Symphony of Secrets

fred is so

Brendan Slocumb has shown that he’s the real deal with his second novel; “The Violin Conspiracy” wasn’t a one-hit wonder. Slocumb weaves his intricate knowledge of music into a compelling tale of the ouvre of a famous (fictitious) composer’s origin and development. Written from the perspective of a Black musician, which Slocumb is, the tale is told with great pathos. Slocumb’s passion for music and the Black community resonate throughout this book. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I very much enjoyed “The Violin Conspiracy,” but this book was a big let down for me. While the book engages with important ideas and themes like racism and whitewashing of history and so on, I found that it didn't hold together well as a novel. One issue I had that was probably unique to me is that I am far too close to much of the subject matter. As a musician married to an archivist, the tiniest flaws in accuracy stuck out to me (such as using gloves to handle historical paper documents). Of course, each individual flaw is hardly a deal breaker, but taken in aggregate, I felt that they undermined the characters and the story.

Generally speaking, I found many of the characters broad and flat, almost archetypical. Perhaps the worst of all is Josephine herself, who I felt very much lined up with the Autistic Savant trope/stereotype. At the same time, I found that her synesthetic descriptions of music just didn't read as something I could imagine any actual musician saying or doing. Maybe it's an unfair critique, but it just felt inauthentic to me.

I think that's what most of my reaction to this book boils down to. The Violin Conspiracy was clearly based on Slocumb's own experiences as a black musician in the modern era, at least in part. As a result, it came across as more authentic to me. Symphony of Secrets just felt more contrived to me in order to serve the message Slocumb was trying to get across.