It Screamed Downward, Splitting Air And Sky Without Effort (blog 1)

People should read this book because after the first chapter I am already hooked and wanting to read more. So far I have gotten a thorough introduction to a character known as the Cellist. I learned that he is a man whose life has been changed forever because of the constant battles that take place in the city of Sarajevo which is where the book takes place.  The Cellist was the lead cello player at the Sarajevo Opera House which was destroyed during a bombing from the invaders of the city who we have yet to be given any information on.  The Cellist  also plays the cello to give himself happiness and to restore hope to himself and potentially the city because shortly into the book he witnesses twenty two people killed by an enemy mortar, and the people were only waiting in line at a market stand trying to get their daily bread. We learned that the Cellist intends to play at the crater that was made by the enemy explosive for twenty-two consecutive days in memory of each person killed in the explosion.  I also found a section of the novel so far that describes the emotional aspect of the Cellist’s intentions “like every other day in recent memory, the cellist sits beside the window of his second-floor apartment and plays until he feel his hope has returned”.  This section gave me my understanding of the character and I hope that by reading it alone you can get a general understanding of what this character is like.

                 

Besides the character I also got an idea of the setting of the novel. It takes place in a city ravaged by war and is in a state of poverty brought on by death and destruction.  To me I get the impression that the city would be a major city, but specifically a major city centre in ruins.

                

 So far in the novel I am very intrigued by the novel and after skimming through the chapters I think that each characters parts are broken up into sections, so a question I look for to finding out the answer to is how this novel is organized and if the other characters are going to play a significant role in the cellists life.