Rating: 
Summary: A beautiful, tragic book
Review: Patchett's novel Bel Canto is the sort of book that inspires me to read more. The words, like the musical themes resonating throughout the work, are truly lyrical. The story of a kidnapping gone awry is fascinating and engrossing. You feel for both the kidnappers and the victims, which is no small feat. As both sides remain trapped in the presidential estate in an unnamed South American country, you can imagine them living the rest of their lives there, together. But you know this is not meant to be. And while the book does not give its readers a neat and tidy ending, Patchett is clearly no wimp, and the story ends with a return to "normalcy," as hard as that might be to accept.
Rating: 
Summary: Very enjoyable
Review: I heard Ann Patchett on NPR and enjoyed listening to her so much I bought three of her books. I'd already read Magician's Assistant (but had forgotten). I really enjoyed Bel Canto. It was very easy to get close to the characters so much so that I was devastated by a certain section of the book. The ending took me by surprise and there wasn't much of a bridge to it. I had to go back and reread to see if I missed anything. Alas, no. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: What was, What is, What might have been...
Review: This is a beautiful fantasy, many small camoes, heart rending poitraits of people whose lives intersect in a most unusual way. We see in each life what has formed the person, what beauty, comedy, potential he or she possesses, and what might have been if circumstances had allowed.
This is a book to be read slowly, with attention to each character.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Read
Review: My book group just finished this book and we had a wonderful discussion. We felt that the writing was some of the best we had read in years. Using music as a methaphor for passion, power and communication Ms. Patchett was able to create such a believeable world that many of the emotions of the captives and captors transfered to the reader. We like it enough to pick another of her books for our next meeting.
Rating:
Summary: Strange
Review: I thought this book was too strange for a normal guy like myself. Some of the sentences were pretty, but the language was too flowery and pretentious.
Rating: 
Summary: Not What I Expected
Review: After seeing Bel Canto on many lists, I thought I would check it out. The premise of the book sounded interesting and I thought it would be suspenseful. Instead it turned out to be a lame romance novel with a disappointing ending. I appreciate the moral of the story about slowing down and really learing what makes you happy but most of the plot seemed implausable. You know that there can't be a happy ending, but how about more than one only 3 paragraphs long! That was the biggest disappointment of the book. You finally start to feel for the characters and then you're dropped without any closure. And don't even get me started on the ridiculous "plot twist" epilogue. I would not reccommend this book to anyone who likes a complete story. While the writing is good, the story left me hanging.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Song
Review: This is my first introduction to the writing of Ann Patchett. I loved every word in the main body of this book. It is an imaginative piece of story-telling that can only come to it's unhappy end. Even as the book marches toward the only possible outcome I cried for what these people gained and lost. I truly cared for most of the characters in the book, especially the priest who has a spritual awakening at the hands of his beloved opera. I say read this book, but DO NOT read the hastily thrown-in epilouge. The book is a braver book ending just how it must end. Please be content to finish the book there. Bel Canto really deserves 5 stars, but the unecessary and dumb epilouge is a bad attempt at wrapping up the story in a pretty little bow.
Rating:
Summary: lyrical, charmed, but too abruptly drawn shut
Review: Ann Patchett's "Bel Canto" brings together mighty and meek, old and young, from all corners of the globe. A translator, an opera singer, a sick, chess-playing terrorist, and fifteen soldiers who still sleep like children - when they're all confined to a mansion for several months, the boundaries between them muddy. Patchett shows us the humanity in all these veneers, the unexpected pairings and unlikely heroes and the passions each prisoner - terrorist and hostage alike - discovers. The book starts out slowly: a state dinner in honor of a foreign businessman, attended by two hundred people he doesn't know. Even when the party is invaded by terrorists and the guests are held hostage, there seems little to novelize about the characters' sharp personas. But appearances gradually fall away, and everyone becomes more complicated, and more human, than his job title. They are all slaves to their duties, but their sudden, lengthy imprisonment frees them. "Bel Canto" is masterfully written, thoughtful, and satisfying. Its one weak point is its sudden, hastily foreshadowed ending. Instead of fate, the novel's final pages feel like something the rest of the book manages to avoid: a carefully planned maneuver gone awry.
Rating:
Summary: mesmerizing
Review: I've never read a book with such poignancy as "Bel Canto" provides its readers. Ann Patchett delivers a performance of the imagination that pulls the reader in with teeth clenched and eyes unblinking. As terrorists and hostages are conjoined by one operatic voice, myriad personalities and endless hours of reflection, their lives are unexpectedly reviewed, revised and renewed. Patchett's characters were forced to open their eyes to life, to who they were upon becoming deeply introspective without the adornment of the simplest of everyday luxuries. While reading this novel, one can't help but to consider the direction of his/her own life, as we now live in a country we once thought of as impenetrable, just as the characters in "Bel Canto" believed the party they were attending to be safe territory. Devastatingly difficult to put down and resonating with emotion, this book shines with brilliance.
Rating:
Summary: An overall good book
Review: I would recommend this book to someone who doesn't mind reading a slightly long book with a wonderful storyline. The story is about a terrorist group taking a party at the Vice President's house hostage. The terrorists wanted to kidnap the President but he is not attending the party. They decide instead to hold the entire party hostage until their demands are met. Over time, the hostages learn to adapt to their new life and get along with each other and even the terrorists. Towards the end, the hostages no longer want to be rescued. This book would appeal to the adventurous romantic person. There is a great deal of action and romance with the hostages and even the terrorists and the hostages. I would give this book four stars because the book is slightly unrealistic with the romance between some of the hostages and terrorists and how the hostages begin to enjoy living in the Vice President's house. If you can manage to get past this, you are in for a wonderful story. It teaches you a lot about hostage situations and how the government reacts to them. I think if you try you could read this book and enjoy it greatly.
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