huge problem in America, especially the structural racism so ingrained in the American educational systems, but it made the white characters feel like caricatures and not real people.
Minus 1 star because I figured out who stole the violin in the first 50 pages. This made the thriller aspect nonexistent.
On the whole a good debut novel.
The story put the reader into the mind of being a black man in America and it does it so well I felt like I was in the moment with the character. It did feel as though the entirety of white characters were awful racists - it made each interaction seem predictable and not believable. Racism is a huge problem in America, especially the structural racism so ingrained in the American educational systems, but it made the white characters feel like caricatures and not real people.
Minus 1 star because I figured out who stole the violin in the first 50 pages. This made the thriller aspect nonexistent.
On the whole a good debut novel.