the cellist of sarajevo
I don't want to say too much before getting into the real purpose of this post. I do, however, need to say that i don't read many books. I have a shoddy attention span at best. There are plenty of books which occupy my shelves at home and at work but most of them have only been read half or three quarters through. I simply lose interest and find other ways to occupy my time. When I do finish a good book I'm always surprised that I don't find myself in the same situation more. Maybe I can keep the momentum this time.
This brings me to the real reason for this post. A good book...well, not just a good book. The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway was "recommended" to me by Mike Perschon. I don't know if he realized that it was a recommendation at the time. I was embarking on a road trip to vancouver soon after and thought that I would pick it up to read along the way.
It was 2/3rds done before I left for vancouver.
I don't know if I will make 'book reviews' a regular theme. I don't think I can promise that. But this book merited a shout out. So here's a far-less-than professional review of The Cellist of Sarajevo.
“Why do you suppose he’s there? Is he playing for the people who died? Or is he playing for the people who haven’t? What does he hope to accomplish?” -From The Cellist of Sarajevo-
The Cellist of Sarajevo takes place during the Siege of Sarajevo and spans about 3-4 weeks. It follows three characters who are independent of one another but who all end up witnessing The Cellist play. The Cellist is Vedran Smailovic who played at the site where several mortar shells struck and killed 22 people and wounded at least 70 others. Smailovic played Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor at 4pm for 22 days in honour of those killed. The novel follows three characters: Arrow - a female sniper who will not acknowledge her real name as it represents her former self - the person she was before the war changed her, Dragan - who lives with his sister and brother-in-law and whose wife and son were able to escape Sarajevo before the city was closed off, and Kenan - a father of two and a husband who is trying to provide day to day for his family as he journeys through the streets to fetch water for them and his wretched neighbor who he doesn't even like. as they live out their own lives in a war-torn city that they cannot leave.
You walk through each character's experiences with them as they live out their lives in a war-torn city that is no longer the city they once knew. Galloway has written brilliantly and I found myself swept into the moments where Arrow has a target in her scope or Dragan, as he waits to cross at an intersection where a sniper has fired shots. The heartache and tension is almost tangible. Each character reflects on what Sarajevo was before the war...how life was before the war and how they may or will never see that Sarajevo again.
[Dragan]
There is no way to tell which version of a lie is the truth. Now, after all that has happened, Dragan knows that the Sarajevo he remembers, the city he grew up in and was proud of and happy with, likely never existed. If he looks around him, it's hard to see what once was, or maybe was. More and more it seems like there has never been anything here but the men on the hills with guns and bombs. Somehow that doesn't seem right either, yet these are the only two options.
Hate and hope are strong themes in this novel. It is gripping and dark as war always is. I think this book is beautifully crafted and heavy in the truth category but who am I to speak - I have never been in war. I also realized how little I know about Sarajevo and the Siege that took place from April 5, 1992 to February 29, 1996 and is the longest city siege in the history of modern warfare. The Siege killed some 10,000 people, wounding up to 56,000 more. The shelling of the market that killed 22 people and the cellist who played for the 22 days in their honour is true, Galloway's characters are however, a work of fiction.
I don't read many books...but of the ones that I have read - I give this a 5 out of 5. Short and gripping - it brought me to tears at points and ends with a small sense of reconciliation. I am going to end here with one last excerpt from the book and the Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor.
.:bear:.
[Arrow]
Arrow let the slow pulse of the vibrating strings flood into her. She felt the lament raise a lump in her throat, fought back tears. She inhaled sharp and fast. Her eyes watered, and the notes ascended the scale. The men on the hills, the men in the city, herself, none of them had the right to do the things they'd done. It had never happened. It could not have happened. But she knew these notes. They had become a part of her. They told her that everything had happened exactly as she knew it had, and that nothing could be done about it. No grief or rage or noble act could undo it. But it could all have been stopped. It was possible. The men on the hills didn't have to be murderers. The men in the city didn't have to lower themselves to fight their attackers. She didn't have to be filled with hatred. The music demanded that she remember this, that she know to a certainty that the world still held the capacity for goodness. The notes were proof of that.
