Book Review; The Cellist of Sarajevo
The book The Cellist of Sarajevo, written by Steven Galloway, is a historical fiction which traces back its’ setting to the early 1990s in Bosnia during the Siege of Sarajevo. During this event, a group of people were struck by several mortar shells while waiting to buy bread. Twenty two were killed and at least 70 were wounded. The novel begins with a bereaved Cellist who mourns for the victims of the terror. The Cellist, who historically exists, plays “Albinoni’s Adagio” for 22 days for the 22 dead victims both throughout the book and during the actual siege. Galloway presents three very different but similar protagonists who are living through the Siege of Sarajevo; a female sniper, middle aged father and a 64 years old baker. Their view of life and war is changed throughout the book by various events and most of all by the Cellist.
  Following with the Cellist; our first protagonist introduced is Arrow. She is a young female sniper who is full of hatred towards the “men on the hills”. She satiates her revenge by killing her opposition; this makes her a “weapon”. Arrow, being an extremely skilful sniper is assigned a new job; to protect the Cellist.  While Arrow protects the Cellist, she listens to various pieces played. As she pay attention to the music, the music comforted her and reminded her of the past; “…the young girl who was overcome by what it means to be alive, the girl who was so happy and afraid …” Ever since the siege begun, that young girl, “Alisa” disappeared. One day Arrow observes her “enemy” calmly relaxing with the music-who seemed to be assigned to kill the Cellist. This surprises Arrow; however she decides to shoot her enemy. Killing the “men on the hills” was her way of revenge; killing the “men on the hills” was her way to defense; killing the “men on the hills” was the right thing to do. But something began to disturb her, she isn’t sure what it is; could it be the music? Is Alisa back? Arrow doesn’t know what it is yet.
The next character is very different from Arrow. Kenan is a middle aged man who is a father of three children. Contrasting with Arrow, Kenan is optimistic towards the situation; he tries to encourage his family members by performing sarcastic jokes. Every four days, Kenan travels across down the hill to fetch water for his family and his neighbor; Mrs. Ristovski. Kenan’s journey is horrifying, the affects of the war is clearly revealed; dead bodies, demolished buildings, shelled lands and evidence of gunshot. Every damages in the city reminds Kenan of his past memories; life before the war. Kenan comes across his former friend Ismet who is serving as a soldier in the army. Kenan cannot join the army like his friend, he is ‘afraid’, “… if he ends up in the army, he knows sooner or later he will have to kill someone. And as afraid as he is of dying, he’s more afraid of killing.”Kenan himself is not capable of “killing”, he is good natured. But as his journey becomes tougher, Kenan’s optimism fades away. By the time Kenan success to fill up the water bottles, he witness death caused by shelling. Kenan comes to a stage of extreme rage, he cannot stay optimistic anymore. Kenan leaves Mrs. Ristoski’s bottle. Will Kenan choose to go back for the bottle? Or will he leave.
“Everything around him is a peculiar shade of grey… the war has simply stripped away the colour”. The last protagonist of this book is Dragan. Dragan is an old baker, he is the most pessimistic of the three protagonist; war has ripped him a part. He refuses to talk to people, and desires to ignore everything. He does not want to be reminded of the past; his past just makes him more miserable. Dragan too is afraid of dying, but more than dying he fears the pain that takes place before death. One day, Dragan meets Emina; his former friend. Emina was positive person; she was enthusiastic with helping others. She was the opposite of Dragan. Dragan ignored Emina just like the others; however Emina’s continual approach towards Dragan allows him to open his heart. As Dragan’s story comes to an end, Emina faces a tragic event. As Emina crossed the road, she is shot. As soon as Emina is shot there are two reactions; few men ran away at that very moment, few others-including Dragan-ran to aid Emina. Ironically, the men who ran away were not able to survive, however the men who came to aid was able to survive. Throughout his time with Emina and mostly through this event as well; Dragan realizes a truth that he had been ignorant of. Hope.
One confusing, however also interesting aspect of this novel is the “Temporal Distortion”-each character’s time lines takes a different amount of time and though they all end the same time chronologically (accepts for Arrow, who is the day after). All three protagonists begin on a different day and also lives different amount of days; for instance, Arrow’s story takes about 22days or more, however Dragan’s story only lasts for a day. The novel resolves the day the Cellist ends his mourn for the 22 victims for Dragan and Kenan; Arrow’s story continues for an extra day. Not only the usage of temporal distortion, I found the novel even more appealing through the usage of “media res”-the book begins in the midst of the plot, flashbacks are used to obtain necessary info that has already occurred.  Media res adds on more thrill to the audience as being read through, the idea of war that is going on and the peaceful past contrasting really give details about the situation. The novel The Cellist of Sarajevo is a historical fiction that gives a clear view about how tragic war is and how individuals choose to overcome it. The novel wraps up the story with the three protagonist; Arrow, Kenan and Dragan choosing with once choice that is very significant in war.