The Cellist of Sarajevo

The Cellist of Sarajevo focuses on the struggles of four people during the long and brutal Siege of Sarajevo. For the citizens of Sarajevo at this time, life is torturous. There are snipers in the hills encircling the city with their guns trained on the people below. These snipers, who the characters refer to as “the men in the hills,” are picking off the townspeople one by one whenever they venture outside for food or water. In fact, every trip someone makes outside becomes akin to a suicide mission—but one that the people have to make to stay alive. People have stopped talking to one another, which is reflected in the almost complete lack of dialogue in this book. There is no longer time for pleasantries or socializing. Every trip outside is a hurried rush for water or food.

The four main characters in this novel—Kenan, Dragan, Arrow, and the Cellist of Sarajevo—illustrate how different responses to the pressures war places upon the human heart. Some people fight back, like Arrow. Other characters, like Kenan and Dragan, retreat further inside themselves, into the safety of their own psychology. Some, like the Cellist of Sarajevo, try to salvage something beautiful from the wreckage of their world.