Billerica Public Library

The cellist of Sarajevo, Steven Galloway

eng

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fiction

The cellist of Sarajevo

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501809281

Steven Galloway

"A spare and haunting, wise and intelligent novel, The Cellist of Sarajevo is a testament to the endurance of the spirit and the subtle ways individuals reclaim their humanity in a city ravaged by war." "In a city under siege, four people whose lives have been upended are ultimately reminded of what it is to be human. From his window, a musician sees twenty-two of his friends and neighbors killed by a mortar attack. In an act of defiance, the man picks up his cello and decides to play at the site of the attack for twenty-two days in their memory. Elsewhere, a young man leaves home to collect drinking water for his family and in the face of danger must weigh the value of generosity against selfish survivalism. A third man, older, sets off in search of bread and distraction, and instead runs into a long-ago friend who reminds him of the city he thought he had lost, and the man he once was. As both men are drawn into the orbit of cello music, a fourth character - a young woman, a sniper - holds the fate of the cellist in her hands. While she protects him with her life, her own army prepares to challenge the kind of person she has become." "A novel of great intensity and power. The Cellist of Sarajevo explores how war can change one's definition of humanity, how music affects our emotional endurance, and how a romance with the rituals of daily life can itself be a form of resistance"--Book jacket

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