Cellist of Sarajevo (The) - November Book Club Online

[JoanK]

The Book Club Online is  the oldest  book club on the Internet, begun in 1996, open to everyone.  We offer cordial discussions of one book a month,  24/7 and  enjoy the company of readers from all over the world.  Everyone is welcome.

November Book Club Online

The Cellist of Sarajevo
by Steven Galloway

Our selection for November is an award-winning novel that explores the dilemmas of ordinary people caught in the crises of war and examines the healing power of art. "In this beautiful and unforgettable novel, Steven Galloway has taken an extraordinary, imaginative leap to create a story that speaks powerfully to the dignity and generosity of the human spirit under extraordinary duress.." - ~ Cellist of Sarajevo Website. Discussion Schedule November 1 - 2  The Cellist and Part One November 3 - 9  Part Two through the section on Keenan ending with "he knows he has a long way to before he is home again." (p 106 in my copy) November 10 - 15 Rest of Part Two November 16 - 23  Part Three November 24 - 27  Part Four Questions for November 1-2: (The Cellist and Part One) What do we learn about the city of Sarajevo in these sections? What are your initial impressions of the characters that Steven Galloway has created: the Cellist? Arrow? Kenan? Dragan? What is the main task/activity that is the focus for each of them in this story? What are some ways that each of them, and other citizens, have been affected by the war? Questions for November 3-9: (First half of Part Two - to p.106) What are some more details we learn about Arrow, Dragan and Kenan? Who do they interact with and how? What seems to be each of their approaches or ways of dealing with the situation they are in? What are some of the things that they say or we're told that they are thinking that made a special impression on you? What words, metaphors, descriptions, do you think the author uses to effectively make his points? Can you personally relate to anything in any of the characters or their situations? Questions for November 10 - 15: (Second half of Part Two - from p.107 to end of Part Two) In the beginning of the chapter on Dragan, we learn what he thinks motivates the cellist. Do you agree? A lot happens to and around Dragan, Arrow and Keenan in the latter pages of Part Two. What actions stand out for you? What themes do you notice in Part Two? Questions for November 16 -: (Part Three) In part Three, Dragan, Arrow and Keenan seem to undergo changes in their outlook. What do you notice about them? What sentences in this part of the book seem especially important? Questions for Part Four How do the stories of the main characters seem to resolve in this last part? Were you surprised by any of their actions? What are some of your thoughts and feelings as you reflect on this novel? LINKS Background on the Adagio in G-Minor, including an audio file. Image of Vedran, Smailovic, Cello player in the partially destroyed National Library in Sarajevo, 1992. Sarajevo Survival Map 1992-96

Discussion Leader:  Marcie

the article was very interesting. I think this is very important:

'“One [theme I want readers to take away from the book] is to understand what happens to the world and us as individuals when we abdicate responsibility for who we hate. As individuals we’re very careful about whom we choose to love. We don’t typically let governments and huge corporations tell us who to love and when they try to, we become very suspicious. We are not as parsimonious about hatred,” he [the author]says. '

Joan

[Ella Gibbons]

I would wonder at a man playing an instrument in the street, wouldn't we all?   Whether it be peacetime or war!  I can't conceive of it, we would all think the man is mad!

And they wondered in Sarajevo:  "Who is he playing for?......Maybe it's all he knows how to do and he's not doing it to make something happen" - Dragan says to Emina

And Emina says that Jovan thinks the cellist is crazy.  "It's an act of futility and he's going to get himself killed."

It's all so terrible and yet it's all so hopeful and so wonderful, you feel love here.  There are passages that speak to me:

Dragan's wife was in labor for 36 hours and he was terrified, but then his son was born and "his small cry emerging from a bundle of blankets sounded to Dragan like music."  Afterwards he had an overwhelming feeling of benevolence, not just for his son, for the world around him.

[PatH]

That's so important, JoanK.  People too easily let others tell them who to hate.

The thing that impressed me even more strongly is how much the besiegers are stripping the humanity from people.  Look at Dragan and Emina.  He meets her by chance, and it takes some minutes of conversation before he is once again seeing her as a real person, and they bond warmly.  They talk a while, then she risks crossing the street before he does, and is shot.  He is paralyzed with fear; he can't go to help her, even after it's obvious that she's still alive.  Does that destroy what went before?  Make him less human?

