Book Review: The Cellist of Sarajevo

Book Review: The Cellist of Sarajevo
By Steven Galloway

I really enjoyed this story. It is written by a Canadian and the story is set in Sarajevo during the city’s siege in the 1990s. What I liked the most was how it focused right in on three characters and how during the span of one month (or one day in some cases), they changed. You could watch it happen. You could see it, hear it. The motivators, everything. Yes, we will not let them turn us into monsters of hate. They will not change us into fearful cowards. This is our city. We are still human. We have choice on how we will perceive it.

I know very little of the war that occurred in Sarajevo. It shames me a bit to admit it, but the crux of the matter is this: I don’t like listening to the news. I don’t like bad news, crimes against humanity or hearing about constant harm and injury being brought against innocent people. Every day. This is not my world. This is not how I want to view humanity and the world. And yes, at times, it makes me a bit naive and closed off. At the same time, you can’t allow the crimes of the world into your heart. My shoulders aren’t wide enough for the weight of the world.

Despite knowing little of what went on in Sarajevo and my dislike for heavy reality, this story fascinated me. As Martel Yann says, it is a book that expands stillness. And for me, it did. The moments I spent with this book, I slipped into the  world created by Galloway. A world where electricity working in your still unshelled (unbombed) apartment was cause for celebration. Fresh water and food is hard to come by. Nothing is taken for granted. You are trapped. You cannot escape the city. Snipers fire at you when you cross the street.

It sounds heavy, but somehow this book is not. You slide into the human element. You feel the weight on these people, yet they still have choice. (Very slim, but it’s choice.) You keep flipping the pages, curious. It draws you in. It is a book that will stay with you, yet doesn’t weigh heavy on your heart. And that is a rare talent. A gift. To gain that insight, but not have it weigh so heavy that you cannot carry on reading.

The three characters in this book are Arrow, a female sniper sent to protect a cellist who plays outside a bombed bakery for 22 days to honour the 22 people who were killed waiting in line to buy bread, Kenan, a father of two and husband who makes a day long trek twice a week to get fresh water for his family and neighbour despite the associated risks, and Dragan, a husband and father who sent his family from the city when the war started and has stayed behind.

This book was chosen by Yann Martel as a book for Stephen Harper, Canada’s Prime Minister, as part of his What Is Stephen Harper Reading initiative to promote the arts.

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