Disappointing! ( )

Power of musi. A group of guests is held hostage in a house by 'invaders', singer's beautiful voice brings calm. ( )

Somewhere in South America, at the home ofthe country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of the powerful businessman Mr. Hosokawa. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening - until a band of gun-weiliding terrorists takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, a moment of great beauty, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different continents become compatriots. Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion...and cannot be stopped.

So says the back-of-the-book blurb, and for once it is marvelously accurate. A fascinating study of marvelously drawn characters in a metaphoric lifeboat. ( )

Beautifully written book about a hostage situation gone wrong. Terrorists and hostages are not who you think they are, all of which you find out in a slow, lesurely style of prose. The relationships are what really got me. Patchett is amazing at creating these complex yet so simple relationships that remain true to each of the person's heritage. My favorite was when the Russian declared his love. He asked for nothing in return but just wanted Roxanne to know of his love..how true. The epilogue also caught me off gaurd -- I couldn't believe that was how it ended up.It was beautiful and made me cry. It also made me want to spend more time in the now. ( )

The story had a simple setting but a multitude of characters, each with an uncovered potential that lured me to care even I didn't want to given the pressure of the ending. I will remember the silent intimacy in the china cabinet as much as mesmerizing magnificence of the opera.
I enjoyed the characters and story, and would have enjoyed more if I could understand the abrupt and callous epilogue. ( )

Would have given this a higher rating, but was disappointed by the epilogue... ( )

2007 ( )

Absorbing description of a group of hostages and the developments of their relationships as their captivity continues. ( )

Good, but not as good as The Magician's assistant. It's a great love story, but I think it falls down at the end, laving me sad that the couples did not get closure. Well, some did in a terminal way. I don't think Gen should have married Roxanne. Carmel was too nice. ( )

Very good

More interesting once the book was finished; book club pick BTS ( )

Haven't read a novel for awhile and found this to be suprisingly good - almost a black comedy - you always know the outcome won't be good, but it was engaging enough to want to go to bed or sprawl on the couch to read how the hostages and terrorists were getting on together! ( )

Bel Canto is one of those books whose characters live with you while you read it and in the spaces between your reading. I finished it last night and woke up thinking about it, pondering the way the notes fell and accustoming myself to the story they told.

A third-world country in South America throws a birthday party for Mr. Hosokawa, a rich Japanese businessman. To lure him (and possibly his future business) there, the services of the world-famous opera singer Roxane Coss had been engaged for the evening. No one expected to end the party as a hostage of a terrorist organization bent on kidnapping the President. But the President wasn't there; he'd decided at the last minute not to attend, and the terrorists are left with nearly 200 hostages they didn't want and no backup plan. And so things drift on for weeks and months as the Generals try to figure out what they can get from the situation.

There are many wonderful character sketches in this story, but five in particular stand out to me. Mr. Hosokawa, his translator Gen Watanabe, Roxane Coss, the female terrorist Carmen, and the Vice President Ruben Iglesias. The relationships they build, stepping out on the tenuous threads of translated speech and interpreted expressions, are the magic from which the story is spun.

And running underneath everything, popping up in every scene and playing a part in almost every private motivation is the power of music. It is like a character in its own right against the backdrop of human violence and tragedy. The way it is handled reminds me so much of Steven Galloway's The Cellist of Sarajevo, another story in which music is a bold statement of beauty in the face of ugliness. Music redeems; music is a force no one was expecting to reckon with.

The tone and certain events in the story also reminded me of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient. People trapped in a house together try to make sense of their colliding worlds through physical relations, and though it "works" for a time, it cannot last forever. It is also slightly jarring how almost every male in the house is in love with Roxane Coss, but I suppose, given the magic of her voice and the enforced boredom of their captivity, that this is not altogether unrealistic. I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with portrayals of men being unfaithful to their wives for any reason, especially when it is shown as natural and acceptable. Perhaps it is natural, but never acceptable!

Patchett has a very sensitive narrative voice and she probes her characters gently. The terrorists become people too under her hands as she teases out their nebulous hopes and the things that make them distinct (though I'm sure it helps that they are not the more violent faction of terrorists in the country who would have systematically shot their hostages to force the government to act). The reader feels a strong empathy with many of the characters, despite their flaws. I even ended up liking Fyodorov, whom I thought at first was just pushy and coarse.

