Canuck Book 6 - The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

A couple of years ago, I picked up a remaindered copy of Ascension, a novel by Steven Galloway. The story deals with an aging tightrope walker. For whatever reason, I still haven't gotten around to reading it. It always lingers somewhere near the top of my to be read pile but never quite breaks free.

Something tells me that will change soon. After reading Galloways latest, I'm definitely going to go back to Ascension. After that, I'll likely pick up his first novel, Finnie Walsh, as well.

The Cellist of Sarjevo is an incredible book. Taking the real life person of the cellist as a starting point, Galloway weaves a tale of three very different people as they struggle with the enormous task of trying to remain human in very inhuman times.

In response to the senseless death of twenty-two people waiting in line for bread, the cellist would perform Albinoni’s Adagio in the street where the deaths occured. He performed the piece once a day for twenty-two days (once for each person killed in the bombing).

The novel follows the life a baker, a father and a sniper who are all caught in a city under siege. Directly or indirectly, their lives wind up being affected by the cellist and what he stands for.


Everything about this book rings true, from the fear and paranoia to the random thoughts that goes through one's mind in spite or because of the horror one faces. One can't help but marvel at such a well told story.