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A review by zeryth
Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
3.75
This was definitely an easy-to-read page-turner about a Columbia-educated university professor of music tasked with bringing to life Red, a lost and just recovered highly anticipated opera of Delany, who was the most popular and prolific American composer who died tragically to suicide. He tag teams with Ebony, a cybersecurity expert to track down the background of what was going on with Delany at the time to understand how to decode/transcribe the opera from the damaged music sheets as authentic to the original as possible. And through this exploration they discover, ofc, a history of musical genius, murder, and mayhem.
I love how easy it was to root for the 2 main leads in the story. And in the 1st half of the book, it was lovely to see the portrayal of minorities (2 black people) in a light of excellence, rather than of just solely existing to point out oppression and victimization. Ebony's personality was a riot.
Drawbacks to the story is that Slocumb really exaggerated the racism of the villains in the latter half. I can forgive the extreme overt racism detailed portrayed in the storyline of the early 20th century, however when we got to the present-day storyline, where they're mentioning modern likes such as Bezos and Musk, it got way too unidemensional in the story's portrayal of how racism and how board of directors power plays take place today. Seriously, the villains in present day started spewing stuff like don't mess with me, the likes of you should be intimidated by my power, boy. Mustache twirling. Like what? I nearly took off another star because of it, but abstained, because even with such exaggerated portrayals, the story itself can stand on its own as an enjoyable, fast-paced story.
I'm trying to diversify my reading this year while also reading less (i.e. probably not 132 books like last year), and can say I'm glad this is in my "read" pile.
I love how easy it was to root for the 2 main leads in the story. And in the 1st half of the book, it was lovely to see the portrayal of minorities (2 black people) in a light of excellence, rather than of just solely existing to point out oppression and victimization. Ebony's personality was a riot.
Drawbacks to the story is that Slocumb really exaggerated the racism of the villains in the latter half. I can forgive the extreme overt racism detailed portrayed in the storyline of the early 20th century, however when we got to the present-day storyline, where they're mentioning modern likes such as Bezos and Musk, it got way too unidemensional in the story's portrayal of how racism and how board of directors power plays take place today. Seriously, the villains in present day started spewing stuff like don't mess with me, the likes of you should be intimidated by my power, boy. Mustache twirling. Like what? I nearly took off another star because of it, but abstained, because even with such exaggerated portrayals, the story itself can stand on its own as an enjoyable, fast-paced story.
I'm trying to diversify my reading this year while also reading less (i.e. probably not 132 books like last year), and can say I'm glad this is in my "read" pile.