I feel both unsatisfied and relieved with the ending; I can't quite decide if it feels contrived, or if it's the only possible finish for a story like this. It is not really a happy ending... as much as I love those, I realize that a perfect, bloodless denouément would mar the entire story.

If you are, like me, not overly familiar with opera, this is the kind of story that will make you want to listen to it, try to find the beauty that is so powerful in the novel. I enjoyed the book a great deal but I imagine opera-lovers would find even more to relish here, where opera becomes entwined with literature and human tragedy. We are all of us on the stage.

This isn't a book for younger people, but mature readers (and especially fans of opera) will find much to enjoy here. Recommended. ( )

An Opera singer and many politicians are held hostage in an unknown South American country. Good plot and enjoyable read. ( )

An un-named, poor South American country plots to improve their fortune by hosting a birthday party for a prominent Japanese businessman featuring a performance by his favorite soprano. The party is attended by diplomats, politicians, and even some curious representatives from Russia who wriggled an invite by suggesting they too might be interested in setting up manufacturing in this country. The president of the country is typically adamant about keeping his nights free...in reality, he is addicted to a soap opera and doesn't like anything to interfere with his TV viewing. He agrees to attend this gala, but then backs out at the last second.

The terrorists didn't get the memo.

The mansion where the party is taken place is overwhelmed with a paramilitary group pouring in through the windows and duct work, immediately seizing control. Their goal was to snatch the president and be gone within minutes, holding him ransom until political prisoners have been released. The search for El Presidente is fruitless, though, and the terrorists are unable to decide how they will make use of the altered circumstance. Soon, it becomes a moot point when the mansion is surrounded by police and a long siege ensues.

Bel Canto is the story of several principle characters caught in the nearly 5 month ordeal. Love stories break out not only among the captives, but between a captive and a young lady that is one of two women among the terrorists. Meanwhile, another of the young terrorists is discovered to have an incredible singing voice, and the soprano begins teaching him proper singing techniques. The translator, the only person able to communicate with everyone in the mansion, falls for one of the young women terrorists and endeavors to teach her reading and writing. It's a case of everyone making the best of a bad situation, there is very little malice between hostages and captors.

Patchett's prose is somewhat on the flowery side, her terrorists could never be convincingly terrifying. That's not to say it was lacking violence...it was hinted early that everything would end badly for many of the characters (and all of the terrorists). Pratchett then built them up so the reader felt somewhat sympathetic toward them, and then with relish, throws in an ending worthy of Korean cinema. ( )

There is a strange coda to 'Bel Canto' that contains the long-awaited twist, but apart from this late, late twist, the book is a very simple tale about a group of armed rebels who take a houseful of people hostage. This action backfires disastrously because the intended target, the President, isn't at the gathering, having decided to stay away to watch his favourite soap opera instead. As a result of this, and the rebel commanders' decision not to negotiate, a standoff develops that stretches into months. Inevitably (and predictably) the boundaries between the takers and the taken begin to blur (the so-called Stockholm syndrome) as everybody comes to terms with what has happened.

The joker in the pack of characters that Ann Patchett assembles is the singer Roxanne Coss. She beguiles everyone both by her presence and her singing. She eventually falls in love with the party host (Mr Hosokawa) and they start a clandestine relationship. As does the translator (Gen Watanabe) with one of the two rebel girls, Carmen, whose gender is not initially apparent because all the rebels are dressed alike. Everybody learns about their true emotions in a less than satisfactory way (nothing negative ever happens); all is progress, all is development and everybody forgets about the actual, deadly situation in which they are really living. So love and education flourish: Gen teaches Carmen how to write: the priest teaches the other rebel girl, Beatriz, how to pray; Mr Hosokawa teaches Ishmael how to play chess; Roxanne teaches Cesar how to train his voice and becomes intoxicated by the prospect that he is an even better singer than she is: and this is despite the fact that throughout the book, it is her singing that is the magic fluid keeping the whole magical event suspended in a timelessness that we as readers all know will come to its inevitable end. In that respect, there is no suspense in this novel because there are no realistic alternative outcomes.

