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Summary: love it!
Review: I'm not yet finished this book and I already want to start reading it again. Bel Canto means beautiful singing, well this book is beautifully written. I'll be sure to read Ann Patchett's other books and hope they are as well done as this one.
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Summary: Thin characters
Review: I have to echo the sentiments of the previous reviewer. I'm an avid reader, but I'm finding this book difficult to finish. The character development is weak in my opinion -- I just don't care about these characters. Also, for the most part I don't find Patchett's language to be interesting, engaging or unique. I'm disappointed...
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging, poetic
Review: Beautiful, poetic language, likable and sympathetic characters (even the terrorists), and an interesting ending I had to go back and re-read to ensure I got it right! Highly recommended!
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Summary: Has to be one of the worst......!!!!
Review: I started a book club with a group of friends. Bel Canto was recommended. It sounded great... exciting,profound,complex.. nothing could have been further from the dream. The reality found me FORCING myself to pick up the book and get to the end... hoping I could find one thing that would sing its praises at our book club review. It reads worse than a Mills and Boon romance (the mass produced love stories in the UK). I couldn't find a character I was drawn to, a piece of writing that sang to my soul, an event that had me on the edge of my seat... and to top it all off, the plot appeared oh so familiar. The terrorist group Tupac Amaru took a group of hostages in Lima, Peru, back in the the late 90's and all of them blown to bits at the end. Not an original story, needed strong coffee to stop me falling asleep and I would NEVER recommend this book to anyone, least of all a book club!!
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Summary: A wonder on several levels
Review: This book could serve as a useful study resource for either a literature or a sociology college course. It has so many interesting themes flowing through it, it is like a symphony. Some of the truths explored: Solders are trained to kill and can be cruel no matter the cause; people really care mostly about themselves and not any cause - the revolutionaries eventually forgot about the others they had wanted to free and really wanted nothing more than to live the life of the president (except when reminded they were soldiers); love obliterates boundaries and is the earth's most powerful force; never underestimate the spiritual power of the arts to also dissolve boundaries and change hearts. These are only some of the themes that could be discussed. A very well-written book that can bring a tear and a sense of melancholy at the end - plus a lot to think further about.
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Summary: Bel Canto Soars on a High Note
Review: Bel Canto is truley one of the best books i have read. It is beautifully written. Much of his discriptions seem extremly poetic. Once you get into the story you simply cant put it down. It has everything you could want - a terroist attack gone wrong- a love story- and heartwarming characters. Truly a great read.
Rating: 
Summary: Promising at first but...
Review: When I picked up Bel Canto, I was enchanted by the setting described on the back of the book. By chance, a similiar event was happening in Russia where a group of people have been kidnapped in a museum or an Opera house, so it fueled my interest. However, the story dragged on and on with not much going on. The hostages are all in love with Roxanne Coss, the Opera singer, with exception to Gen, the translator(Or so as we are lead to believe). She is treated as a diva and have special privileges in terms of sleeping quarters, clothing, and access to almost any provisions she desired. With her immense talent, she mesmerizes the hostages and the terrorists daily with her hours of singing practices. I thought this was so unbelievable in a time of life and death situation. Not one character is losing his mind or even thinking about committing some desperate acts to escape. Then there is Messner who is supposed to be a negotiator, but he is ineffective and relegated himself to a delivery boy. The terrorists and the hostages soon become a big, happy family, each dreaming of living in the present condition forever, or dreaming of the unthinkable, such as marrying each other or working for one another. The hostages have considerable freedom and hardly see any act of brutality. I guess the author wanted the readers to sympathize with the unprofessional terrorists to blur their feelings of the captors and the captives. I have often heard of the transition of the hostages' mental capacity of fear and hatred towards the terrorists into a sort of psychological dependency and a feeling of comradeship. However, to think that most all of the hostages felt like this in just 3 or 4 months of captivity is unthinkable. There were some likeable characters such as the Vice-President and the teacher-turned-terrorist, General Benjamin, but I could not totally relate or sympathize deeply with any of the characters. As a bilingual speaker of both Japanese and English, Gen, the translator was a somewhat interesting character in that he was needed almost all the time for people to convey their converations, and yet he struggled to keep the translation as it is without his comments. At times Gen was the only person who really knew what was going on. Yet this knowledge is usually not a privilege, but a burden because Gen did not have one person to really talk to. I liked how he was enthralled with linguistics and words meant a lot to him. Mr. Hosokawa, the main guest for the occasion is a believable character in his mannerism such as bowing, his views on work and family, his quiet and calm behavior. I have known many such person in Japan, but at the same time, it felt very stereotyped. This book had such potential and yet did not deliver much. Nothing really happens until the last few pages of the book. The conclusion is sudden and extremely quick, needless to say quite predictable. I felt unresolved and dissatisfied at the end.
