Rating: 
Summary: Bel Canto
Review: Captivating, made me want to see an opera, ballet, listen to music, make love to my husband,incourage my children on the gift of languages. Only I did not like the very endding, but hey great reading till then.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Prose But Poor Story Development
Review: The first third of the book really got my juices flowing. Terrorists bungle the would-be kidnapping of the president of a Latin American president, and, instead, take hostage a group of diplomats, businessmen and artists during a diplomatic function. Through this first third, the book is rich in characterization and Pachett's prose is wonderfully descriptive, which kept me turning page after to page to see what would happen in this tense situation. However, the next two-thirds of the book took on the feel of a pulp romance. The terrorists and the hostages begin having a love fest of sorts, singing, dancing, cooking gourmet meals, running around the garden barefoot, having fondling sessions in closets, cheering up depressed terrorists stuck up trees. There is absolutely no conflict of any kind after the first third of the book: the would-be message, I guess, is that terrorists and hostages live to love even in confinement. I felt like I was living a sappy '30 Broadway musical. Indeed, so much of this book veers on the incredulous. For example, Patchett thinks that there is nothing unusual in having 50 some odd males worshiping opera without regard to their level of musical background or education -- and all 50 male opera lovers are straight! Further, the same 50 some odd males in captivity are completely in love, like they have never been in love, with one woman, and this woman has complete control as to who she wants to sleep with -- this is a fantasy, and one aimed for women. Then there's the teen terrorist who suddenly makes a grand debut down the regal stairs and develops the ability to sing Tosca in Italian as a coloratura soprano and everyone thinks HE sounds almost as good as the "world's best" soprano. The fact that the hostages are from the Western superpowers and that the terrorists are Third World is never explored: why use this device of Western superpowers held hostage in a Latin American country but not explore remotely the politics of the situation? The book is worth reading for Patchett's use of the language, which clearly shows her talents; however, story development is certainly not her forte in this novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Booooooooring
Review: I heard so much about how great this book is that I couldn't wait to read it. I just could not get interested, but kept plugging along hoping it would improve. It didn't. I never did finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Shoot me now...
Review: If I was able to give this a negative star, I would. My book club at work decided to read this as it was selected as a
"Read it, Share it" book. Reading it was like sticking needles in my eye balls. And I can only torture myself for so long, so I stopped at pg. 100. This is quite possibly, the worst book I never read. And for the record, the entire book club HATED IT, and we're a pretty diverse group.
Rating:
Summary: I agree, Fabio should have been on the cover
Review: I seriously cannot believe I wasted my precious time reading this book! The ending is so horrible that I am sitting here wondering what in the heck happened???? I am so dissapointed in the ending that it just soured the rest of the book for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Who thought this was award-worthy?
Review: I had high hopes for this book based on the plethora of positive reviews and the fact that it had won several awards. Well, whoever decided that Bel Canto deserved an award or thought that it merited a rave review needs to be fired. The idea for the story was unique and HAD potential. However, as executed by Patchett, all potential is lost. The plot is boring, the main characters do not inspire passion or thought, and the epilogue makes no sense. In fact, the epilogue is the worst part of the book. The main character Gen does something that so out of character that it is unbelievable and none of the other characters seems to think his behavior is out of character! Attention critics...You shouldn't give a book an award just because the IDEA behind it is good, the author needs to follow through and deliver a good book. What a disappointment. Skip this book and read something else, anything else. Ugh.
Rating:
Summary: Lovely!
Review: This book was absolutely astonishing--an overall enchanting read. Patchett sweeps you into a world of grace where none is expected--a bewitching tale.
Rating:
Summary: Back to the River Kwai, but in song
Review: I chose to read this book because it won the PEN/Faulkner Award and The Orange Prize (for women writers), along with being a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, not to mention that it received the raves of numerous book critics across the nation (hardly the novelist's relatives). I was not disappointed. It was not until I reached the end and closed the book that I realized I had the same feeling I had after watching the movie, Bridge over the River Kwai. There was the danger posed at the beginning and then the same helpless, claustrophobic feeling of captivity, followed by a period of cooperation and growing respect between captor and captive that could only end in disaster because outside forces would eventually intervene. But in Ann Patchett's wonderful opus, instead of two nationalities there are many. And females are among the captives and captors this time, which naturally brings on love stories. The true magic of the book is the author's talent in getting into the heads, and hearts, of so many of the characters. Motivation drives characterization, and it is fascinating how Patchett is able to locate the driving force in each of so many diverse captors and captives. Of course, they are all captives, really, since the captors themselves are also contained within the walls of their own conquest, giving the book a Russian doll irony. When the opera singer adds her voice to the mix, I was reminded of another fine book, "Shadow Song" by author Terry Kay, in which an opera singer also mesmerizes a whole town. "Bel Canto" is Italian for "beautiful singing." And the book is a beautiful song. I read Bel Canto after reading The Girl With The Pearl Earing by Tracy Chevalier, which centered on a famous work of art. It has been a pleasure to read two books back-to-back where art and music formed the core. Normally I don't enjoy reading books by women, I am reluctant to admit in public, but these two books have been two of my most most enjoyable reading experiences...ever.
Rating:
Summary: Under developed and disappointing.
Review: I was really excited to get this book after reading the great reviews. However...it just dragged on and on. I simply could not connect with the characters. I just didn't care about them. The author has a beautiful style of writing, but lacks the ability to fully develop the characters in this book. The plot was thin and could have been written by anyone. Perhaps if I was an avid fan of opera I might have enjoyed it more. Many parts were just a bit over the top of reality. I could believe a translator who fluently spoke five languages, but when Gen speaks in eight or more, that strikes me as a bit far-fetched. I finally made it to the end, only to be disappointed again. That type of ending would have happened realistically within the first week or two. But 4 1/2 months later?? It was a very disappointing book from a very talented author.
Rating:
Summary: Love Music; Love Literature; liked this book.
Review: Based on the reviews, awards, and the back-cover, I thought this book would be fantastic. The writing is good - it's not the most brilliant turn of a phrase as many of these reviews are claiming - it's just good, sometimes very good. The plot is ridiculous, but it's fiction! You need to suspend reality a bit when reading fiction - that's half the point. It's a fun read, well-written, with good character development. It's not going to show up in any modern literature classes anytime soon, but it's good escapist fun.
|
