~REVIEW of Steven Galloway's THE CELLIST OF SEREJEVO~

Opening line: “It screamed downward, splitting air and sky without effort.”

A few years ago while I was travelling in Europe I met a guy from Sarajevo and we became friends. At one point he asked me if I knew anything about what had happened in his country. I replied that I knew very little, only what I had seen on the news. Sasha laughed and never said another word on the subject which at the time I found strange. Now I know why, what could he say that I'd possibly understand?

This is a beautifully written, haunting and thought provoking story that I only wish I could say I liked more. Because it is so well done though I also found it painful to read, depressing and absolutely futile, leaving me feeling angry at the whole world. Which I guess is the point and the ultimate result of any war.

I think what surprised me most is how little I knew about this conflict especially when you consider that it happened between 1992 and 1996. I mean that’s not that long ago and it’s not like this happened in a third world country either, this was modern Europe. I just finished reading a book set during the Second World War about the siege of Leningrad and this reads almost the same. How is that possible? How was this even allowed to happen?

Inspired by a real event this novel follows the lives of an unnamed cellist along with three others trying to survive in a besieged, war torn Sarajevo. It begins in the midst of a country gone mad, a mortar attack has just killed 22 people waiting in line to buy bread. Our cellist decides that to honour the dead for the next 22 days he will play at the point of impact. At 4 o’clock he dons his ragged tuxedo, sits in the bomb crater and plays. This simple courageous act creates a moment of peace and beauty among the rubble it also makes him a target.

Meanwhile a female sniper named “Arrow” is ordered to keep the cellist alive. Crouched from her perch in a bombed out building she waits for the counter-sniper who has surely been sent to kill him. She remembers back to a time when she went to college and flirted with boys at nightclubs and wonders how her life has became this?

The two other characters we follow disturbed me the most; An elderly baker on his way to work on his day off to get his daily ration of bread and a father making the long trek to “the brewery” to collect water for his family. A simple walk through the remains of the city has become a perilous journey. Mortars fall and the “men on the hill” go about their deadly business. Nobody is safe. Crossing the street had become a game of “Serajavan roulette” as the snipers pick off pedestrians. Should I cross now? Should I walk, run, crouch, crawl, go with a group? How do they decide who to shoot? But you need water and you have to eat. You have to make it across the intersection to keep your family alive.

These two men show us the city of Sarajevo as they walk through its remains and it very much becomes a character of its own here. The city shows us beauty and resilience and the men show us bravery, paralysing fear and humanity.

~REVIEW of Slavomir Rawicz's THE LONG WALK~

True Story of a Trek to Freedom

Opening Line: “It was about nine o’clock one bleak November day that the key rattles in the heavy lock of my cell in the Lubyanka Prison and the two broad-shouldered guards marched purposely in.”

Wow what an amazing story, epic is I guess more the word I’m looking for. I read this after watching the movie The Way Back and as is usually the case the book is much better, vastly different yet obviously maintaining the gist of the year long trek across an entire continent to freedom. As a point of interest (or not) Colin Farrell’s tattooed gang character does not exist in the book. Anyways…

Slavomir Rawicz wrote this memoir in 1959 as a form of therapy to escape the memories that still haunted him. It has lost nothing with time however and remains one of the most incredible journeys of strength, endurance and human spirit you’ll ever read.

Its 1941 and “Slav” has just spent two years in a Soviet prison. After multiple beatings and interrogations at the hands of the sadistic prison guard “the Bull” he is eventually found guilty of espionage (?) and sentenced to 25 years forced labour in a Siberian work camp. (These sections were actually some of the most brutal in the whole book)

 Thus begins his journey. Transferred during the dead of winter Slav somehow survives the 3000 mile cattle car train ride and subsequent chain gang death march into inner Siberia and camp 303 in Yakutsk After enduring starvation, cold, illness and brutality he and six other prisoners escape.

Together they cross an entire continent on foot with nothing more than an axe, a knife, a weeks worth of food and an unbreakable will to live. Covering some of the most inhospitable conditions on earth they travel out of Siberia and through China, across the Gobi dessert into Tibet and finally over the Himalayas and into British India. This is where the epic part comes in because their journey is so brutal, so filled with despair and suffering its at times unbelievable and also impossible to put down.

The LONG WALK is written very factually and Slav doesn’t ever tell us how he feels, he just gives a meticulous account of what is taking place. However for this type of storytelling it was perfect. Included in this 1997 version is an afterwards with some of the readers most persistent questions answered. What Slav’s life was like after The Long Walk, What happened to the other men? Did he ever see them again?

This is a story I won’t ever forget and I highly recommend. I mean they walked from Siberia to India, just think about that for a second.

~REVIEW of David Benioff's CITY OF THIEVES~

~FANTASTIC COMING OF AGE STORY SET DURING THE SEIGE OF LENINGRAD~

I came away from this feeling very cold, very hungry and with an inexplicable need to make sure my pantry was full. CITY OF THIEVES is a fantastic story; set in 1942 during the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad. It’s a coming of age story filled with adventure, suspense, friendship, romance and tragedy all washed down with (from what I understand) a historically accurate picture of Leningrad during the blockade.