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Summary: One of the best written books I've ever read!
Review: I was instantly drawn in and seduced by the language of the book. Beginning to end I loved every word. I found the ending to be arbupt and weird, but overall I loved this book.
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Summary: The transformative power of music
Review: This book captivated me and deepened my love of music, especially vocal music. I have been urging everyone I know to read it, as the message I got from it, of the transformative power of music (and art, and of course great literature) is so very important at this point in history. This past week I attended a concert in which a wonderful soprano was singing Mozart arias, and I had the good fortune to have a seat right in the front of the hall. As I watched and listened to her amazing singing, so close that we could have been in a living room together, I recalled the scenes in the book where the terrorists and hostages are listening to Roxanne practice in the ambassador's living room, and I had to fight tears. Great music, great literature have the power to transcend cultural and political barriers and touch the human soul, and ultimately they are what really matter in life, not politics. As I watch in horror the daily news, I take more and more solace from music and literature. This book was a strong tonic, a profound reminder in these troubled times of what is really important and of what humans can achieve if only the politicians would let them.
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Summary: If Noam Chomsky Wrote a Novel:
Review: Understandably, those looking for all-is-well-with-the-world, escapist "happy endings" might find this novel very disappointing, and. agreeably, it does seem to possess a "love-it-or-hate-it" quality. I must weigh in on the "love it" side of this equation: I found myself truly caring about characters for the first time in a long time (and I read voraciously), and I am finding its "message" (intended by the author or not) haunting. This is a "romance" in the classic sense of that word; it is also a true novel in that it uses fiction in the classic sense: to hold up for us a mirror, a reflection (again, in every sense of that word) and commentary on the contrast between what it means to be individual human beings--with all our capabilities, sensitivities, capacity to love and change, and our foibles--and the mindless, shallow, insensitive "horror" of "the state." I find its depth of insight into that very contrast thought-provokingly remarkable, especially in our "entertian-me" times: it could have ended no other way: the heart-renting, daily, continual acting out of this tragic contrast, worldwide, would be lost entirely. I agree that Gen and Roxanne's marriage in the "Epilogue" may require some "suspension of disbelief," but this is a novel: how else could the author have found a denouement that pulls together, and places for their loving, respectful safekeeping, the events of this novel's story? If you seek more than simply a "good read" (although it is that, too); if you are willing to experience the inherent sadness and tragedy of life and the human condition at the level of a "classic" novel, this is one of the few modern novels to address that condition with much depth, within a current context, in some time. The only other novel I've read recently of this calibre would have to be Rohinton Mistry's _A Fine Balance_ , another exploration of the tragic poignancy of human relationships within the constrictions of conventions and horrors of state. To paraphrase: "had I more time, this [review] would be much shorter," and, it is to be hoped, far more succinctly denote my deep appreciation of the profound depth of insight and felt sadness, even despair, regarding the human condition this novel expresses and evokes. No, _Bel Canto_ is not just another "beach read," as we say in the South: "by any amount of means": far too much substance! If Chomsky reads and appreciates excellent fiction pertinent to his own deep concerns, would someone please let him know about this book? Thank you, Ms. Patchett.
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