A View From The Snipers Perspective

The snipers are deemed as the bad guys in this novel for the obvious reason that they are invading the city of Sarajevo. But, if we look at some of the examples in the book we can see that there are people behind the guns they are forced to wield. Majority of the snipers are cold blooded killers because they enjoy picking off innocent civilians for no reason what so ever but there was one particular instant with Arrow, and The Cellist that I found interesting. While The Cellist, was continuing with his 22 day tribute to the dead, an enemy sniper from the hill had the Cellist visibly through his scope and Arrow saw that, but the part that makes you realise not enemy soldiers want to be there is when you realise the sniper has no intention of killing the Cellist, is when Arrow, sees the sniper listening to the music The Cellist, is playing. Arrow was able to clearly line up a shot with the sniper and it left off with Arrow saying she did not want to take the shot but she knew she must. When looked at overall, you are able to understand that you should look past the uniform a soldier wears to grasp the person that soldier really is.

Life Is Not A Monster

                Today as I was reading I was amazed by the Character Dragan. The way they describe his everyday life in the book really makes the reader think. For myself, it has really shown me how good we have it in Canada. We have everything, and people in other countries could only dream about our lives but we live in wealth and are often unappreciative about what we have.  Dragan, for example lives his life among a ruined city that once flourish; now he understands that he lost everything and everyday wishes he could have his life back.

                Another thing that stood out while reading was about Dragans fear.  He is terrified of dying, but the only thing that he fears more than death is the short time that comes between being shot and dying.  Since the war he has personally witnessed three murders. Two of these individuals were struck in the head which caused instant death, which spared them the torment and agony of bleeding out. The other man was fatally shot in the chest, and he watched as the man was shot in the chest, then in the throat and was left gasping for air like a fish at the bottom of a boat. Dragan, believes that those last few seconds make you think about your life and accept death which is more inhumane then any punishment the world could bestow on a person.

               

               Today after reading these things, it has really made me understand life. You get one shot. Live life to the fullest, but do it in a manner where you appreciate what you because life is not a monster, you just have to make the best of what you have.

I Wonder What it was Like Living There at the Time of the War....

Below is a link to see a short video about what Sarajevo looked like after and during the war. WARNING! some of the pictures are a little graphic, and also the music gets a bit irritating after a while. Other then that, please enjoy the video and i hope it helps you feel sympathy or empathy for the people of Sarajevo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4mpni15cLA

DID THAT JUST HAPPEN!? ... Yes, yes it did

In the novel, Galloway, has shown many accurate facts in this book that actually occurred. This book is about the war in Sarajevo which took place from March of 1992 to November of 1995. This war was where his book took place and the idea of this novel is very unique because it is a more modern war and it is something that people can say they remember hearing about it on television or remember reading an article in the paper or seeing a short segment on TV. For this novel, Galloway has taken the different horrific events that occurred over a three year period and condensed what happened into a one month period about what is happening in his story. The conflicts, casualties and causes are all based on true events that happened in the war. Despite the liberties of this books timeline, Galloway stated “the spirit of the book is true”.  

Critical Article Summaries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

            For the critical article summaries I found reviews from three different websites: Epinions, The Washington Post and Bostonbibliofile. These three reviews gave readers different opinions of the novels and unanimously agreed that Arrow is the most gripping and interesting character of this novel. I must admit that it was a challenge to find three reviews of the novel so far because it is relatively new and has not yet received mainstream attention but I do agree with the critics that it is only a matter of time before this book receives the attention it deserves.  Anyways, I hope that these reviews help give you an understanding of the book and helps you decide that if one day you will read this phenomenal piece of literature.

Also note that I highlighted the name Verdan Smailovic. To learn a bit more about who he is read my previous blog that can and will help you get an understanding why he is an important influence to the novel.

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1)      http://www.epinions.com/review/Book_The_Cellist_of_Sarajevo_Steven_Galloway/content_458109062788

The Novel “ The Cellist of Sarajevo”  is a fictional book that explains different perspectives about the horrors of the siege of Sarajevo that took place during the early nineteen nineties. Dragan is from the perspective of an old man who see’s his family flea from the city, Arrow is a young women who is a phenomenal archer who’s skills carry over with a sniper rifle, and Kenan is a father figure who dreads the day the army recruiters come knocking on his door. Kenan also has a wife and children.  The book switches between characters perspective but if you are able to draw connections to them it gives you a better understanding for this novel and makes you care and anticipate what will happen to them. The critic was able to feel and understand the characters. He was waiting in suspense as the characters would do basic, everyday tasks hoping that they would survive back home. His heart was pounding while reading about Arrow, he could feel the tension and was alert to every sound and noise as he progressively read through Arrows character’s events. However, we only know that the Cellist will play for 22 days but that is the only time we read about this character. The “real” cellist was outraged and felt that his identity had been stolen, but in contradiction to that Galloway never mentions the cellists name so majority of readers agree that Verdan Smailovic who is the real cellist has no right to be upset over this matter. This book is an international best seller and the rights have been sold to Hollywood. Overall this is a very important piece of literature and has not received the mainstream attention it deserves. The novel “The Cellist of Sarajevo” is highly recommended to everyone.

