Dr. Barb’s Book Byts

Brendan Slocumb – Violin Conspiracy

This story centers around a black musician who plays the violin. The opening hook of the story is that his famous violin worth millions of dollars is stolen right before a major competition. The story follows his beginning interest in learning the instrument using only the free violins available by the public school system through his very successful career.

With the help of flashbacks, the author describes the musician’s challenges with race bias as he grows up and tries to get into the musical field. In addition, the story retells the challenges of being raised in a large family of color, and their concerns with being successful vs. being accepted in society.

Part of the story, focuses on the main character being given an old violin that his great-grandfather had played. The violin has been hidden for years and no one else in the family showed interest in it until it was discovered to be worth millions. The research into the history of the violin brings out the challenges between slaves and masters during the Civil War. This brings up a conflict about who owns the violin, the descendants of the slave owners or the descendants of the slaves.

And thus, solving the theft of the multi-million dollar violin has several suspects throughout the story, keeping the reader engaged.

Overall, the book was enjoyable, and very engaging. Our book club discussion felt that it would have been even more enjoyable by musicians who would understand and appreciate the musical numbers that were constantly being practiced and played by the main character.

This book would be a great choice to read during Black History Month as it highlights someone who faced the bias yet succeeded and became successful despite it. The book would encourage discussions about race relations and the expectations of those on both sides of the issue.

Feel free to share your thoughts on the book in the comments below. Our book club would love to hear your feedback!

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