The cellist of sarajevo is a novel written by Steven Galloway. Its about the war that hit the town many years ago, and shows the true struggle of what it takes to survive. This novel was originally published in 2008. The version I own was published in 2009. The novel has 261 pages.
While I was deciding to pick what novel to read, I was looking for something that could keep me interested the whole time. If it did not meet this personal criteria, then I would struggle to read and understand it throughout the study. The very first thing that drew to the novel was the cover. It seemed very dark but still vibrant, and showed a good example of what the story could be about. When I began to flip through the pages, the very first involved the quote “ you may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” (Leon Trotsky) immediately after reading this I made the decision to study this novel.
So far I have really enjoyed reading this novel. At the very beginning it introduces the characters, and their separate stories. The author begins by introducing the cellist who plays in the Carter every afternoon, where 22 people died in front of his building waiting for bread. Arrow, a sniper working to defend the city. Kenan, a father who is going to get water for his family. Finally, Dragan, who is on his way to work to get bread. Once you begin to read further into the novel the different stories begin to connect to each other. Showing what strives the characters take to survive, and how they live their lives differently.
Some themes that seem to be emerging in the beginning of the novel are the themes of change, and survival. Change pops up a lot when the characters are describing what used to be of their city before the war hit. Often times they are involved in an activity that sends them in a flashback of what their city resembled before the war had struck it. Another theme that is used that closely relates to change, is the theme of reality vs memory.Unfortunately, we have not had a chance to look at any secondary sources from the database. Of the sources I have had a chance to look at, some describe the novel as a timely take on how people behave during war. Others are amazed by the closeness to the actual event, and how the author portrays their sadness and the need of their old lives back
"It screams downward, splitting air and sky without effort. A target expands in size, brought into focus by time and velocity. There is a moment before impact that is the last instant of things as they are. Then the visible world explodes." ( Galloway 1)
This is a very interesting quote to begin the novel. It adds intense imagery, as well as a very elaborate look at how an attack like this affects a person before impact, and the result after. That in the instant of second things go from how you knew them for many years, to being destroyed into just thoughts. If I myself were in this situation, I would be horrified at this moment before the impact where you know the inevitable will happen, but you are simply waiting for it. In an instant after, everything has been changed.
At this point I am 81 pages into the novel, half way through the second part. I plan to be done my book in a few weeks, reading close to 50 pages a week.
