Bel Canto is a quiet story told with a sense of inevitability. The characters are detailed and poignant; the end, when it comes, is sad but not shocking. The author makes it clear that the hostages and terrorists are suspended in a soap bubble of time together; the question is not whether it will end, but how and when. ( )

ONE BIG SPOILER REVIEW COMING UP:

Bel Canto is a lovely written story of love, not a love story. Terrorists barge into a birthday party for a prominent Japanese businessman in South America under the rouse of possibly helping the small community financially. Mr. Hosokawa, however, is there only to hear the operatic voice of Roxane Coss, the famous soprano.

The story winds and turns, without any violence and minimal demands, as it is learned that the terrorists are, for the most part, young boys looking for the release of a few prisoners; there are two girls sprinkled in for good measure. Predictably, yet, beautifully, Roxanne and Mr. Hosokawa, who do not speak the same language, fall in love with the help of Gen, Mr. Hosokawa’s translator, who falls in love with one of the female captors. There are several other undercurrents of love; the love for music, the love of chess, the love of running, the love of parent and child.

The book is nearly over, and 4-1/2 months into captivity, when out of the blue, the army, or anti-terrorist team, swarms the house and kills all of the terrorists, including the translator’s love interest and accidentally, Mr. Hosokawa. On the next page, the last page, the translator and the opera singer get married; they state they are in love. The end.

What?! I reread the last page twice and still don’t understand what happened, or for that matter, why it happened.

Oh. My. Gosh. I don’t remember being so disappointed in an ending for as long as I can remember reading. Seriously. Boo.

So, why then would I recommend the book? Because it is wonderfully written and a remarkable, touching story of love. The book leads us to look at love in a different light. It is fresh and unique, though not a page-turner, and is quite entertaining. (Except for the ending, of course.) ( )

Beautiful story.Email this reviewKIRKUS REVIEWCombining an unerring instinct for telling detail with the broader brushstrokes you need to tackle issues of culture and politics, Patchett (The Magician?s Assistant, 1997, etc.) creates a remarkably compelling chronicle of a multinational group of the rich and powerful held hostage for months.An unnamed impoverished South American country hopes to woo business from a rich Japanese industrialist, Mr. Hosokawa, by hosting a birthday party at which his favorite opera singer, Roxane Coss, entertains. Because the president refuses to miss his soap opera, the vice-president hosts the party. An invading band of terrorists, who planned to kidnap the president, find themselves instead with dozens of hostages on their hands. They free the less important men and all the women except Roxane. As the remaining hostages and their captors settle in, Gen, Mr. Hosokawa?s multilingual translator, becomes the group?s communication link, Roxane and her music its unifying heart. Patchett weaves individual histories of the hostages and the not-so-terrifying terrorists within a tapestry of their present life together. The most minor character breathes with life. Each page is dense with incident, the smallest details magnified by the drama of the situation and by the intensity confinement always creates. The outside world recedes as time seems to stop; the boundaries between captive and captor blur. In pellucid prose, Patchett grapples with issues of complexity and moral ambiguity that arise as confinement becomes not only a way of life but also for some, both hostage and hostage-taker, a life preferable to their previous existence. Readers may intellectually reject the author?s willingness to embrace the terrorists? humanity, but only the hardest heart will not succumb. Conventional romantic love also flowers, between Gen and Carmen, a beguilingly innocent terrorist, between Mr. Hosokawa and Roxane. Even more compelling are the protective, almost familial affections that arise, the small acts of kindness in what is, inevitably, a tragedy.Brilliant.

A little long winded but an interesting experiment. ( )

Bel Canto has been on my to- read lists for years. I've heard such wonderful things about it. And true, it is wonderful. The writing is splendid, if a bit much page by page by page.
It is one of those books where a lot of nothing big goes on, but a lot of little things do. A group of people, including an opera singer, get held hostage by a dysfunctional group of revolutionaries who intended to kidnap the President (otherwise engaged on the day in question).
It's all pretty grim at the start but through the exquisite joy caused by an opera singer singing and practising for four hours every day, people are brought to a generally peaceable state.
Not sure I wouldn't go mad under the circumstances.
Everyone speaks different languages, and there is only one person who can translate. One mediator from outside comes back and forth. Months pass, captives and captors learn to get along together, the opera singer sings but refuses to do anything else as she is above all that. She sings and sings and sings. The Vice President does the laundry and housecleaning. The Frenchman (of course) cooks. the Russians (of course) smoke and speak of passionate love, only in words, not action. The Japanese character is (of course) self-possessed and wise. And loves opera.
Everyone's character is drawn, first with a pencil and then filled in, darker and darker. People bond together. Love blooms.
The ending, when it comes, is unbelievable. Two characters end up together who have no reason to do so. I felt cheated by the ending, betrayed. It was as if Patchett got fed up with the story and tied it all in a neat bow. ( )