| The Cellist of Sarajevo |  | Author: Steven Galloway
Publisher: Vintage Canada
Category: Book
List Price: CDN$ 21.00
Buy New: CDN$ 15.16
as of 9/2/2010 20:37 PDT details
You Save: CDN$ 5.84 (28%)
New (10) Used (7) from CDN$ 7.99
Seller: Amazon.ca
Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 1,597
Media: Paperback
Edition: 6th
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0307397041
EAN: 9780307397041
ASIN: 0307397041
Publication Date: February 12, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
 `A target expands in size, brought into focus by time and velocity. June 8, 2010
J. Cameron-Smith (ACT, Australia)
` There is a moment before impact that is the last instant of things as they are. Then the visible world explodes.'
The inspiration for this novel is described in an afterword: at 4pm on 27 May 1992, not long after the beginning of the Siege of Sarajevo, a mortar shell struck a queue outside a bakery. Twenty two people were killed, and at least seventy were wounded. For the next twenty two days, a Sarajevo cellist played a piece (identified as Albinoni's Adagio in G minor) at 4pm each day to commemorate the victims. The cellist's heroic gesture of humanity is a mark of respect, and of civilization, which is in stark contrast to the brutal reality being endured in Sarajevo and provides both backdrop and timeframe for the three strands of the narrative.
We accompany Kenan and Dragan in their separate journeys across the dangerous city in search of water and food. Kenan must take a long and hazardous trip to collect water for his family and also for an elderly woman in his apartment block. Dragan works in a bakery where he is paid in bread. His journey is to that bakery for food.
Both journeys are difficult: snipers in the hills and on the rooftops make open spaces dangerous and ruined buildings, roads and bridges pose their own challenges. As they move cautiously towards their goals, each remembers Sarajevo as it once was: a pleasant and civilised city.
`There's nothing in a dead body that suggests what it was like to be alive.'
A young woman known as Arrow, a `counter-sniper' is ordered to keep the cellist alive. This is seen as symbolic, the cellist will make an attractive target for the snipers: `It's not about merely killing him. Shooting him is a statement.'
I found this a very moving novel. Short enough to read in one sitting, filled with enough examples of both courage and inhumanity to last for a lifetime.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
An eye opener... April 22, 2010
E. Preston
I read this book only because it was given as my book club's choice of the month...didn't think I could manage yet another book about war...what a mistake!!! This book is so very current! The writing style so very engaging, the characters enthralling. A passage that really spoke to me, in the voice of Dragon...."Because civilization isn't a thing that you build and then there it is, you have it forever. It needs to be built constantly, recreated daily. It vanishes far more quickly than he ever would have thought possible.And if he wishes to live, he must do what he can to prevent the world he wants to live in from fading away. As long as there's war, life is a preventative measure".
This is a must read!
 Interesting perspective on war April 21, 2010
Bookluvr (Toronto, Canada)
The Cellist is an interesting account of the war in Sarajevo from the perspective of several different characters. It was fascinating to read about their struggle to retain a sense of humanity in the face of so much senseless violence. It was a quick read and well-written but I was left feeling underwhelmed at the end of the novel. I would rate it 3.5 stars: good but not really great.
As others have said, this is a must read March 26, 2010
One Tonne (Waterloo, Canada)
I don't know why this novel didn't win every prize it was nominated for. I can't think of many novels written in the recent past that deserve the kinds of accolades this one does.
Why is it so deserving? It's a literary novel that's compelling, gripping and entirely lacking in pretensions about its subject matter. Oh, it may be a little too generous with the human instincts of its protagonists, but that's a pretty forgivable failing.
Simply put, this novel puts you right in the moment, in a besieged city where the madness of war seems to have taken hold, within and without. The novel doesn't move along quickly, but its absolutely gripping nonetheless.
The story is structured around a cellist who defiantly decides to play for 22 days in the place where 22 people were killed by a shell while they waited in line for bread. We follow 3 other characters through the city through the drudgery and terror of their lives. Their lives are ordinary but at the same time extraordinary. No one knows when they will suddenly be in the midst of a shelling attack or whether a sniper may not have them in their sights. As the book moves into its later part, we see how the war has corrupted those fighting for the city as well, and the increased stakes for those who are desperately trying to maintain hold of their humanity.
Just read it, it'll be better than 75% of the books you've read in your life. At least.
Good, but not great January 27, 2010
Andrea (Ontario, Canada)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
[Cross posted to LibraryThing and LivingSocial]
The Cellist of Sarajevo is not really about a cellist, though it is the cellists music that provides the unifying thread between the three main characters. Arrow, a young female sniper, has compromised her beliefs and basically given up her youth in the siege. We follow her over the course of the cellists 22 days as she watches him and protects him. Dragan is an older man whose family has fled to safety while he stayed behind and now isnt sure what he has left to live for. Kenan still has his family and struggles every day to provide for them and maintain some semblance of happiness.
Ultimately, I didnt love the book and dont necessarily agree that its a masterpiece. That being said, it was very good. Maybe I was expecting the book to be something other than what it was: I was expecting more of a plot-driven story and, given the title, I was expecting more a focus on the cellist himself. Instead, the book alternated between Arrow, Dragan, and Kenan and was much more character driven. There are moments of suspense and tension, but the focus is on exploring these peoples experiences of the siege, their different coping strategies, the sacrifices and compromises they have to make on a daily basis. Galloway does a very good job with these themes but, as one of my book club members said about the experience, it felt like the book was building towards something that never materialized.
The writing was sparse, vivid and at times, beautiful, but I felt that the Arrow sections could have been much better. It seemed like Galloway was trying too hard with them, maybe because she was the only female character? Arrow as a character also left me cold, though I suspect that may have been the intended response. Because most of the book was more reflective, the moments when action occurred were that much more intense. I actually gasped at one point and got a bit queasy at another.
In the end, I think the book is worth the read. The ideas that Galloway explores are interesting and it makes you think about how you would react in a similar situation, at the same time praying that you never have to experience anything like it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
|
|
|
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON.CA INC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
| |
