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.

Through The Scope of Her Rifle She Can See Three Soliders

Today I read chapter two and I was very intrigued by a character named Arrow. Arrow’s character could play a major theme or issue in the novel. It seems as if her character has a reverse gender role, and I think this because she is a sixteen year old girl back fifty years ago and she is a well trained sniper, almost like she was thought professionally.  In stories like these you would usually see a male sixteen year old sniper but in the case of Arrow it is completely different. To your recollection can you think of any other characters in books that would be a teenaged military trained sniper but over fifty years ago? I could not think of anyone to relate her to. After reading today I am very curious to see if my prediction for Arrows reverse gender role is correct.  

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.

An Intro to "The Cellist of Sarajevo"

1. The novel I have select is called "The Cellist of Sarajevo". The book was written by Steven Galloway who is a Canadian author. The Cellist of Sarajevo has 258 pages and was published in Toronto in 2008 by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

2. The reason I selected this book for my ISU was because my brother and my brother’s girlfriend have read the book. Both of them recommend that I use this book for my ISU because it is a Globe and Mail bestselling book by a Canadian author. They also told me that it was a good book to read with a good message at the end of the novel and a very interesting story throughout the book.

3. I have read a small portion of the book so far and so far I am enjoying what I read. I got an introduction to the main character in the book and already I have strong feel for the setting of where the book takes place. After reading what I have I already have a strong visual for what this novel could be about and what might happen, I am really excited to start reading my novel.

4. I have only read the first chapter of the book so far. So far I have a good understanding for the first character in the book and I have a general idea of what could happen in the novel.

5.So far in the book you have gotten a general introduction to a character who is called "The Cellist" in the novel, they have yet to give him a name but you know he is the cello player at the opera in Sarajevo. You have also learned the characters father has passed on and might have been killed during the war. You have also been introduced to the setting; you know the book takes place in Sarajevo which is a city in Bosnia that was hit hard by the war which is also what’s happening. I believe the book is taking place during world war two in Sarajevo, Bosnia where the city is divided and in a state of poverty because of the constant fighting.

6. The first theme I found in the "The Cellist of Sarajevo" was war. In the war everyone seems to be affected by war and it is obvious that the entire city is affected by the fighting going on around them. I also think an important theme in the book could be women’s rights because Arrow who is the main female character is doing a lot of stuff that would be considered out of the ordinary for girls to do back in that time period. Women were not usually the ones fighting battles so I think the author could be trying to tell the reader something by making Arrow the way she is.

7. Do to the fact that this book has only been out for a short period of time I had a little bit of difficulty trying to find secondary sources. I did however come across a few book review by a couple of readers, none of the reviewers are prestigious but they all said the book was a good read and it had some excitement to it.

8. ”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.”  (Galloway, 2)

            I thought that this particular line was inspiring. To me I thought that the cellist played his music so he could help the people of Sarajevo, music can be very uplifting and I thought that if he could restore hope to himself I am sure that he would restore hope to many other people of the city. Overall I just found that this paragraph is a symbol of hope, if a person can restore hope to himself I am sure he could restore hope to many people, it is like the cello is the voice of hope and the people are there to listen and find comfort in what it says.