The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway

The Siege of Sarajevo lasted from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during with time the Army of Republika Srpska encircled Sarajevo in its surrounding hills and bombarded the city with artillery and sniper fire. A total of 13,952 people were killed during the siege, including 5,434 civilians. During the siege cellist Vedran Smailovic played Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor in ruined buildings around the city.

These are the events that inspired this book. Vedran Smailovic is not named in the book and in fact, when he found out about the book he was deeply upset and felt that his story and likeness were stolen from him and asked for remuneration from Steven Galloway. This little wrinkle left a bit of a sour taste for me after finishing what I thought was otherwise a brilliant book. 

The Cellist of Sarajevo begins with the cellist's decision to play at the site of a bombed-out market place for 22 days to honor the 22 people killed there. The story then breaks off from the unnamed cellist and follows three characters - Arrow, a sniper; Kenan, a father going to fetch water; and Dragan, a brother going to get bread. 

Arrow is a city defender and her story spans a couple weeks in the time it takes to detail Kenan and Dragan's single day. I found this an interesting editorial choice, but decided I ultimately liked it. For the civilians, Kenan and Dragan, even the mundane tasks take a very long time and only Arrow, who can take action and move through the city with more confidence with a weapon at her side, time is under her control. 

The book really captures the banality of evil and of war - situations where killing is random and undignified. Kenan's arduous task of gathering water from one of the only sources left, across the river at the brewery, becomes an odyssey through which he is forced to confront the very heart of his humanity. The same goes for Dragan, who is heading to the bakery where he works on his day off in order to secure the one loaf of bread he provides to his sister and her family every day. As he waits to cross an intersection he discovers it has become targeted by a sniper and he is forced to a deeper understanding of his own cowardice and the extent to which he will allow the war to change him. 

Arrow operates on her own terms with a loose affiliation with the army. As a sniper, she is given the task of protecting the cellist. She can sense her priorities shifting and her values disintegrating and has to make a decision about what to do. 

In the end, the book seems a little contrived as all three characters come to more or less the same conviction about whether or not they will allow the war to change their true character. In that respect the book reveals itself as written by an idealistic outsider rather than someone intimately familiar with the stark realities and necessities of war.

4/5 Stars.