Sarajevo: The Setting

Verdan Smailovic

Sarajevo is a city located in Bosnia which is where the novel takes place.  After doing some research I have established that this novel is set in the Bosnian War which took place between 1992-1995. During this war the city of Sarajevo was under constant bombardment of mortar attacks as well as constant snipers which claimed the lives of many citizens. This was an ongoing war and in the novel I’m starting to be able to piece together the characters and get a better understanding after I learned about the setting of the novel. Keenan could be a regular, everyday father, who lived in an apartment building that was bombed in the war and was just trying to survive with his family, and Arrow could be a sniper who was personally affected or trained for her entire life, I still do not have a perfect understanding of her character. I did however learn that there was in fact a real life cellist of Sarajevo.  His name is Vedran Smailovic, and he plays for the Sarajevo String Quartet. He played at many funerals for Men and women killed during the war often being targeted by enemy fire. He fled the country in late 1993 and has since been involved with in musical projects. After doing a bit of research about the background of the novel I have gotten a better understanding of what the author was trying to talk about in his masterpiece.