The Cellist of Sarajevo
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"'Though the setting is the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s, this gripping novel transcends time and place. It is a universal story, and a testimony to the struggle to find meaning, grace, and humanity, even amid the most unimaginable horrors.' Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner * 'A grand and powerful novel about how people retain or reclaim their humanity when they are under extreme duress...While reading The Cellist of Sarajevo you are imaginatively there, in Sarajevo, as the mortar shells are falling and snipers are seeking to kill you as you cross a street. Your mind's eye sees, your moral sense is outraged: your full humanity is being exercised.' Yann Martel * 'Galloway's style is sparse, pared down; his prose has the deceptive simplicity of a short story. The work of an expert, The Cellist of Sarajevo is a controlled and subtle piece of craftsmanship.' - Observer * 'Startlingly good... With prose as unsentimental and deadly as gunfire, Galloway superbly captures the tense existence of a city under siege where daily tasks become a gamble between life and death, yet where a single note of music can exert a power equal to any bomb or bullet.' - Metro"
Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns
`Though the setting is the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s, this gripping novel transcends time and place. It is a universal story, and a testimony to the struggle to find meaning, grace, and humanity, even amid the most unimaginable horrors.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
105 of 107 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The cello, with its wonderfully rich and mellow tones, has to be one of my favourite instruments, so I was immediately drawn to this book. For a long time, though, I resisted reading it, fearing that war-torn Sarajevo would be a harrowing and morbid subject. Instead the book provided a riveting insight into the daily struggles of ordinary people caught up in a situation over which they have no control.
I hadn't realised until I read the author's Afterword that the idea for the story, itself entirely fictional, came from a true-life situation. A cellist sits at the same spot in a bombed street at the same time every day for 22 days and plays Albinoni's haunting Adagio in honour of the 22 people killed there by mortar shells while waiting to buy bread. It's a dangerous memorial - the cellist is, literally, a sitting target for snipers.
The book isn't about the cellist himself, though. It's about the inspiration and hope his music conveys to people caught up in a daily struggle to live and stay alive, as well as the tragic waste that inevitably comes with war. In many ways, this is less a novel, more a snapshot of the lives of three individuals during those 22 days. As they watch their beloved city crumble around them, services we take for granted like electricity and running water become so unreliable as to exist only in the memory, and obtaining food and fresh water becomes a matter of life and death.
Throughout the book the novelist concentrates on Kenan's efforts to carry sufficient water to last a week, both for his family and for an irascible old woman who lives downstairs and to whom he feels an obligation even though he doesn't like her. In the case of Dragan, an older man who managed to get his wife and son to Italy before the siege began, the author details his efforts to reach the bakery where he has worked for forty years. He counts himself lucky to have a job in a city where so many are unemployed, and although not paid in cash, which is virtually worthless, he receives his wages in the form of bread to take home. Lastly there is Arrow, an outstanding counter-sniper tasked with keeping the cellist alive, and in many ways her story is the most compelling.
A little of the past lives of the characters is revealed through occasional flashbacks, as they mourn the lives they used to live, when the city was `normal' and before the siege became the new normality.
For some, the book may seem fragmented as it switches from one character to the next but I didn't find it so. The book is well written, and the use of the present tense conveys a sense of immediacy, of being there with the characters, a part of their stories. To say I enjoyed reading it sounds inappropriate for such a subject, but I couldn't think of another verb that was any better. I could certainly have gone on reading about these people for much longer, which must be the ultimate test of a good read.
I hadn't realised until I read the author's Afterword that the idea for the story, itself entirely fictional, came from a true-life situation. A cellist sits at the same spot in a bombed street at the same time every day for 22 days and plays Albinoni's haunting Adagio in honour of the 22 people killed there by mortar shells while waiting to buy bread. It's a dangerous memorial - the cellist is, literally, a sitting target for snipers.
The book isn't about the cellist himself, though. It's about the inspiration and hope his music conveys to people caught up in a daily struggle to live and stay alive, as well as the tragic waste that inevitably comes with war. In many ways, this is less a novel, more a snapshot of the lives of three individuals during those 22 days. As they watch their beloved city crumble around them, services we take for granted like electricity and running water become so unreliable as to exist only in the memory, and obtaining food and fresh water becomes a matter of life and death.
Throughout the book the novelist concentrates on Kenan's efforts to carry sufficient water to last a week, both for his family and for an irascible old woman who lives downstairs and to whom he feels an obligation even though he doesn't like her. In the case of Dragan, an older man who managed to get his wife and son to Italy before the siege began, the author details his efforts to reach the bakery where he has worked for forty years. He counts himself lucky to have a job in a city where so many are unemployed, and although not paid in cash, which is virtually worthless, he receives his wages in the form of bread to take home. Lastly there is Arrow, an outstanding counter-sniper tasked with keeping the cellist alive, and in many ways her story is the most compelling.
A little of the past lives of the characters is revealed through occasional flashbacks, as they mourn the lives they used to live, when the city was `normal' and before the siege became the new normality.
