Rating: 
Summary: Literary page turner
Review: This is a truly wonderful book--you will think about it for days after having finished it. And once you start reading, it will be very hard to put down. And I say all this not liking opera at all. The author creates characters that are beautiful in their passions and their individual personalities, even if they're not people you would necessarily want to be friends with. She has enormous compassion for her characters--and her compassion draws you into the story and the flow of their lives. It's also a fascinating plot. It reminds me of what people love about Anna Karenina--it's a rather prosaic story and the characters are flawed but the perfect mingling of the development of character with a fast moving plot makes for a truly wonderful story. Not that Bel Canto is the equal of a Tolstoy classic--but it DOES draw one in to another world. A terrific read for a slow Friday night.
Rating: 
Summary: An unfortunate story
Review: Despite its premise, centering on a terrorist/hostage situation, Bel Canto does little more than cast a shadow of a standard "Stockholm syndrome" story where innocent cardboard cut-out hostages fall in love with each other and their not-so-terrifying terrorist captors.
Forgoing even a build-up of tension, Patchett reveals the novel's ending on page thirteen (paperback edition) with the line, "...when in fact it was the terrorists who would not survive the ordeal." Perhaps if Patchett had added some insight to her characters, anything that would indicate their development psychologically, sociologically, politically, or literally, the flimsy plot line could be forgiven. Unfortunately there are none either on the characters' behalf, or the reader's. The ultimate ending is completely unsatisfactory and does not allow for the characters previous interactions and personality developments and feels tacked on, as if an editor required a few more pages of text.
Bel Canto may have plenty of book club potential, but it is, overall, a disappointing read.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, haunting book
Review: A beautiful haunting book, written with the rhythm and cadence of an opera. It explores the complexities of relationships, good and evil, love and hate, the captive and the captor. It is definitely a book that will linger in your memory.
Rating:
Summary: Sappy
Review: Upon reading the cover blurb and the glowing reviews I was looking forward to enjoying Bel Canto. I am both a music lover and an enthusiast of Latin American culture, having spent the past three years living in Bogota Colombia. Fifty men and one woman are taken hostage in an unnamed country (a thinly disguised Peru, with elements of Colombia and Guatemala thrown in). The lone woman, Roxanne Coss, is the world's most famous opera diva. The men are rich and powerful Westerners: diplomats, barons of industry, politicians...and through some bizarre quirk of fate they all happen to be rabid opera fans. The captors are made up of fifteen armed-to-the-teeth teenagers led by three veteran guerrilla warriors. The hostage situation (an early death, a pistol whipping) quickly devolves into some sort of egalitarian fantasia. A Japanese business executive reveals himself to be a classically trained soloist; he and Miss Coss fill the house with beautiful music. The country's vice president rolls his sleeves up and waxes the floors. A guerrilla leader plays chess with the hostages. The French diplomat doubles as a gourmet chef, and puts the knife wielding terrorists to work chopping vegetables. Even these young gun wielding teenage boys discover all sorts of latent talents: one becomes a chess master after watching a few games, and another reveals himself as the next opera great, reeling off arias in perfect Italian. Even though her subject is a hostage situation, Anne Patchett has managed to write a novel without an ounce of tension. The situation's sorry end is so heavily foreshadowed that the conclusion creates no sense of surprise. It is almost as if Patchett willfully disregarded all of the elements that might have made Bel Canto a gripping read. The hostages are powerful men from societies as diverse as Russia, Japan, and Italy, but the sole cultural clash in the entire novel arises from a Latino hostage asking Miss Coss to help with the cooking (she politely explains that she does not know how to cook.) Even the obvious racial and class conflict is utterly avoided. By the novel's end rich hostages and poor terrorists are playing soccer in the garden and making plans for the future. Bel Canto was a disappointment, especially given the accolades that have been heaped upon it. Patchett can write, and the novel's opening passages are smooth and captivating, but the reader is soon pulled into a syrupy soap opera full of unrealistic situations and unbelievable characters. Patchett appeared to have attempted a quirky love fable, but Bel Canto ends up as a soupy mess in which teenage guerrillas and wealthy western barons of industry all find their common humanity. I found myself waiting for Roxanne Coss to burst into an a capella version of We Are the World. Not recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: so-so read, but makes you want to listen to opera!
Review: Bel Canto is indeed beautiful in places. But it strains credibility to the point that the spell of opera and wonderful human nature must, by force, be broken. The premise is that a motley bunch of people- a Japanese businessman, several diplomats representing different countries, the vice-president of the 'host' country, an opera singer, a translator and assorted terrorists are imprisoned for several months in the vice-president's mansion. A stalemate with so many important people for so many months? It just isn't believable, and yet it is necessary for the story to unfold. Most of the characters are poorly developed and leave you with mixed feelings for them. The terrorists with hearts of gold, the ardent accompanist to the diva, and even the stereotypical Mr. Hosokawa are as thin as cardboard. Yet you want to believe that human beings thrown together will grow to like each other instead of rushing to each other's throats. The descriptions of opera are brilliant and made me, a jazz lover, want to rush out and buy some CDs right away. The ending is appalling and grotesque- it feels like all the good sentiments generated during the story were somehow all flushed away. I kept wanting to turn the pages but felt curiously betrayed at the end. A bittersweet book.
