For four centuries, Logavina Street was a quiet residential road in a cosmopolitan city, home to Muslims and Christians, Serbs and Croats. Then the war tore the street apart. In this extraordinary eyewitness account, Demick weaves together the stories of ten families from Logavina Street. For three and a half years, they were often without heat, water, food or electricity. They had to evade daily sniper fire and witnessed the deaths of friends, neighbours and family. Alongside the horrific realities of living in a warzone, Demick describes the roots of the conflict and explains how neighbours and friends were turned so swiftly into deadly enemies. With the same honest, intimate reporting style which won her so many plaudits for Nothing to Envy, Barbara Demick brilliantly illuminates one of the pivotal events of the twentieth century, and describes how, twenty years later, the residents of Logavina Street are coping with its consequences.
Besieged: Life Under Fire on a Sarajevo Street
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An atmospheric description of ordinary life - and death - during the siege of Sarajevo. --Sunday Telegraph
Demick, the author of Nothing to Envy, a great book about North Korea, also spent time in Sarajevo, when the city was besieged. I d heard a lot about this event, but never quite understood it, until now. Demick brings it to life. A modern European city is cut off from the world. It sits in a gorge; snipers surround it, firing on the citizens. Mortar shells fall out of the sky ... Amazing. --Evening Standard
A vivid and often searing record of the lives of the inhabitants of a single street in a capital city under siege from Serb snipers and artillery fire. --New Statesman
Demick, the author of Nothing to Envy, a great book about North Korea, also spent time in Sarajevo, when the city was besieged. I d heard a lot about this event, but never quite understood it, until now. Demick brings it to life. A modern European city is cut off from the world. It sits in a gorge; snipers surround it, firing on the citizens. Mortar shells fall out of the sky ... Amazing. --Evening Standard
A vivid and often searing record of the lives of the inhabitants of a single street in a capital city under siege from Serb snipers and artillery fire. --New Statesman
About the Author
Barbara Demick's coverage of the war in Sarajevo won the George Polk Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Award, and she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting. She is now a foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, where she has reported from the Middle East and South Korea. In 2010 she won the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea. She is currently based in Beijing.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By J. Coulton
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
It has always been an incredible thought for me that a relatively well developed city like Sarajevo, which only ten years prior to the war with Serbian was hosting stars like Torville and Dean in the Winter Olympics, was subjected to a horrifying siege for forty four months. American journalist Barbara Demick has just published an intimate account of the events of that time, through the experiences of the residents of a single street in the Bosnian capital. And her account of exactly what it was like to live through the siege in Logavina Street brings the horrors of war to life in a way no normal historical or political account could do.
Logavina Street is six blocks long, and at the time of the siege housed mainly Muslim families, although people from all ethnic backgrounds also lived there. Demick spent a couple of years amongst the people there, and tells from firsthand experience how their homes and lives were shattered by the incessant bombardment from Serbian guns in the hills around the city. It is also a story of proud resistance, as the inhabitants developed ingenious strategies to get by, and refused to give into the Serbian bullies.
Each day was a constant battle to get the basic necessities for living, like power, water, and what food could be had, which was not much at all. Some people managed to escape, most chose to stay and fight. And some of the little details here are the most powerful, like the women who made sure they went out with their hair dyed and make up in place, before dodging the snipers' bullets. Recounting such small acts of defiance are what makes this book an extraordinary read.
It's also shocking to read again about how long the Serbian army was allowed to continue to massacre the civilians of Sarajevo, while other nations looked on. As the trial of Serb leader Radovan Karadzi' for war crimes rumbles on, the book is an important reminder of just what happened to ordinary, innocent people in Bosnia as a result of his and others' actions. It is almost impossible to put down - Demick brings the full horror to a vivid reality by relating it to the everyday experiences of the men, women and children who had to live through it.
Logavina Street is six blocks long, and at the time of the siege housed mainly Muslim families, although people from all ethnic backgrounds also lived there. Demick spent a couple of years amongst the people there, and tells from firsthand experience how their homes and lives were shattered by the incessant bombardment from Serbian guns in the hills around the city. It is also a story of proud resistance, as the inhabitants developed ingenious strategies to get by, and refused to give into the Serbian bullies.
Each day was a constant battle to get the basic necessities for living, like power, water, and what food could be had, which was not much at all. Some people managed to escape, most chose to stay and fight. And some of the little details here are the most powerful, like the women who made sure they went out with their hair dyed and make up in place, before dodging the snipers' bullets. Recounting such small acts of defiance are what makes this book an extraordinary read.
It's also shocking to read again about how long the Serbian army was allowed to continue to massacre the civilians of Sarajevo, while other nations looked on. As the trial of Serb leader Radovan Karadzi' for war crimes rumbles on, the book is an important reminder of just what happened to ordinary, innocent people in Bosnia as a result of his and others' actions. It is almost impossible to put down - Demick brings the full horror to a vivid reality by relating it to the everyday experiences of the men, women and children who had to live through it.
By riley36
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am a really big fan of the author due to her book "nothing to envy" about North Korea. This book was another well written account of life in Bosnia when the terrible conflict was going on. I would recommend the book for anyone who is looking to understand the impact the war had on families and the wider communities and how the conflict left societies view on each other. It took me days to read because I couldn't put it down. Excellent
By Marguerite
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm visiting Sarajevo this year so was interested in this account of how residents survived the seige of the early 1990s. While the author pays tribute to their courage and endurance, and clearly empathises deeply with them, she just does not bring them to life as three-dimensional characters. I had to keep looking back at the "dramatis personae" list at the beginning of the book, to remind myself who was who! Her style is very flat and too much like unimaginative reportage. If you compare this book with Katherine Boo's fully-realised portrait of a troubled community in "Behind the Beautiful Forevers", it's very disappointing.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Besieged: Life Under Fire on a Sarajevo Street
Interesting read to have this conflict told by people who had to live through the bombings and sniping and also to suffer the near starvation.
Published 9 days ago by Robbie L
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Astonishing Account of Ordinary People's Extraordinary Experiences
This is the fascinating true story of 10 families living on one street in Sarajevo, Logavina Street, during the siege. Read more
Published 1 month ago by K. Maric
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gem of a story of humanity surviving in difficulty
I loved this book. Not being a great reader of real life stories this has now sold me and I can now appreciate the gold bar that good female journalism has set. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Molly moo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another good read
Just enough facts to compliment a good story..!
This is a little more expressive than Nothing To Evny but it is an earlier book and she does explain this in the beginning of... Read more
This is a little more expressive than Nothing To Evny but it is an earlier book and she does explain this in the beginning of... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Aisling Cunningham
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bosnia
Having heard an abbreviated version on Radio 4, I was captivated by the story of Sarajevo and as I'd little real knowledge of what happened in Bosnia in the early nineties I... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Susan
4.0 out of 5 stars
Besieged;Life Under Fire on a Sarajevo Street
The book provides a vivid engaging description about the lives of everyday people in the siege of Sarajevo. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Alice
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