The Violin Conspiracy
Ratings43
Average rating4
15
Ratings43
Average rating4
A Good Morning America GMA Book Club Pick! - A riveting page-turner about a Black classical musician's desperate quest to recover his lost violin on the eve of the most prestigious musical competition in the world "[A] galvanizing blend of thriller, coming-of-age drama, and probing portrait of racism ... This flawless debut will do for classical music what The Queen's Gambit did for chess." --Booklist Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian's life is already mapped out. If he's lucky, he'll get a job at the hospital cafeteria. If he's extra lucky, he'll earn more than minimum wage. But Ray has a gift and a dream--he's determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way. Not his mother, who wants him to stop making such a racket; not the fact that he can't afford a violin suitable to his talents; not even the racism inherent in the world of classical music. When he discovers that his great-great-grandfather's beat-up old fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, all his dreams suddenly seem within reach. Together, Ray and his violin take the world by storm. But on the eve of the renowned and cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition--the Olympics of classical music--the violin is stolen, a ransom note for five million dollars left in its place. Ray will have to piece together the clues to recover his treasured Strad ... before it's too late. With the descendants of the man who once enslaved Ray's great-great-grandfather asserting that the instrument is rightfully theirs, and with his family staking their own claim, Ray doesn't know who he can trust--or whether he will ever see his beloved violin again.
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I was hoping that this was more of a mystery, but it isn't. It is more of coming of age and dealing with awful people. It starts with a mystery and then moves backward in time to see all the ways that Ray overcame horrible family members and racist people trying to keep him down. I would probably have enjoyed it more if I had known what to expect from the beginning.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)
This wasn't super heavy on the mystery but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It was quick paced and easy to read. I finished it in one sitting.
I hated so many of the characters in this book, but I was engaged while reading through. Even though the circumstances were consistently frustrating, I needed to know what would happen next. I loved Grandma Nora and I wish I could hear Ray play. I found myself looking up and listening to the pieces he was playing as I was reading along. This is the kind of story that makes me feel like you really can't trust anyone and it didn't help when Ray would make reckless decisions to investigate the missing violin himself. I don't think that any of the people Ray encountered, with like two or three exceptions, deserved respect. I understand that the world as a whole thinks that being “sweet” and respectful to all others is important above all else, but I do not agree. People who are terrible to you do not deserve respect, nor the privilege to engage with you even if they are family. I wish the characterizations went deeper and that there was more nuance in the interactions the main character encountered with both his family and all of the racist people along the way. Every interaction was extreme and didn't help with how shallow all of the characters came across. I feel like I'm begging for nuance in every mystery review though...I liked it overall.
