Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway .
This 223 page book is fiction but it relates to the actual Siege of Sarajevo. At four o'clock in the afternoon on 27 May 1992, during the siege of Sarajevo, several mortar shells struck a group of people waiting to buy bread behind the market on Vase Miskina. Twenty-two people were killed and at least seventy were wounded. For the next twenty-two days Vedran Smailovic, a renowned local cellist, played Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor at the site in honour of the dead. His actions inspired this novel, but Steven has not based the character of the cellist on the real Smailovic, who was able to leave Sarajevo in December of 1993 and now lives in Northern Ireland.
This story involves 4 characters, the cellist, Arrow - an Army counter-sniper, Dragan - a baker, and Kenan - a father going in search of fresh water. This book deals very heavily with the thoughts of all 4 characters as they come to terms with the grim reality of the siege. This is a very odd little book as it tells the tale of these 4 characters, who do not interact with each other. I found this story a shocking and challenging read. All the characters are at grave risk from sniper attack and you never know if anyone of them will get shot in the next paragraph. This fear builds steadily and you feel as though all the characters are sitting ducks and their time is running out. This is a very sad book which demonstrates just how fragile our civilization can be.
This novel shows the frailty of life and the writing style is very dark and haunting. The story is very creepy with death always lurking around the corner. It is quite a depressing read and the reader feels trapped. Like the characters you will begin to question life, civilization, the role of chance and the power that knock-on events can have. This novel also explores peoples' hopes, what a lack of power means and how people seek ways to develop some measure of control. This is why the cellist plays each day at four o'clock. It is his only means of control, he cannot fight or rebuild his city, the only power he has is his musical talent of playing the cello.
This book is Okay but when I finished reading it, I felt quite numb. It was then that I thought about the realities of urban terror and the 7/7 London bombings in 2005. I would not recommend that bloggers buy this book but if you are offered this book as a free-read then you should devote your leisure time to reading it.
This 223 page book is fiction but it relates to the actual Siege of Sarajevo. At four o'clock in the afternoon on 27 May 1992, during the siege of Sarajevo, several mortar shells struck a group of people waiting to buy bread behind the market on Vase Miskina. Twenty-two people were killed and at least seventy were wounded. For the next twenty-two days Vedran Smailovic, a renowned local cellist, played Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor at the site in honour of the dead. His actions inspired this novel, but Steven has not based the character of the cellist on the real Smailovic, who was able to leave Sarajevo in December of 1993 and now lives in Northern Ireland.
This story involves 4 characters, the cellist, Arrow - an Army counter-sniper, Dragan - a baker, and Kenan - a father going in search of fresh water. This book deals very heavily with the thoughts of all 4 characters as they come to terms with the grim reality of the siege. This is a very odd little book as it tells the tale of these 4 characters, who do not interact with each other. I found this story a shocking and challenging read. All the characters are at grave risk from sniper attack and you never know if anyone of them will get shot in the next paragraph. This fear builds steadily and you feel as though all the characters are sitting ducks and their time is running out. This is a very sad book which demonstrates just how fragile our civilization can be.
This novel shows the frailty of life and the writing style is very dark and haunting. The story is very creepy with death always lurking around the corner. It is quite a depressing read and the reader feels trapped. Like the characters you will begin to question life, civilization, the role of chance and the power that knock-on events can have. This novel also explores peoples' hopes, what a lack of power means and how people seek ways to develop some measure of control. This is why the cellist plays each day at four o'clock. It is his only means of control, he cannot fight or rebuild his city, the only power he has is his musical talent of playing the cello.
This book is Okay but when I finished reading it, I felt quite numb. It was then that I thought about the realities of urban terror and the 7/7 London bombings in 2005. I would not recommend that bloggers buy this book but if you are offered this book as a free-read then you should devote your leisure time to reading it.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]