I think this is what the cellist is doing--asserting his humanity.  This is what he is; he can take the wonder of music that someone created and bring it alive through his playing.  This is necessary--music unheard doesn't quite exist, it's just a promise.  He's not going to let anyone take that away from him.  He's playing for his dead friends, asserting their worth, for the people who hear him, and are reminded of what it is to be human, and for himself, to show that he's still there as a person.

[PatH]

Ella, you posted while I was writing.  I agree; there's a lot of love here, even in the middle of horrors.

[marcie]

I'm reading and re-reading some of your recent posts here. This novel portrays many emotions. Bellamarie and Barbara, you empathize with the grief that the people are experiencing. Ella, you say you can feel the love. Joan and Pat, you caution us to be alert to the hatred that can be one kind of response to the actions of the shooters.

Joan your quote from Frybabe's article about the author wanting us to understand what happens to the world and us as individuals when we abdicate responsibility for who we hate seems like it's one of the major themes of the book. Pat, I like the way you phrased what the cellist is doing -- "asserting his humanity. This is what he is; he can take the wonder of music that someone created and bring it alive through his playing.  This is necessary--music unheard doesn't quite exist, it's just a promise." Instead of hating, the cellist's response to the killing of those people is to play music. People are coming from everywhere in the city to hear him play and some of the shooters can see and hear the music too. Does the music transform the listeners' feelings of hatred for a while?

Ella, you remind us that Dragan recalls the "music" he heard at his son's birth. "His small cry emerging from a bundle of blankets sounded to Dragan like music."  Afterwards he had an overwhelming feeling of benevolence, not just for his son, for the world around him.

Dragan then reflects that if both sides could just hold on to that feeling of benevolence, they would not be fighting each other.

As we read, let's watch for ways that the characters each find to fight against or replace the hatred they feel, the hatred  which is keeping them from the way they were before the war or how they want to be.

[BarbStAubrey]

I do not think it makes him less human - as humans we have terror and fear along with bravery and courage - I also get the message from the story and the news clip that it is the arts that reminds us of our humanity and some will champaign the pursuance of their humanity by expressing their art but to be human is also is to have terror and fear. So to me I think Dragan is being as human as the Cellist - in fact to me it is a toss up - the Cellist is not seeing his risk as more than a chance where as, Dragan's chance is greater knowing the sniper can pick him off.

The Cellist is like the many who during battle exhibit bravery that when they receive a medal they all acknowledge it was instinctive and so for us to think only the brave further our collective humanity may not be honoring the humanity within each of us.

As to Dragan - we know that fear and anxiety are a normal part of life - However, he has seen and describes those who were killed crossing a particular street "as though they were marionettes and their puppeteer has fainted." That suggests to me he must have seen death by snipers and therefore, most probably is experiencing Post-traumatic Stress Disorder - he is not alone, just as not every soldier returns with the same identical symptoms of PTSD and some come back with medals of bravery that others fell apart leaving them to battle PTSD.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - This clinical condition can be traced to a definable, traumatic event in the individual's life.  The individual experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others.  It might have occurred within a soldier who served time in a war zone or after witnessing a shooting, being a rape or street crime victim, or living through some natural disaster. The experience must have produced intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Either shortly thereafter or at some later date, the person may experience flashbacks, recurrent and intrusive recollections of the event, feelings of detachment, guilt, sleep problems and a variety of somatic symptoms.

And so to me our humanity is no less for those who fall apart with intense fear versus those who instinctively react with great courage and bravery. As the saying goes there are some who when caught in the headlights of life freeze, others run and still others fight. 

Therefore, I see Dragan is expressing his humanity as does the Cellist with love for his music because bottom line what kind of people are we if we can only react without feelings. That would mean we could not love unless, we think we can only access good feelings rather than an intense feeling of fear. Doesn't work that way.

As our hearts go out to Dragan then we can feel compassion in our hearts and accept our own humanity in the face of fear. This scenario of Emina crossing and being shot is the tragedy of war - an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe as well as, a character dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, and a main character, who is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow.

