Book Review:The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

Yes, I actually just started a review with "wow". The Cellist of Sarajevo is a book that will stick to your insides a long time.

Steven Galloway's straight-forward novel about the four year Siege of Sarajevo gets to the heart of some of the toughest issues that arise in times of war. It is important when reading it to remember that this is a work of fiction, only loosely based on factual events. The cellist of the title actually existed and did play for 22 days at the site where 22 people were killed by a shell while lined up to buy bread. There really was a sniper known as Arrow. But the facts stop there. Galloway compresses time considerably, and garnishes the sketchy facts known about these individuals. While the cellist remains a rather background figure whose unusual, brave, and inspiring presence ties together the other three characters in the story, Arrow herself becomes a fully-fleshed character. Also struggling through the story is Kenan, who for most of the novel is attempting to carry water home to his family, as well as Dragan, who stayed behind to protect the family home only to lose it to shelling.

There is plenty of outward action in this book. Throughout it there is near-constant shelling, sniper fire, counter-sniper fire, and more. We see friends and strangers shot and left dead or alive. There is an especially gruesome scene wherein the brewery is shelled, and rescue vehicles are targeted by snipers. But when one has finished reading, one feels that the main action was largely internal, cerebral. These characters reveal what war does to the human psyche, and it's not pretty. None of the main characters are heroes. Some may even be considered cowards by certain measurements. In the end, however, they all have moments of redemption where humanity wins out over the dehumanizing that war imposes.

There is nothing flowery about this story, I can assure you. It is bleek, unblinking, and unforgiving, but incredibly moving. The Siege of Sarajevo was the longest city siege in the history of modern warfare and it is often ignored in literature. Perhaps that is because it is still very near in living memory. Steven Galloway paints a gray picture of the horror of being trapped in a city that most involved didn't want to leave anyway and an unignorable shadow of the stories of those who survived it. You won't want to put it down- and you won't forget it. Wow.