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2)      http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/06/12/AR2008061203521.html

The second review source I found was from the Washington Post from June 15^th 2008. This is an amazing novel inspired by the war in Bosnia that captures the different ways people survived those horrific times. Arrow, a young female sniper is assigned to protect the cellist who vows to play in front of a market where 22 civilians were killed waiting in line for bread. It is believed that the cellist is insane by thinking he can save lives by playing his music and thinking it will save lives because most people of the city were alive one minute they were like marionettes whose puppeteer had fainted. It is a tale of peril and protest seen through the eyes of four characters: Arrow, Kenan, Dragan and the novels real life based character Verdan Smailovic  who is the real cellist.  Galloways fictional depiction of the cellist is a symbol of resistance. The most gripping part of this story is that when Arrow realizes that an enemy sniper has a lock on the cellist and she knows to things: his finger isn’t on the trigger and does not wish to kill him but she knows that she must kill him. Overall this book gives a great understanding of what humanity will do in desperate times and that music can connect people who are worlds apart.

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3)      http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2009/08/review-cellist-of-sarajevo-by-steven.html

The last review I found took a different view of the novel and also said he might be the only person in the world but he did not enjoying reading “The Cellist of Sarajevo”.  The article agrees it is a very moving novel that does capture an amazing understanding of the Balkan War and the novel is overall beautifully written, but he believes it is like many other anti-war novels. The critic states that there is nothing that captures his attention during the novel and the main characters are two ordinary men, a musician who wants to gain attention and then there was Arrow. She was the only reason he decided to keep reading because her character is so complex and full of contradiction. She is a ruthless character who is a fictional masterpiece and the book would have been more interesting if it was solely written about her. Overall the book was to simple and evokes pity and a pleasant, comfortable sense of righteous outrage, the rating was don not go out of your way to get this book merely borrow it from a friend.

 I hope these reviews gave you reason to go out and buy this book! 

1. Author: Steven Galloway

                        Book Title: The Cellist of Sarajevo

2. What made you interested in this author?

I became interested in this author after I researched a bit of things about him. I learned that three of his novels have been published: "Finnie Walsh", "Ascension" and his most recent novel is "The Cellist of Sarajevo" and so far his novels have been translated into twenty different languages. Steven Galloway is also the creative writing professor at the University of British Columbia and after finding different reviews from "The National Post" and "The Globe and Mail" I knew that this book would be a good choice for my ISU.

3. Brief background on the author

Steven Galloway was born July 13^th, 1975 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He attended the Thompson Rivers University and The University of British Columbia. He teaches creative writing at the University of British Columbia and currently resides in New Westminster British Columbia with his wife and 2 daughters.

4. Other published works and genres

Along with The Cellist of Sarajevo, Steven Galloway has published two other novels: Finnie Walsh and Ascension. Finnie Walsh is about two boys who love hockey and are able to bond and face many hardships that life puts them through. When this book was published in 2000, the book was nominated for an amazon.ca/books in Canada First Novel award which gives new authors a chance to win an award for their book and potentially gain publicity. Ascension however is about a 66 year old Romanian man whose life events lead up to him eventually tight rope walking between the twin towers. It turns what would be an old folk tale into a gripping story of a mans life.
 

5.Information on particular places, time periods, events of influence or
interest to your author

I was unable to find any specific information on what the author prefers, but after looking at the novels he has written I would say he enjoys a historical writing aspect. He enjoys old Soviet history because 2 of his novels include small countries that came from Russia. And his first novel is about what it was like to grow up in Canada in the 60's where every kid played hockey, but the kids in his novel specifically had to face different trials and obstacles.

                      6. Themes favored by the author (gleaned from survey reading).

The Cellist of Sarajevo is a little different with its themes. It has three main characters:   Arrow, Kenaan and Dragan, all of which have different goals. This book shows the perspectives of three different characters in the novel and all of these characters were given different themes with them. Arrow has a reverse gender role theme like I explained in an earlier blog, Kenaan has a power theme because he has to control everyone in his life and Dragan has his family who fled Sarajevo and he is facing conflict with going to find them but worrying if he does then he will abandon Sarajevo. All of the conflict and themes in the book may have a person experience with the author I plan to research that the further I read into the novel.

                        7. Other authors compared to Steven Galloway 
I cannot compare Steven Galloway too any other author but I can relate the themes he talks  about in this novel to a previous book I have read. After constant reading I found that a recurring theme is fear. Everyone in Sarajevo lives in fear and all of the main characters deal with fear in their own way. I also found fear as a major theme in the novel Lord of The Flies. All of the young boys on the island always lived in a constant state of fear because the island was divided in a power struggle, as well as the battle between Ralph and Jack. This could be the same for the war going on in the book. Bosnian and Serbia are at war so it could be the same concept applied in both novels.

                        8. Critical Articles (Secondary Sources)

Steven , Galloway. "About Steven Galloway." Steven Galloway. The Dunow, Carlson and Lerner Literary Agency, n.d. Web. 25 Feb 2011. <http://www.stevengalloway.com/ >

Charlene , Davis. "Steven Galloway." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Dominion, n.d. Web. 25 Feb 2011. <http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com>

Andrew , Lawless. "Three Monkeys Online." The Larger Conversation - Steven Galloway talks about The Cellist of Sarajevo. Three onkeys Online, n.d. Web. 25 Feb 2011. <http://www.threemonkeysonline.com>

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.