Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - A Conspiração Do Violino

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Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

A Conspiração Do Violino by Brendan Slocumb

138 reviews

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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dominiq_ec's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I LOVED this book, despite how re-traumatizing it is to read as a Black person. On that front, i strongly recommend readers be careful with that book.

Also, the only reason it’s not getting 5 stars is because it uses the term/slur “g*psy” a handful of times. I’m unsure if this is an acceptable term to use when describing classical music and/or its methods, but because it was never explained in-depth, it reflected poorly on the author and publishing company

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xoxo__adr's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

Great book, excellent writing! I really enjoyed the story. I did, however, have to deduct a star for describing a woman’s body as “violin-shaped.” I just…absolutely hated that. Thanks!

⚠️‼️SPOILER AHEAD‼️⚠️

It was so obvious that Nicole was the one who stole his violin. Like painfully obvious from the moment she was introduced. The story is still enjoyable though.

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jmross10's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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 am not generally a thriller reader given the genres most common tropes. I stumbled on this book when looking for one that didn’t revolve around murder and was instantly hooked by the premise.

Slocumb did a great job of bringing his passion for music to the page and making that love understandable not only to people who share it but also to those who might be experiencing it through his/Ray’s eyes for the first time.

Across the pages of this book readers are confronted with unconditional love, respect, and dedication but also the brutal honesty of what it is to be black, well off, and accomplished. Slocumb doesn’t shy away from Ray’s struggles and it gives the readers a point of view they may never have considered or could never have the personal experience to understand.

It was real without feeling so over the top that it came across as comical or unbelievable. The pacing was good and I like the way the timeline was rearranged to tell the story in a more fitting way. I also appreciated that the mystery wasn’t obvious from page one.

An all around excellent book. A really good read for those who enjoy contemporary stories, books about music or musicians, and/or sociopolitical conversations. There’s plenty to unpack from beginning to end.

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xoxo__adr's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

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thissagreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I give this book a 2.5/5 for concept but it was NOT a thriller. Mysterious yes, but nothing close to a thriller like I thought. I liked getting to know the world of a professional violinist and that the main character -Ray- was so in love with classical music. That being said, I think the book moved a bit too slow for me, and I wanted to see Ray thrive and put up some actual boundaries with his family. But he never did, and that was incredibly frustrating. It also felt like we learned a lot about his past and upbringing (including the event that led to the missing violin) but it didn’t seem like Ray had much personality. Honesty he was stiff, tense and boring in my opinion, and the way Ray handled all the hatred from his family, and racism from white people was mostly frustrating. Yes there were some moments that he definitely did a great job handling, but as a black person myself who’s been dealing with racism and classism my entire life, I think his lack of personality and (in my opinion) how he navigated bigots and racists, was lackluster. For me, it is why the booked seemed to drag on longer than it needed. Lastly: finding out the “why” behind his violin being stolen. It was disappointingly rushed and brushed over. All that time the writer talked about Ray’s past, but he didn’t flesh out the ending enough!? So frustrating. Not to mention, as the reader, I pretty much assumed who it was fairly quickly so that was a bummer.

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ladyzbyrd's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

4.0

This was a fun and emotional read. I was so angry and sad the whole way through, scattered with bits of joy, only to be turned to rage again and again. What a way to mess with a reader’s heart and still come out of the book and say yes, this was an amazing read!

There were definitely some parts that’s defy realism when it comes to procedures in various fields that made certain scenes difficult to believe, and I had to set that aside. Reading this slower on my second go around with a group, I ended up in several rabbit holes, mostly due to the above-mentioned procedures in different scenes.

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