[Frybabe]

Two of the symptoms that pop out into my mind, and are part of the spectrum of PTSD symptoms, are dissociation and depersonalization disorder (one of the more severe dissociative disorders). Depersonalization is not directed at another person as you might think, but a feeling of being disconnected to your own body, thoughts, or emotions, something like being an observer watching yourself in a dream or movie. I think at least one of the characters used the word surreal and that they felt like what they were experiencing was not real. Then there are the daydreamy thoughts that pop up which some of the characters report and are horrified at themselves for thinking them.

[marcie]

Barbara and Frybabe, you're reminding us of the multi-dimensional aspects of being human beings living in such horrific and stressful circumstances.  It would seem that Post-traumatic Stress Disorder would be prevalent in many of the people and, since the traumatic events are ongoing, it must be very difficult to find ways to deal with them. Frybabe you mention "the daydreamy thoughts that pop up which some of the characters report and are horrified at themselves for thinking them." Those parts of the novel seem to especially make some of the characters more real for me, for example when Dragan argues with Emina, saying confrontational things out loud and aghast at himself for doing it but unable to stop, like "picking at a scab." 

[marcie]

In the latter pages of Part Two, a lot happens to and around Dragan, Arrow and Keenan. As you read the chapters about these characters in this section, what actions stand out for you?

[Frybabe]

During my reading of All Quiet on the Western Front last night, I ran across a passage where the author is reminiscing (during a very heavy bombardment) about his childhood. He discovered that all his reminiscences during battle have been featured two elements calm and silence. While he acknowledges that these two things are the exact opposite of that he is experiencing, he also wrote these words, "Their stillness is the reason why these memories of former times do not awaken desire so much as sorrow -- a strange, inapprehensible melancholy. Once we had such desires -- but they return not. They are past, they belong to another world that is gone from us." He wrote more, but you get the picture.

We see these memories popping up unbidden in our characters, a longing to go back to those former days, the knowledge that things have changed and will never be the same.  And even if they could go back, they themselves have changed such that they would feel estranged from that former world. The passages explain why many returning vets are uncomfortable. We haven't changed, but they have. The passages bring home this and the bonding that those who experience the horrors of war together share.

The horrors in Paris last night have changed the world for those who got caught in it. When I returned home from the library last evening to the news reports, my first emotion was anger, then sorrow. Once again, the targets were venues of social gatherings: the stadium, the concert hall, the restaurants. Targets of opportunity for the greatest disruption of social cohesiveness. I noticed that some of the commentators were by turns calm and shaking. Geraldo Rivera's daughter was at the stadium when the attacks began. He barely held it together at times during his report. This was not Afghanistan, this was Paris; this was not some stranger, but his daughter who was in grave danger.

I am almost speechless. I am still angry. Will there ever be an end to wars?

[marcie]

Frybabe, you say "
We see these memories popping up unbidden in our characters, a longing to go back to those former days, the knowledge that things have changed and will never be the same.  And even if they could go back, they themselves have changed such that they would feel estranged from that former world. The passages explain why many returning vets are uncomfortable. We haven't changed, but they have. The passages bring home this and the bonding that those who experience the horrors of war together share."

Your post captures so much of the feelings that underlie the novel.

Your bringing the horrors experienced during the siege of Sarajevo up to date with reference to the Paris attacks makes me understand those emotions even more.

[Ella Gibbons]

Good post, Frybabe.  An end to wars?  I doubt that, it goes on and on and hardly a family that has not been touched by war in one way or another.

Aarrow reflects that in the middle of the struggles are the criminals, those that would make profit from war and isn't it always so.  And rarely do we hear from the commentators of these individuals or companies who make millions from wars and, consequently as Arrow states, have power which is never given  up easily. 

Am I too suspicious in thinking of our own recent wars, the influence of the weapons industries, the power of the Pentagon, etc.  Billions of dollars are spent by the government for all kinds of contracts and it goes on and on.   President Eisenhower warned of the dangers of the military-industrial complex before he died and who better to know whereof he speaks. 

[bellamarie]

To answer your question Frybabe.... a resounding NO!  I don't think there will ever be an end to wars.  We have too many people with hate inside them, that are willing to die in the name of that hate. 

