Friday Books: The Cellist of Sarajevo

The Cellist of Sarajevo, by Steven Galloway -- This book tells the tale of several individuals who try to keep on living in a city battered by war -- constant bombardment of shells and snipers from the hills above the city. When one goes out and about, it is a crap shoot whether one will survive another day or will be cut off by a sniper.

A cellist sits in a rubble-filled street and plays a tune to honor 22 people who were killed by a shell attack while standing in the bread line.

A man with a load of bottles traverses the city to get his family's water supply for the next couple of days.

A man still has a job (a rare thing, indeed) in a bakery and runs the gauntlet of the war-torn city while attempting to go to work.

The bread line deaths and the cellist are a true story. The rest is fiction, including the story of the cellist himself. This is a clear, sad, moving story of life amidst modern warfare that makes no sense. There are some happy and redeeming moments, too. It's an excellent look at the human spirit and the will to live.