I read The Violin Conspiracy in one sitting, pulled along by the events and the emotional drama. The book follows Rayquan “Ray” McMillian, a vitruoso violinist from childhood through his entry into the world-famous Tchaikovsky musical competition in Moscow. Shortly before he’s due to compete, his violin is stolen. The violin belonged to his great-grandfather and had been stored in his grandmother’s attic for ages. When Ray has the instrument cleaned, he learns it is a Stradivarius worth $10 million. This debut novel, a combination of a bildungsroman and a heist novel, also reveals the author’s love of music and the violin.
This is a coming of age story about a young black man trying to break into the nearly all-white world of concert musicians. He struggles against what seem to be unsurmountable odds with a family that thinks he should work at Popeye’s chicken rather than play the violin and, once the violin is found to be valuable, they all want an piece of the pie. Ray also faces both overt and covert racism as people reveal their ignorance and racist selves when they assume he should only play Gershwin or jazz or that he’s the help rather than a soloist. Many of Ray’s experiences were based on those of the author, Brendan Slocumb, which amplifies their meaning. As the mother of a young black male, I can confirm that the sort of racism that Ray confronts still exists, and I am pleased that Slocumb wrote these incidents, particularly the slavery endured by Ray’s family, honestly. The author’s notes at the end of the book were as affecting and inspiring as the book itself.
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