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Loading... Bel Canto (original 2001; edition 2002)by Ann Patchett
Work InformationBel Canto by Ann Patchett (2001)
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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. 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. It's been 15 years since I first read this and fell in love with Patchett's writing. Since then I've read all of her work and rereading this one was a treat. A birthday party for a Japanese business man in South America takes an unexpected turn when terrorists take the group hostage just after a performance by an opera singer. It's a surprisingly tender story, less about the hostage situation than about the human connections that can be made in the most extreme situations. It's beautiful and will break your heart. The details, like clandestine Spanish lessons in a china closet, a young chess player, the power of music, and the fastidious vice president's efforts to maintain some calm in the chaos, are what will stay with me. A perfect place to start with the work of one of my top-five living authors. The setting is a vice-president estate in an economically frontier country where dignitaries from all over the globe are thought to be brought together to celebrate the birthday of a powerful Japanese entrepreneur, but reality is almost to a person they came to see/hear a famous opera singer. The estate is taken over by a political terrorist group that somehow manages to hold onto the estate for several months. The story though is about the different characters, including the terrorists, from vastly different backgrounds and how they ultimately become somewhat of a family. Kindness, caring and love are found between the most incompatible people in the most unusual ways. The common thread to bring all these characters together is Gen, the translator for the Japanese entrepreneur who could speak just about every language spoken in the house. A very interesting premise for a book, but it just drags along at times far too much. Unlike Patchett's other books (e.g. Dutch House) where strong character development was a treasure, Bel Canto just feels overly done. The only surprise at the ending is that it isn't surprising, however, I thought the Epilogue was surprising and even very unbelievable.
''Bel Canto'' often shows Patchett doing what she does best -- offering fine insights into the various ways in which human connections can be forged, whatever pressures the world may place upon them. Although this novel is entirely housebound, at the vice presidential mansion, Ms. Patchett works wonders to avoid any sense of claustrophobia and keeps the place fresh at every turn. Belongs to Publisher SeriesHarper Perennial Olive Editions (2010 Olive) Is contained inHas the adaptationHas as a reference guide/companionHas as a student's study guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. 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-wielding terrorists breaks in through the air-conditioning vents and takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different countries and 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. No library descriptions found. |
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