My heart goes out to Paris.  It's not sad enough reading this book, but now to see the pictures of Paris, I could not help but imagine Sarajevo under attack and how the people felt there.  They will go on, but their lives will never be the same. 

Ella, I wonder about the gains countries make off of war as well.  Wasn't there reports American Ambassador Stevens was in Libya selling arms to Syrians when the embassy was attacked and he was killed?  And there was reports Dick Cheney made profit during Iraq war with Halliburton.  I'm sure deals go back to all wars.  We just finished reading about munitions and weapons being transported from New York harbor to Great Britain on the Lusitania passenger ship, a huge profit for the manufacturers here in the United States.

[BarbStAubrey]

Reading this as we read about the Paris attacks this bit from one of the Parisian Journalists that so caught the attention of editors in the US it was translated. For sure we are reading this message in out book with the story of Sarajevo...

"Zero risk" doesn't exist.

Our so-called "modern" society believes in the principle of "zero." Zero imperfections, zero stock, zero error, zero risk! It's a huge farce, it doesn't exist, despite all the speeches that you might hear in medicine, politics, and especially, in management! Life is all about risk! It's about knowing how to accept it; "risk management" is nothing more than a day to day learning process, often painful, and always delicate. There is no truly comprehensive insurance! Faced with each decision, personal or professional, we are alone as individuals with our choices and our doubts, and these attacks cruelly remind us of this! That's what being human is about.

Accepting vulnerability is a strength.

Our society favors strength, commitment, competition, power, ostentation..."values" that only lead to insult, to war, and to these attacks that claim to be demonstrations of strength, and that seek to escalate violence.

These attacks show us that we are vulnerable. Don't deny it! Vulnerability isn't an admission of weakness! We can turn it into a strength! We must turn it into a strength! It's by changing the hierarchy of values that we will steer the world toward change.

[marcie]

Ella, the references in the book to the Black Market and to criminals profiting from the war surprised me. It's not that I haven't seen movies or heard news about people profiting from wars and other fighting but I hadn't thought about it in the context of this book. It just brought home how many opportunities for choices (good and bad) there are in wars.  Bellamarie, you make that point too with reference recent and past events in various wars.

Barbara, you're right. That excerpt from the Parisian journalist could have been written about the people in the book we're reading. "Life is all about risk! It's about knowing how to accept it; "risk management" is nothing more than a day to day learning process, often painful, and always delicate. There is no truly comprehensive insurance! Faced with each decision, personal or professional, we are alone as individuals with our choices and our doubts, and these attacks cruelly remind us of this! That's what being human is about."

That seems to be another central theme of this novel, keeping oneself aware of individual choices, even in extreme circumstances when it seems that all choice is being taken away.

[bellamarie]

I am at a point where I think I want to finish the book and move on to something a little more uplifting for the coming Thanksgiving holiday and Christmas season.  With the attacks on Paris and Lebanon this past Friday, I think I have had enough sadness to deal with. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3316577/Lebanon-mourns-41-killed-bomb-attack-Hezbollah-bastion.html

[marcie]

The author believes that the message of this book is one of hope.

If everyone agrees with moving on, we can go on to Part Three tomorrow and start Part Four on November 20 and be finished by November 23.

Or, we can do Part Three and Part Four (which is very short) together and be finished talking about the book over the next several days.

What would you all prefer.

[BarbStAubrey]

Marcie we all have our druthers on timing - my druthers would be to start part 3 tomorrow and stay with it through Wednesday than on Thursday pick up part 4 and finish up on Saturday or Sunday the 21st or the 22nd leaving it open for folks to add anything till the 25th.

[marcie]

Thanks, Barbara. Anyone else have a preference?

[bellamarie]

Since the two next parts are short I think we could cover them this week and be done by the weekend to give us time for Thanksgiving preparations and to regroup our sad thoughts into happy thoughts.  The book may be about "hope" I don't dispute that I see it, but it has really gotten me depressed reading it even before Paris attacks.  Like Barbara suggested, you could keep it open for further comments.

[marcie]

Thanks, Bellamarie.