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Summary: Jamie's review posted bySasha since her computer didn't work
Review: Bel Canto, literally meaning a beautiful song, is not a fitting name for this book. The story is very depressing, but the plot is rather thin. Throughout the book, the details of several characters lives are discussed. While in some cases this might be interesting, I think that this took away from the book because some characters felt unnecessary and forced, and I did not feel sympathy towards these characters. Because of this, I found the book much less interesting. Although the story moves slowly throughout the book, it is still very passionate and moving. It evokes great thought and emotion and although I did not love the book, I still think it was worth while reading. This book is well written and well thoughtout, but in the end, I still feel as though the book as a whole is only mediocre, not quite the beautiful song it claims to be.
Rating:
Summary: Bel Canto
Review: Ann Patchett's novel "Bel Canto" grabs your heart in the first two pages and from then on I was not able to put the book down. The novel opens with a dramatic kiss and a roaring applause from guests all over the world attending a party for the successful Japanese businessman Mr. Hosokawa, held at the house of the Vice President, in a poor, Spanish-speaking "host" country.
The kiss is between a world famous soprano opera singer from America and her accompanist, Cristopf. Mr. Hosokawa had a deep love for opera and would only have his birthday there if she were to perform. The government of the host country met this request on the account of their hopes that Mr. Hosokawa would install one of his Nansei factories there, in hopes of providing jobs and boosting the country's economy, but all Mr. Hosokawa really wanted to do was hear Ms. Coss sing.
The reader is enwrapped in the love of opera and the elegance of the party, with people from Russia, Germany, Italy, and France all coming together to celebrate, and perhaps talk some business, when the house is invaded by a local rebel group and the guests are taken hostage. The setting makes the reader feel like the novel will be a typical story about rescue of the good and defeat of the evil, but instead it turns out to be a heart-wrenching story of compatriotism, beauty, and love.
Patchett proves herself extremely ambitious- and successful- as she attempts to set up and break every major human barrier in our society. Throughout the novel she makes distinctions, creates sides, and lists contrasts and yet she breaks the walls of language, geography, age, and culture. And what a better thing to bring all of it together than music? Which is an art form that continues to tie our world together today.
Another amazing thing about Patchett's writing is her ability to make her characters so human, so real, that often the reader is able to predict how one of her characters will act in almost every situation. You feel what her character is feeling even before Patchett writes it down. Relationships and situations that would normally seem outrageous, unheard of, and even impossible, soon become familiar and close to your heart.
Ann Patchett quickly brings you into a world of hope and almost fantasy, and she brings you back into reality just as fast with a tragic ending. I don't want to give away the ending, but to all the readers I suggest that once you put the book down, reflect on everything you read- just because you feel the tragedy, don't forget the beauty that's also in it. And to the people who haven't read it, I suggest you do. It's beautiful.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I've never read Patchett before, but her writing style greatly impressed me. She proves very successful at telling a story through the eyes of everyone at the party. Accepting the challenge of not having a single character narrate the story, the reader is gifted with multiple eyes, looking into each of those eye's lifes. Contrary to other reviews, one aspect that I loved about this book was her character development. Even the characters who, when first introduced, I dispised, or at least met with indifference, by the end of the novel I had grown attached. Patchett is also very successful at the flow of her story telling. Her transitions are very smoooth. I felt she was telling a story that she experienced herself and has retold thousands of times. Very flued. I will admit, the beginning is a little slow, but by the end I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this novel, very enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Great Start that gradually grows tedious and boring
Review: I read some great reviews about this, and was anxious to read it. I read a lot, and love great writing. However, after 200 pages of this thing, I just couldn't take it anymore. What started off as intriguing and suspenseful gradually turned tedious and implausible. Ms. Patchett's characters seemed to lose more of their charm each day the hostage situation dragged.........on.
Eventually, I didn't care about any of them. I just don't see how all those men could suddenly fall in love with Opera and the diva. I have a hard time believing that the people "outside" would do nothing for four months - c'mon! Mr. Hosokawa...who could like him? Roxane Coss...diva is right - totally unlikable. Gen...great potential for development until his juvenile infatuation with the little terrorist. I don't care what happened. I had to quit.
Rating:
Summary: The Music of Bel Canto
Review: Bel Canto is a beautifully written novel that weaves a story in which one, single situation becomes both horrible and wonderful at the same time. Patchett is able to transport her characters -and the reader- into her own world where anything is possible. The plot of the book revolves around a hostage situation in an un-known, poverty-stricken host country, but while reading the book, I found that at times I had forgotten these people were prisoners at all. Patchett made me understand and feel what her characters understood and felt. Her words fit perfectly together as I had never experienced before; like a river the words just floated by me and flowed through the story.
At times it began to be a bit wordy,there were long passages that seemed disconnected and unhelpful to the plot. Most of the characters were multi-dimensional, but even in there desperate situation, I couldn't always connect with them. Even so, Patchett seemed to sense my quams and somehow I was always pulled back in by an invisible and undeniable current.
The thing that makes Bel Canto so beautiful is its use of music. Everyone falls in love with the famous soprano, but she's not breath-takingly beautiful on her own. Her music makes her that way. The hostages fall in love with her when she sings. Her voice is like a spell that seeps into their veins and changes that way the look at life, and at others around them. Everyone is tied together by her singing. Everyone is changed by the music. It makes them better, or it makes them want to be better. Like a waltz, Bel Canto is elegant when it otherwise would seem impossible to be so; and flows past time, while time is standing still. It shows us that love is found in even the darkest places, and we have no choice but to embrace it.
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