Book review
The Cellist of Sarajevo recently written by author Steven Galloway is a fictional novel based on a real historical background. The novel was selected to be a Globe and Mail Best Book, including being a national bestseller. Yet Galloway has produced other great books such as Finnie Walsh and Ascension. Like The Cellist of Sarajevo, both books were based upon historical events. The Cellist of Sarajevo takes the reader to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the siege of Sarajevo happened.

Regarding the characters, there are three fictional characters named Arrow, Kenan and Dragan. They show the deep struggle within the individuals due to the war. However another nonfictional character called the Cellist was a person who played a very important role in making the world pay attention to what was happening in their city of Sarajevo by going out to the street to play cello for twenty two days in the midst of life and death. The novel does not start with its fictional characters, but it starts off with the Cellist.

Besides, the novel leads the reader into the middle of the action. The novel starts with the words, “It screamed downward, splitting air and sky without effort.” This phrase uses rhetorical strategies such as personification and imagery to attract the reader’s attention. It is also important because it is repeated three times in the first chapter to emphasize the setting of the novel- siege of Sarajevo. Then, the novel establishes the character one by one. The three characters experience a change in their personality.

To briefly summarize the characters, the first character is named Arrow. The novel states, “[Arrow] hopes that…the rest of the city [hates] the men on the hills for the same reason she does. Because they made her hate” to show that Arrow becomes a person full of hatred. Due to her hatred, she kills men on the hills but does not know if her reasons to kill them were vengeance or revenge. Later this confusion makes her think that she does not have any choice over her hatred towards the men on the hills and believes strongly in fate until something dramatic happens to change her.
Then the next character is Kenan, who is a loving and caring father. The novel describes him as ‘like a wet and frightened dog’ to show him as an extremely scared man. However he is shown to be very devoted to get water to his family. He goes out in the midst of danger and travels far to get water for his family. He is close to death several times but these encounters changes his point of views towards life and the future of his city.
Finally the last character is Dragan. He is a man of his past. He is ashamed of his past so avoids people he used to know. Also he stays at his sister’s house and the burden of eating at his sister’s house everyday leads Dragan to the bakery, where he could get bread for free. On his way, he meets his wife’s friend Emina who influences Dragan greatly because of her positive and caring mind. It’s not long till he realizes pessimistic mind he had and changes most dramatically.

Galloway’s descriptions of the situation of the Bosnian war and its people are in detail and highly entertaining. His characterization shows real depth of human nature and is realistic enough to engage the reader in the novel. Because the novel is based on real historical backgrounds of war, the story is realistic and easy to understand what it would’ve been like. However, the shifts in point of view and temporal distortion sometimes create confusion. For some people theses rhetorical strategy may make the novel more interesting because it shows different perspective and thoughts but for some, it may appear bit confusing.
Overall, Galloway has used this novel to portray the lives of citizens of Sarajevo which played an important role to let the world recognize the city of Sarajevo once again. Finally, hope the characters held on and changes of their attitude they were willing to accept despite the suffering is examples to be followed forever.