Comeflyaway
Member
I just finished reading "The Cellist of Sarajevo" by Steven Galloway, and I've got be honest, it was a little disappointing. I know people are going to disagree with me on this, but hear me out.
On the plus side, it gave a lot of insight into a modern-day war-torn area that I know little about, and I give the author kudos for that. And it presented interesting, diverse characters, and detailed the difficulties of their daily lives in ways that was touching, poignant, and just plain interesting.
But the reason that I put the book down with a disappointed sigh at the end was a lack of rising and falling action. I applaud any author that successfully breathes new life into that "rising action-climax-resolution" formula and breaks free from pattern, but that didn't happen in this particular book. I could put my finger on the intended climax if asked to, but I can't say that the author successfully built up to it, and there certainly wasn't a resolution afterward. Each character's stories just incorporated the event and moved on without much turbulence. And then the book just ended.
I'm not one to insist on happy endings or neatly tied up ends if ambiguity is more fitting to the situation. In fact, I like realistic endings more than happy endings. But I do expect that the state of things is somehow different at the end of the book than at the beginning. Even if events aren't different, characters' interpretations or perspectives should be.
I suspect that the author merely meant to showcase one event in the life of these characters and simultaneously depict how one tragedy or event or miracle doesn't really stood out in the grand scheme of war. For me, though, the effect was simply uninspiring.
Has anyone else read this?
On the plus side, it gave a lot of insight into a modern-day war-torn area that I know little about, and I give the author kudos for that. And it presented interesting, diverse characters, and detailed the difficulties of their daily lives in ways that was touching, poignant, and just plain interesting.
But the reason that I put the book down with a disappointed sigh at the end was a lack of rising and falling action. I applaud any author that successfully breathes new life into that "rising action-climax-resolution" formula and breaks free from pattern, but that didn't happen in this particular book. I could put my finger on the intended climax if asked to, but I can't say that the author successfully built up to it, and there certainly wasn't a resolution afterward. Each character's stories just incorporated the event and moved on without much turbulence. And then the book just ended.
I'm not one to insist on happy endings or neatly tied up ends if ambiguity is more fitting to the situation. In fact, I like realistic endings more than happy endings. But I do expect that the state of things is somehow different at the end of the book than at the beginning. Even if events aren't different, characters' interpretations or perspectives should be.
I suspect that the author merely meant to showcase one event in the life of these characters and simultaneously depict how one tragedy or event or miracle doesn't really stood out in the grand scheme of war. For me, though, the effect was simply uninspiring.
Has anyone else read this?