For some, the book may seem fragmented as it switches from one character to the next but I didn't find it so. The book is well written, and the use of the present tense conveys a sense of immediacy, of being there with the characters, a part of their stories. To say I enjoyed reading it sounds inappropriate for such a subject, but I couldn't think of another verb that was any better. I could certainly have gone on reading about these people for much longer, which must be the ultimate test of a good read.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I think the hype around this book hasn't done it many favours - I was expecting something big and profound, which turns out is not what this book delivers. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is certainly understated and `quiet' if you get my meaning. Perhaps the author chose this tone because he is writing about normal people who are trying to carry on with their normal life as their city is under siege. They are easy to identify with, which brings their actions and behaviour very close to your own understanding - There are few heroic actions that do not ring true, and the omnipresent narration lets us know what they are thinking, thus showing us their sometimes painful weaknesses. It is a sensitive story very much focussed on the internal world of a few of the citizens of Sarajevo.
But I was expecting to be moved more than I was. I think the narration was too simple to wake any real emotion in me. The Cellist makes an important gesture, but it isn't described with enough size or intensity. I found the same with Arrow, the female sniper - Her story could have been so involving and intense, but it didn't quite get there. There is no doubt that Steven Galloway has given serious thought to how the human psychology functions under such terrible conditions, and has researched his topic thoroughly. I was just expecting a little more impact, because undoubtedly his topic has plenty of scope for it. He's just not found it.
I can't help wondering whether this book should have been written by someone who was there. I can remember the siege of Sarajevo, it is so recent that the characters he describes could easily be alive today. It seems such a wasted opportunity when the impact is so obviously missing - The story has all the necessary elements to make this book harrowing, moving, emotional and beautiful, and someone who was there at the time would be able to do it. I found it even more frustrating because a couple of times he writes beautifully - His description of a bomb falling at the very beginning took my breath away, for example. But most of it stayed unengaging and bland.
But I was expecting to be moved more than I was. I think the narration was too simple to wake any real emotion in me. The Cellist makes an important gesture, but it isn't described with enough size or intensity. I found the same with Arrow, the female sniper - Her story could have been so involving and intense, but it didn't quite get there. There is no doubt that Steven Galloway has given serious thought to how the human psychology functions under such terrible conditions, and has researched his topic thoroughly. I was just expecting a little more impact, because undoubtedly his topic has plenty of scope for it. He's just not found it.
I can't help wondering whether this book should have been written by someone who was there. I can remember the siege of Sarajevo, it is so recent that the characters he describes could easily be alive today. It seems such a wasted opportunity when the impact is so obviously missing - The story has all the necessary elements to make this book harrowing, moving, emotional and beautiful, and someone who was there at the time would be able to do it. I found it even more frustrating because a couple of times he writes beautifully - His description of a bomb falling at the very beginning took my breath away, for example. But most of it stayed unengaging and bland.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book as it was a Richard and Judy read (I think!). When it was delivered I thought "I'll never get round to reading that, it is not my type of book at all" and indeed it did sit on the shelf for quite sometime. However, I am so glad that I picked it up and gave it a chance. It is written beautifully and your heart does little leaps and jumps here and there. I am disappointed that I was narrow minded and left this book for so long. I would recommend this to anyone who likes to be captivated and engrossed in their reading as this book will certainly do this.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
a terrifying insight
The Cellist of Sarajevo provides the reader with a terrifying insight into the lives and deaths of the citizens of Sarajevo during the siege of that city during the Bosnian war.
Published 1 day ago by Ken Bowler
Purports to realism but doesn't deliver
I couldn't stand this book and was misled by the blurb and cover quotes to think that it would be `grand and powerful', `accomplished and gripping', `lyrical'. Read more
Published 3 months ago by secret squirrel
Beautifully observant portrait of human resilience
The Cellist of Sarajevo is a short, tightly-written novel set during the long period in which Sarajevo was under siege during the Bosnian war. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Joanne Sheppard
Beautiful Book
I loved this book. It does make you think about humanity. It's not a perfect book but it has it's depth and I can recommend it to everybody.
Published 6 months ago by Katarina
A moving re-living of Sarajevo
SAFE READING - ONLY SLIGHT SPOILER
"He wonders if the men on the hill can see him. He imagines it's possible ... He doesn't know why some people die and others don't. Read more
"He wonders if the men on the hill can see him. He imagines it's possible ... He doesn't know why some people die and others don't. Read more
Published 9 months ago by RR Waller
Extremely disappointing
The attractive title and synopsis whetted my appetite and the good reviews obviously heightened my expectation. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Flembo
Useful for school?
In this book we meet three characters living in beseiged Sarajevo, and we do not envy them.I would suggest that this novel would be most useful as background reading for someone at... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mrs. M. Connolly
A cracking read
Have just finished this book and have to say it really is a cracking read. The author manages to create a sense of place that was Sarajevo. Read more
Published 11 months ago by R. Simmonds
Didn't capture me - sorry!
hmm, I bought the book after reading the recommendations. Maybe it's my mindset at the moment, but is anyone else finding it "bitty"? Read more
Published 12 months ago by The Dragonfly
Lukewarm
This is going to sound harsh but there was a sombre tone that seemed to be hammering home the message that war sucks and isn't a good thing. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mrs. P. V. Denham
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