[Frybabe]

I went ahead and finished the book. I see the characters have gotten past their wishfullness and detachment from their current reality. I sense a new determination to move forward, and a refusal to be cowed by the men on the hill. In Arrow's case, she begins to see her enemy as not so different than herself with families, friends and once normal lives, like her. She can't hate them anymore. She also refuses to be bullied into doing something to which she is ethically and morally opposed. Dragan and Kenen are more willing to put themselves at risk to help others. While they still fear for the future, themselves and their families, they are no longer overwhelmed by their fears and wishful thinking.

A comparison between Arrow and Paul (narrator of All Quiet on the Western Front): Arrow began to see the sniper as human rather than an object to be destroyed. A similar event took place in AQWF where Paul made his first close contact kill, a Frenchman. They both found themselves in the same shell hole. The Frenchman did not die right away. Paul was beset with remorse and horror at what he had done, but rationalized it as a him or me situation. It did not, however, reduce his feelings of guilt, made worse when he saw the picture of the fellow's wife and child that the man carried. That made it all the more personal. Arrow didn't have that up close encounter, but she wonder why he didn't shoot when he had plenty of opportunity, but she did see him with his eyes closed listening to the music. The sniper and the French Infantryman became human.

[marcie]

Frybabe, you say "I sense a new determination to move forward, and a refusal to be cowed by the men on the hill." I see that too. Our characters are becoming less "victims" and taking what responsibility they can for their choices under the circumstances. I appreciate your comparison of Arrow and Paul. Arrow's sniper was sent to kill the cellist but he doesn't want to fulfill that role. He's moved by the healing or uniting power of the music. Arrow sees him as a fellow human being.

[bellamarie]

I have a question....on page 156 Emina says to Dragan, "I wanted to see the cellist play today.  It's his last day, Jovan says he's finished after this."

If the cellist has not spoken to anyone, how did Jovan know this is the last day the cellist would play?  I understand the cellist was going to play 22 days to honor his 22 friends who died in the breadline, but, no one else knew this, at least the author did not reveal anyone had ever conversed with the cellist.

I too have finished the book and agree, the characters have decided they will determine their own fate, rather allow the men on the hill to control their day to day living through fear of dying.  They have decided they want to live and be a part in the rebuilding of Sarajevo, but if that is not their fate, then until the war is over they are not giving into the fear any longer.  Arrow decides to disobey the orders to kill a civilian, just for the sake of it, and in doing so she knows she is determining her fate/future. 

These sections remind me of a picture I saw on Facebook today of the streets filled with people in Paris, all deciding they will stand in solidarity sending a message to ISIS they will not give into the fear. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/12/world/europe/paris-march-against-terror-charlie-hebdo.html?_r=0

[Ella Gibbons]

Where are we in the book?  I get away for a couple of days and forget.  The Paris attackers have some similarities to the terrorists in this book - to kill, to instill fear and terror.  Why?  What is it either of them want to achieve?

I can't remember if the book ever makes it clear what the war is about? 

Beginning Part Three Dragan has a lot of thoughts about fear and death.  Somewhere he says your thought or fear of death depends upon what you think your life is worth or whether you want to stay in the world.

Personally I think this depends upon a lot of factors.  We all want life because it is all we know, but  I think our fear is lessened as we reach the "golden years" such as they are called.  Our children are grown, our bodies are deteriorating, we have more friends and relatives "on the other side of the river" than in past years, leaving memories and a few lonely days and nights.  I am not morose, just factual.

There were trenches dug in America, I believe, in our Civil War and perhaps there are stories there that can compare to the experiences felt by the characters in this book.  Dragan was captured and made to dig holes and for while he felt it made little difference whether it was the men on the hills who were shooting or the defenders who killed him. 

 

[bellamarie]

Ella,  We are reading through to the end part 3 & 4, and discussing it this week. 

[marcie]

Bellamarie, that's a good question about how Jovan would know it's the cellist's last day. Perhaps it was an intuitive guess after 21 days of music. I agree with you that the characters have decided they will determine their own fate, rather allow the men on the hill to control their day to day living through fear of dying.

Ella, we're on Part Three right now but many people seem to have finished the book so we can probably talk about Part Four also and the book as a whole this week.