This brings me to the real reason for this post. A good book...well, not just a good book. The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway was "recommended" to me by Mike Perschon. I don't know if he realized that it was a recommendation at the time. I was embarking on a road trip to vancouver soon after and thought that I would pick it up to read along the way.
It was 2/3rds done before I left for vancouver.
I don't know if I will make 'book reviews' a regular theme. I don't think I can promise that. But this book merited a shout out. So here's a far-less-than professional review of The Cellist of Sarajevo.
“Why do you suppose he’s there? Is he playing for the people who died? Or is he playing for the people who haven’t? What does he hope to accomplish?” -From The Cellist of Sarajevo-The Cellist of Sarajevo takes place during the Siege of Sarajevo and spans about 3-4 weeks. It follows three characters who are independent of one another but who all end up witnessing The Cellist play. The Cellist is Vedran Smailovic who played at the site where several mortar shells struck and killed 22 people and wounded at least 70 others. Smailovic played Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor at 4pm for 22 days in honour of those killed. The novel follows three characters: Arrow - a female sniper who will not acknowledge her real name as it represents her former self - the person she was before the war changed her, Dragan - who lives with his sister and brother-in-law and whose wife and son were able to escape Sarajevo before the city was closed off, and Kenan - a father of two and a husband who is trying to provide day to day for his family as he journeys through the streets to fetch water for them and his wretched neighbor who he doesn't even like. as they live out their own lives in a war-torn city that they cannot leave.
You walk through each character's experiences with them as they live out their lives in a war-torn city that is no longer the city they once knew. Galloway has written brilliantly and I found myself swept into the moments where Arrow has a target in her scope or Dragan, as he waits to cross at an intersection where a sniper has fired shots. The heartache and tension is almost tangible. Each character reflects on what Sarajevo was before the war...how life was before the war and how they may or will never see that Sarajevo again.
[Dragan]
There is no way to tell which version of a lie is the truth. Now, after all that has happened, Dragan knows that the Sarajevo he remembers, the city he grew up in and was proud of and happy with, likely never existed. If he looks around him, it's hard to see what once was, or maybe was. More and more it seems like there has never been anything here but the men on the hills with guns and bombs. Somehow that doesn't seem right either, yet these are the only two options.
Hate and hope are strong themes in this novel. It is gripping and dark as war always is. I think this book is beautifully crafted and heavy in the truth category but who am I to speak - I have never been in war. I also realized how little I know about Sarajevo and the Siege that took place from April 5, 1992 to February 29, 1996 and is the longest city siege in the history of modern warfare. The Siege killed some 10,000 people, wounding up to 56,000 more. The shelling of the market that killed 22 people and the cellist who played for the 22 days in their honour is true, Galloway's characters are however, a work of fiction.
I don't read many books...but of the ones that I have read - I give this a 5 out of 5. Short and gripping - it brought me to tears at points and ends with a small sense of reconciliation. I am going to end here with one last excerpt from the book and the Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor.
.:bear:.
[Arrow]
Arrow let the slow pulse of the vibrating strings flood into her. She felt the lament raise a lump in her throat, fought back tears. She inhaled sharp and fast. Her eyes watered, and the notes ascended the scale. The men on the hills, the men in the city, herself, none of them had the right to do the things they'd done. It had never happened. It could not have happened. But she knew these notes. They had become a part of her. They told her that everything had happened exactly as she knew it had, and that nothing could be done about it. No grief or rage or noble act could undo it. But it could all have been stopped. It was possible. The men on the hills didn't have to be murderers. The men in the city didn't have to lower themselves to fight their attackers. She didn't have to be filled with hatred. The music demanded that she remember this, that she know to a certainty that the world still held the capacity for goodness. The notes were proof of that.
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