In addition to this predictability, the story also has to be sustained by a very creaky device that finds one of the characters to be a miraculously adept linguist. The story would unquestionably have been much more clumsy in its construction, and perhaps impossible to construct at all without the enabling lingua franca provided by Gen. This enables the characters with their myriad languages to communicate with barely a struggle. As a Japanese national working for Mr Hosokawa he naturally speaks his mother tongue, but also speaks English, Spanish, Russian, French, German, Greek and Portuguese (mirabile dictu). As he starts to waver with fatigue, the story starts to ready itself for it grisly penultimate act. He is worn down by his duties (he always has to be there when the red cross intermediary from outside, Messner, arrives for his daily visit); he always has to be available for the 'generals' whenever they need him; he is always needed by the many suitors for Roxanne (the 'only' woman involved as it is reported by the media later); and latterly he finds even less energy for his group role because he is making love to Carmen in the china cupboard.

Everybody is so far into their suspension of disbelief that they have come to hold, like a fact, that nothing will ever penetrate their fantasy island from without; at this point the military invade the dream, killing all the 'rebels' (by now we are not so sure; are they just some of the millions of 'under-privileged' who never had a chance to escape from their own downtrodden 'reality'?). Along with, and at the same time as the rebel Carmen is killed (murdered?) Mr Hosokawa takes the same bullet as he tries to protect her... maybe he knows that the Gen is in love with her and that the young should survive...?

When the shooting is over and everyone who has to die is dead, the twist in the tale can be straightened out. Of the two couples that developed loving, sexual relationships, only one from each couple survives.. having both lost their hostage lover, and knowing that the other is the only person in the world who will ever understand what happened during those fateful months, the story ends with their marriage and projected happy life together in Italy - Bel Canto indeed!

This book made me fall madly in love with Ann Patchett; after reading it I vowed to hunt down every thing she'd ever written and to buy anything else she ever writes. ( )

I struggled with the ending, but absolutely loved the intensity of the entire novel. Some of the most romantic (without being gratuitous) love scenes I've ever read. ( )

In an unnamed South American country, a birthday dinner party is being held in honour of a Japanese industrialist. Prominent political and industrial guers are in attendance, while Roxanne Coss, a famous opera singer, enthralls the crowd with her virtuoso performance.

Little do they know until the lights go out, that a rag-tag group of terrorists plan to use the President as a hostage. Unfortunately, the President stayed at home to watch his favourite soap opera, leaving the terrorists with a major flaw in their plans.

Patchett moves the focal point of the story between the hostages and the terrorists, revealing the good and bad in each. The 58 hostages have no common language, other than the glorious music provided by Roxanne and the pianist. As they spend many months together trapped in the Vice-Presidential house, the lines between hostages and terrorists becomes blurred. Patchett beautifully builds the tension and the eerie feeling of suspended reality within the palace.

Bel Canto is an elegantly written book which shows the noble side of human nature. Like other books set in South America, she captures a dreamy, escapist atmosphere most excellently. ( )

(Music themes, but may not be right for a musicology list) Recommended by Elizabeth Schwartz.

It was a hard book to get into. Overall I enjoyed the book, but it was not my favorite Patchett book. ( )

First I liked it, then I really liked it, then suddenly the epilogue killed it all. Well, not quite, but you get the idea. I would have torn out the last chapter if it was my copy, but its a bit out of order to do that to someone else's book so I decided to let it go.

Nonetheless, prior to the last chapter it is a moving and interesting look at people overcoming barriers of language, culture, and conflicting loyalties to build strong relationships and alliances. Perhaps a little overwritten with very rich language, but not distractingly so. The plot developments mean you have to stretch belief, but I enjoy that kind of heightened reality. ( )

Amazing poetic story! Rich characters, beautiful writing. Love this book! ( )

Opera has never been very appealing to me; however, after reading {Bel Canto} I feel the urge to swallow the history of opera whole and let it rage through my bones. The novel is an homage to art and beauty and a meditation on love and freedom . Patchett creates a paradoxical situation that explores the power of art and love juxtaposed with violence and fear. While both comical and tragic at times, it ultimately speaks to the strength of love and the power of music.

The conclusion of the novel and the epilogue to me seemed necessary. Regardless of how deeply the hostages and reader begin to care for the terrorists, the outcome is inevitable from the beginning. The epilogue, while rather depressing, is also a testament to the strength of art and love. Without spoiling the ending, I'll just say there were no other alternatives for these characters. ( )

Patchett did a wonderful job of fleshing out every character. They became real characters as the book evolved and I cared about the terrorists as well as the hostages. An interesting storyline, but disappointed slightly in the ending. I guess in reality those things end abruptly. ( )