The Cellist of Sarajevo
Galloway, Steven. The Cellist of Sarajevo. 2008. (Fiction Gallo.S)
Set during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s, this novel follows the experiences of four people trying to survive physically and emotionally. The hills surrounding the city are occupied by snipers who pick off civilians one-by-one as they dash across open areas or try to cross the many bridges in harrowing quests for clean water or bread. Shells are aimed at market squares and public places, almost all buildings are targeted seemingly randomly, and the infrastructure of the city is very broken.
The unnamed cellist of the title appears in an open area outside his building at 4 p.m. daily for twenty-two days in a row and plays a solo rendition of an exquisitely sad and moving piece called "Albinoni's Adagio" to commemorate twenty-two civilians recently killed when a shell landed there. Arrow, a young woman sharpshooter, is assigned to protect him by eliminating any snipers who may target him while he plays. Dragan, in his sixties, seeks bread; Kenan travels miles to fetch fresh water for his family. All wonder if the next bullet is for them. And all ponder the toll such existence takes on their humanity. Loosely based on a true episode of this terrible war, Galloway's novel is written with taut, elegant simplicity and raises complex questions on the human condition.
(Barbara L., Reader's Services)
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