Susan Rich's Reviews > The Cellist of Sarajevo

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars

by
165513
's review
Jun 19, 10

5 of 5 stars
Read in June, 2008

I was skeptical of a book written about Sarajevo by someone who neither lived through the seige nor who is a Bosnian, but I was wrong. The book is a lyrical song to a city l love very much. Clearly, the author has done enormous research and spent time in the city with Sarajevans. All that aside, what I love about this book is the deep empathy with the characters and with the city. Something about living in these unspeakable conditions is understood by the writer and rendered here with beauty and remarkable empathy. I plan to return to this book again.

Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read The Cellist of Sarajevo.
sign in »

Post a comment »
Comments (showing 1-1 of 1) (1 new)

dateDown_arrow    newest »

message 1: by Tanya (new) - rated it 4 stars
Mar 02, 2009 03:34pm

Tanya i agree with what you said about the deep empathy with the characters the author is capable of but i still felt quite a few times that he was poetizing the suffering, especially when he was writing about Arrow. and though the book made me think and I certainly appreciated it, still there is a part of me that wasn't able to overcome the scepticism with which I started the book..
i don't think you necessarily need to have lived through something to be able to write about it if you are really talented but it is the talent that crosses the borders and time boundaries and that very few are capable of..


back to top




© 2013 Goodreads Inc