The Violin Conspiracy, by Brendan Slocumb
35/60 | Started 05.22.24 • Finished 05.31.24 | 3 stars
This month's book club was just another middle of the road for me. I enjoyed reading about Ray's family and upbringing, albeit dysfunctional, and especially his tender relationship with his grandmother. The mystery aspect of the book was also sufficiently attention-grabbing, though I honestly didn't care about it as much as everything going on around it as the book went on. Ray's descriptions of musical pieces had me wanting to look all of them up and make a playlist, just so I could try to experience the same feelings about them that he described.
However, I found the author's inclusion of racism to be extremely overdone. Slocumb reveals in the afterword that he personally experienced each scenario described in the book, which definitely made me pause. But rather than having a more nuanced approach, Slocumb became more and more heavy-handed as the book went on, leaving a sour taste that lingered after I finished reading. I'd probably recommend this one to the right reader.
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