The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

 

This will probably not be a very popular opinion, but it is mine, so...

This book was just kinda Meh for me.  Predictable ending even though the subject matter (a priceless Stradivarius violin goes missing under questionable ownership) was original.  The insight into the life of a professional violinist was definitely different, but overall the story and the ending just was a little boring.  It is set in the city where I live, so that part was fun.  And the author plays the violin, so he knows of what he writes.

Ray, an African American musician, owns the beat up old violin his grandmother gave him.  He gets it refurbished, and discovers he actually owns a Stradivarius.  He plays all over the world - he is GOOD and the violin makes him GREAT in his mind - and then he enters the world's top competition of violin players right before the violin is stolen from him in his hotel room.  The white family who originally owned the violin have stated that their ancestor would have never just given this violin to his favorite slave, Ray's great-grandfather, who played it for his master.  And so a fight for ownership rights is launched. And not only between the black and white families, but within Ray's own family too.  They want him to sell it and split the money with the extended family.  They don't care what Ray wants, or how that violin connects him to his beloved grandmother; they just want the money.

There is a lot here about the life of a musician (similar to the singular focus of the single sport athlete in last week's review!) and all the practice, practice, practice and pressure, pressure, pressure, especially for a black musician.  He experiences devastating racism after being hired to play at a wedding but turned away at the door because they only see a black man who is not welcomed.  Ray does have a manager that really understands and helps him, and a devoted girlfriend, but his family is less that supportive unless he is sending them money or will ever sell that silly violin that is worth MILLIONS.    I just found his family to be flat out awful.  Poor Ray.

Maybe it was just too much for me.  The story was depressing, nothing went right for Ray, he was bullied and looked down upon by white people and his own family too.  

This author has a second book that has just been released which is about a composer/music historian, and I do plan to read his second book.  I hear it is better than the first one, and I know lots of people who really liked The Violin Conspiracy just fine, it just was not really for me.  Meh.

BONUS:

So remember back in January when I said I had already read my Favorite Book of the Year, and it was only January but I knew it would be my favorite anyway?

That book, Demon Copperhead, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this week.

Barbara Kingsolver was nominated once before in 1998 for The Poisonwood Bible, but did not win.  This year she and her book Demon Copperhead share the honor with another book (Trust by Hernan Diaz).  You can find my review here:  Rawles' Reads : Search results for demon (rawlesreads.blogspot.com)

Now, go read the book.