The Cellist of Sarajevo

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway (Atlantic books)
This is a truly exquisite book.

Set in Sarajevo during the siege, it tells the separate and yet intrinsically linked tales of ordinary people living in extraordinary times. The perfectly told incidents of their mundane lives are like blood splattered silver threads, running through the crumbling city and the vague memories the reader will have of Sarajevo.

The story hinges on an historically factual but fictionalised cellist living in Sarajevo during the 4 year siege who played his cello at the site of the mortaring of people queuing to buy bread. The other characters are all fictional and yet are probably a very accurate reflection of people who did live during the siege. Ordinary people living in a time of war who each reach their own way of refusing to do so.

This book makes war more real than any statistics; makes it sadder than any photographs; and makes it more terrifying that any news report. This book makes the reader horribly aware of the fact that war involves ever single civilian in ways that are unimaginable. And it does it in a graphic-violence free, beautifully written, almost lyrical way.

The Cellist of Sarajevo has made me plan to visit Sarajevo in the near future. It also made me wonder if we will ever learn the lesson of war. Sadly, I think not.

This book is worth buying and sharing – it is beautiful.

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