You mention Dragan's thoughts in the beginning of Part 3. I think you've pointed to one of the important sentences in the book. "Emina will survive.. but if she didn't... wouldn't it be better to get one last look at the world, even a gray and spoiled vision, than to plunge without warning into darkness?
What makes the difference, he realizes, is whether you want to stay in the world you live in. Because while he will always be afraid of death, and nothing can change that, the question is whether your life is worth that fear."

I appreciate your thoughts about how our reactions to and thoughts about our own mortality change for many of us people. And I agree that conditions such as age and health need to be factored in.

[bellamarie]

marcie,  Perhaps it was an intuitive guess after 21 days of music.

The author has written this story not giving us a name for the cellist, and no words spoken from his mouth to anyone, yet Emina says, "I wanted to see the cellist play today. It's his last day, Jovan says he's finished after this."

How could it be an intuitive guess on Jovan's part?   No one but the cellist would even know he lost 22 friends in the bread line.  Did the author not know having Emina make this statement to Dragan it would cause question as to how Jovan would know this?  It may not seem relevant to some readers, but for me it is something that stood out as I read it.  The cellist never speaks throughout the entire story, so he did not announce he would play for 22 days. Dragan questions Emina earlier as to why she thinks the cellist is playing because neither of them have any knowledge he lost the 22 friends.

[marcie]

Yes, it's possible the author overlooked this and made a mistake in giving those words to Emina. However, the news of 22 people killed in one day probably spread across the town so it could be that someone listening to the cellist might make a guess at why he was playing starting the day after the deaths. I think that Emina and Jovan know that the musician is playing after the strike that killed those people, whether or not he knew them personally. He's playing right where it happened and some people are bringing flowers as he plays. There is still the question in Emina's mind of why he would decide to take action by playing a musical instrument.

 In any case, I think that the author needs the shooter and Arrow to know the last day of music in order to advance the plot and give the shooter and Arrow a last chance to follow their orders.

[bellamarie]

marcie,  In any case, I think that the author needs the shooter and Arrow to know the last day of music in order to advance the plot and give the shooter and Arrow a last chance to follow their orders.

I realize the author needed a time frame, but because he never allows the cellist to speak, it is a huge leap for me to assume others could decipher the days the cellist would play. I guess it's a question I will ponder, or just accept since the book is being narrated.   


I found it ironic how the author ties the beginning of the story to the very ending with personal items in the pile.   

In the very first and only chapter labeled "the cellist" the author tells us the cellist doesn't know what is about to happen.  Initially the impact of the shell won't even register.  For a long time he'll stand at the window and stare.  Through the carnage and confusion he'll notice a woman's handbag, soaked in blood and sparkled with broken glass.  He won't be able to tell whom it belongs to.  Then he'll look down and see he has dropped is bow on the floor, and somehow it will seem to him that there's a connection between these two objects.  He won't understand what the connection is, but the feeling that it exists will compel him to undress, walk to the closet, and pull the dry cleaner's plastic from his tuxedo. 

In the end of the story, on the last day, the cellist plays, sits on his stool for a long while, he cries.  One hand moved to cover his face while the other cradled the body of the cello.  After a while he stood up, and walked over to the pile of flowers that had been steadily growing since the day the mortar fell.  He looked at it for a while, and then dropped his bow into the pile.

After the cellist disappeared, Arrow went down to the street, not caring whether anyone saw her.  She looked at the cobblestones, the shattered windows, the pile of flowers.  She didn't think of anything, couldn't think of anything she hadn't already gone over a thousand times.  So she just stood there.  The cellist wouldn't be back tomorrow.  There would be no more concerts in the street.  She was disappointed it was over, Arrow leaned down and placed her rifle beside the cellist's bow.

So we had a woman's blood soaked handbag, the cellist's bow, and Arrow's rifle left in the pile, all signifying personal items that will no longer be needed.  Are we to assume the cellist dies, as the woman and Arrow did as well?  In the "afterword" the author writes,  His actions inspired this novel, but I have not based the character of the cellist on the real Smailovic', who was able to leave Sarajevo in December of 1993 and now lives in Northern Ireland.

