Rating: 
Summary: Can Belto
Review: Wish I could understand what all the fuss is about. This book was woefully unsuccessful at holding my attention in even the slightest way. I bought it because of the title, only to find out that singing and opera is a minimal part of the plot. I couldn't even figure out where it was taking place - finally got the plot from reading one of these reviews and learned it takes place somewhere in South America.In a word, boring. Hope other readers have better luck with this one. I just didn't get it.
Rating: 
Summary: A fantasic read!
Review: "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett deals with a group of people from various countries who were held hostage by a terrorist organization somewhere in South America. The group of hostages consisted of Roxanne, a well-known soprano singer from the United States, Mr. Hosokawa, the president of a corporation in Japan, Gen, the translator and others. Soon, the hostages understood that they were not going anywhere and hence they formed relationships with their kidnappers. Patchett chronicled their daily lives and how this experience changed the course of their lives forever. I really enjoy this book as the story is absolutely mesmerizing. Ann Patchett did an excellent job as I really feel that I know her characters personally as she is able to make her characters come alive. This book is well-written, smooth, and there are definitely some poetic expressions that help to enhance the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a relaxing yet meaningful read.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous read! Not for the timid reader
Review: It's difficult to describe in a few sentences what makes this book such a wonderfully remarkable read. Opening the book lands you squarely in the middle of the action, and if you don't know the premise of the book (as I didn't), it's like opening a surprise. As you read page by page, you discover with the attendees of the party, exactly what "fate" is befalling them. What is remarkable, though, is that neither their "fate" nor that of their captors is the subject of the book. Instead, the focus is on the dynamic inter-relationships of a worldwide audience of minor dignitaries. Don't read this book if you expect a story about terrorists and good guys winning. This isn't about good guys at all. This is an exploration of what happens when events turn wrong and no one is in control. This is a story about fascinating people who learn to be introspective about themselves and to care about their companions and who forge the most unlikely of loves and friendships.
Rating:
Summary: PLEASE AVOID!!
Review: I picked up this book from Amazon's main competitor because I overheard a vendor recommending it to another customer. BIG MISTAKE. This is probably the first review I write about anything I own and hopefully won't feel compelled to forewarn anybody about anything else. The writing is bad (not a good sign when you think you can make some recommendations to the author), the characters are not fully thought out and are caricatures of Latin American soap opera maids, ambassadors and guerrilla fighters. My guess is that Ann Patchett has never fully explored Latin American culture and hence does not understand what she was writing about. She probably never even sat down to think about what is the relationship one has with music because what she pours over and over in this awful book is the idea that music turns most everybody into a stupid creature (except for those who execute it). In addition to this book I bought Nick Hornby's "31 Songs," a book about the author's relationship to music in which he explores what it is that makes him -and us as well- fall for a song (a delightful read of another kind but one that shows that the author put some love into the writing process). Save your money and please do not buy this. Ah, besides, some of the Spanish words she uses are misspelled and some of the sentences are poorly constructed (grammar mistakes!). Help yourself... AVOID! By the way, I finished the book to see if the ending could be any worse than the rest of it... it was.
Rating:
Summary: Boring and Shallow
Review: Thisis a novel consisted of character sketches and caricatures. The cardboard characters have no depth and they are too many. One keeps reading, not because one is so engaged in the plot, but with the desperate hope that the story may get better. But alas, the narrative remains boring and shallow-shallower that anything one has read. The writer has researched opera well, but has no knowledge of medicine and politics. The so called "terrorists" are caricatures who resemble Mexican cliches in Western movies and the "good hearted" diplomats and corporation owners (the guest/hostages) are either steryotyped according to their nationality or so sketchy that one forgets their existence, let alone caring about them. The soperano is a doll and the romance between her and the Japanese factory owner is not even a good melodrama. One wonders what is funny about all this? (if it's meant to be funny!) And dindn't the writer's editor remind her that one doesn't die of "lack of insulin" or one's face cannot be stitched with regular needle and thread without one practically passing out of intolerable pain? This Vice President who is being operated by the house maid feels so good in her arms that one wants to close the book right there, rush to the bookstore and get her money back. And a pack of ice take care of the pain, although it infects!!! On the whole this novel has so many serious flaws that the reader gets irritated at the author, the editor (who should have adviced her better) and the publisher. And why was it in the best seller list? Why the standards of literary novel have fallen so low in this country?
Rating:
Summary: Bel book
Review: I highly recommend Bel Canto. It is a work of significant literary merit, especially given the terrors of the world we live in today. The Roxane- Mr. Hosokawa romance was a tough sell for me given that they didn't have a common language, but the writer developed their connection so skillfully that the reader somehow comes to believe that it is indeed possible to fall in love with someone that you cannot speak to directly. This story is much more than a romance, however, and should appeal to both a male and female audience.
Rating:
Summary: Bel Canto: A Novel
Review: Opera and terrorism make strange bedfellows, yet in this novel they complement each other nicely. At a birthday party for Japanese industrialist Mr. Hosokawa somewhere in South America, famous American soprano Roxanne Coss is just finishing her recital in the Vice President's home when armed terrorists appear, intending to take the President hostage. However, he is not there, so instead they hold the international businesspeople and diplomats at the party, releasing all the women except Roxanne. Captors and their prisoners settle into a strange domesticity, with the opera diva captivating them all as she does her daily practicing. Soon romantic liaisons develop with the hopeless intensity found in many opera plots. Patchett (The Patron Saint of Liars) balances terrorism, love, and music nicely here. Anna Fields has a pleasant voice and reads clearly, although she doesn't differentiate among the characters especially well. The tape quality is excellent. Recommended for large public libraries.
Rating: 
Summary: literature imitates life
Review: although patchett writes the english language very well, the skeleton of her story is right out of 1996-97 peruvian history. facts: rebels from the peruvian jungle infiltrated the residence of the japanese ambassador during a cocktail party in 1996. the hostages not released, were held for four months. peruvian soldiers dug tunnels under the residence and stormed the residence, killing all the rebels and releasing the hostages. roxane coss is fiction, as is the story involving her.
Rating:
Summary: As Good as a Novel Can Get
Review: This is an excellent novel that flows endlessly, like a river into the sea. I was almost disappointed for it to end. In this age of radical terrorism, each of us live with the fear of being taken hostage. This is a well-written story of terrorists and hostages in a prolonged struggle for various issues within their lives. After the Stockholm Syndrome becomes a predominant factor, the boundaries of those who are good and those who are evil becomes blurred, as is often the case in reality. If you must read one novel this year, don't let this one pass you by.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Got a little bored toward the end - and must admit it ended rather abruptly, in my opinion. But overall, this was a lyrical and beautiful book with an interesting premise. Definitely recommended.
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