I should point out that despite the events of the time this is also a surprisingly funny read as our two main characters; Kolya the romantic optimist and Lev with his random internal observations both have an interesting way of looking at life around them during the absurdities of war.

The story begins with a powerful opening chapter; a writer asks his grandfather to tell him about his experiences during the war. All the narrator knows -and he doesn’t remember anyone telling him its just one of those family folklores that he always has. Is that his grandfather, "the knife fighter" killed two Germans before he was eighteen and is missing a finger. And so Lev begins to tell his story to his grandson. Talking openly for the first time about his childhood, coming to America and sex. Mostly though he talks about a two week period in 1942 when he met his best friend, the woman that would become his wife and killed two Germans. I actually referred back to this chapter several times during the course of the book and again when I finished.

Its January 1942 Leningrad is under marshal law, surrounded by the German army and what’s left of its inhabitants are starving. Our hero 17 year old Lev Beniov has just been arrested for looting and placed in a cell with a handsome friendly deserter named Kolya Vlasov. Both of their crimes are grounds for execution and as our heroes get to know each other that’s what they expect come morning. However in a twist of fate they are given a chance to save their own lives, a secret mission for a powerful soviet colonel. All they have to do is find a dozen eggs for his daughter’s wedding cake.

A dozen eggs in a city cut off from supplies, a city resorting to cannibalism and eating glue from book spines to survive. It is of course a ludicrous and impossible task one which takes our new friends far into German occupied territory, through the bitter cold of winter and countless adventures and atrocities. The outcome didn’t really surprise me but I haven't stopped thinking about it either.

“One moment I thought I had a few minutes left to live; the next a sniper was flirting with me. Was she flirting with me? The days had become a confusion of catastrophes; what seemed impossible in the afternoon was blunt fact by the evening. German corpses fell from the sky; cannibals sold sausage links made from ground human in the Haymarket; apartments blocs collapsed to the ground; dogs became bombs; frozen soldiers became sign posts. I had no food in my belly, no fat on my bones and no energy to reflect on this parade of atrocities. I just kept moving, hoping to find another half slice of bread for myself and a dozen eggs for the colonel’s daughter.”

~REVIEW of Andy & Johnathan Hillstrand's TIME BANDIT: Two Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs~

~Modern day pirates, tell it like it is~

 

Opening Line: "I am a fisherman, an Alaskan fisherman, and a Bering Sea crab fisherman with thirty-seven years on commercial boats."

As a long time fan of TV’s The Deadliest Catch and an avid biography reader it was a given that I’d read Time Bandit, I just didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did or be given such candour into Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand’s lives. Now thanks to the boys I also know just about everything I’d ever want to about; Alaskan weather, rogue waves, hypothermia, what happens when you party naked, ice flows, never quitting, how many groceries you need to feed 7 hungry men for two weeks, the coast guard (coasties), eagles, seagulls, the Bering sea, red gold, flares, silly string wars, crab pots, survival suits, cod, salmon, the fishing industry in general and how to get out of jail in Mexico.

If you’re a fan of The Deadliest Catch then you’ll love this even though you will have already seen some of the stories played out on TV. However all the behind the scenes details and the intimate look into Andy and Johnathon’s lives really make this worthwhile. Exhilarating, anguished and often hilarious these modern day pirates give a first hand account on what its like to face death on the Bering Sea with stories that are in turn riotous and often sadly reflective. They talk here just like they do on TV too so expect the F-bombs, a general feeling of unruliness and a hell of a lot of fun.

Ghost written by Malcolm Macpherson, he cleverly takes an assortment of the Hillstrand brother’s tales, adds some facts and then layers them all within a gripping adventure. Starting with Johnathan drifting alone in his 38 foot fishing vessel 'Fishing Fever'. He has lost power, doesn’t have a radio and is quickly running out of cigarettes however by the end theres still 1 flare left and he hasn’t cracked the Crown Royal.

Jonathans narrative takes us through the Hillstrand brothers rough and tumble childhood, the tempestuous relationship they had with their father and onto the Time Bandit into 2008. He provides a great deal of humour throughout, none of which I can repeat here but sure made me laugh and is without a doubt the “bad boy of the Bering Sea” A couple of chapters in we switch to Andy’s POV on his horse farm in Indiana. He has just received the call that his brother’s gone missing while salmon fishing. Andy’s narrative is less personal and places a lot of emphasis on family, marriage and having a life away from fishing. And although the more reserved of the pair make no mistake Andy has a wild streak too.

Macpherson takes us back and forth between the two brothers with Andy waiting and worrying at the ranch and Jonathan drifting into Shelikof Strait, eating raw salmon and rationing cigarettes. The ending of this true life adventure is well…just another day in the life of a Hillstrand.

There’s also 16 pages of photographs.