[marcie]

Bellamarie, yes, I'm not sure what the cellist dropping his bow into the pile of flowers means. Possibly, he's spent all of the adagios (we're told in the beginning that they are a precious currency and he only has a limited number in him) in trying to express hope, for himself and, we learn from other's reactions, for them also. He has completed his task. Arrow, too, has completed hers. She has saved the cellist and others through her actions with her rifle. She is unwilling to kill anymore.

[BarbStAubrey]

blood soaked handbag, the cellist's bow, and Arrow's rifle - I see sacrifice, hope, and anger - not yet sure of the meaning - still reading...

[bellamarie]

I think the three items represented death. 

They were all no longer needed and ended up in the pile of rubble & ruins.  The woman died no longer needing her handbag, Arrow knew she would no longer use her rifle death was her only outcome, and the cellist no longer would need his bow....... as the author states the real cellist was able to leave Sarajevo and lives on. 

[marcie]

Those symbols likely have multiple meanings. We can share more as we think about them, especially the two that were voluntarily dropped into the flowers.

We haven't talked much about the music. I confess that I don't know very much about music and I know that some of you do. I read an interview with the author in which he shares something interesting about music and the structure of this book.

"
A: The book has three main characters because of The Cellist's piece he plays. The Cellist plays Albinoni's Adagio, which is a piece that was reconstructed from a sonata. I'm an incredible nerd about these sort of things, so I thought, why not write a book that takes an adagio and turns it back into a sonata.

The book is structured like a trio sonata, which is a sonata in which there is one melody and two main parts and if you were to play any one of the parts on its own, it would sound like its own piece of music.

With these, they're actually suppose to sound like they're on their own, but when you put them together it becomes a whole piece.

As for Arrow, she's the melody. I stumbled across an interesting factoid that in the war in Sarajevo, the first and quite possibly one of the only times, women made up a significant number of snipers."

http://www.women24.com/BooksAndAstrology/News/Author-interview-Steven-Galloway-20111013

[BarbStAubrey]

Yes, and further each of the three sections that we can see as Arrow, Dragan, Keenan are then further explored as each personality stated, explored or expanded, and restated - the characters introduced are as if playing a Sonata there are times when instruments answer each other and other times the instrument answers itself. This is really a gifted piece of writing isn't it.

[marcie]

Barbara, yes. I think he's a very good writer. He must have done good research too. The parts where Arrow was checking the best place to defend the cellist and think where the sniper would be were very detailed.

[bellamarie]

Found this interesting, the real cellist of Sarajevo continued to play in many other places:

Smajlović took his cello to the spot where those waiting for bread had been butchered and began to plaintively play. He played in a daze but in an incredibly evocative way. In spite of the risk, people gathered to listen. When he was finished he packed up his cello and went to a coffee shop. Quickly people came up to him expressing their appreciation, “This is what we needed.” Smajlović went back the next day and the next 22 days, one for each person killed. Sniper fire continued around him and mortars still rained down in the neighborhood, but Smajlović never stopped playing.

Then he went to other sites where shells had taken the lives of Sarajevo’s citizens. He played there, and he played in graveyards. He played at funerals at no charge, even though the Serbian gunners would target such gatherings. His music was a gift to all hiding in their basements with rubble above their heads, a voice for peace for those daily dodging the bullets of the snipers. As the reports of Smajlović’s performances on the shattered streets spread, he became a symbol for peace. A reporter questioned whether he was crazy to play his cello outside in the midst of a war zone. He countered, “You ask me am I crazy for playing the cello, why do you not ask if they are not crazy for shelling Sarajevo?”

- See more at: http://www.readthespirit.com/explore/vedran-smajlovic-cellist-of-sarajevo-still-moves-the-world/#sthash.JqXIWihA.dpuf

[marcie]

That is an interesting article, Bellamarie. Thanks for sharing it.

Anyone else have any thoughts about any part of the book?

[bellamarie]

I am going to have a very busy weekend and expecting my daughter and son in law coming from Florida, so I am going to say goodbye to this discussion.  Marcie thank you for choosing the book.  As always I am glad I read it, even if it was a bit too depressing for me.  It is a book I would never have read on my own.

Would like to wish you all a very.....

[marcie]

Thanks, Bellamarie, for participating and sharing your thoughts and informative links. I hope you have a wonderful time with your family.