Rating: 
Summary: Way to Go!!
Review: Ann, you did a FANTASTIC job on this one. We're so proud to say that you belong to OUR family! All the Californian Kulbackis and Patchetts love you!! :)
Rating:
Summary: Worthwhile
Review: I'm surprised there aren't more reviews here - this is a striking book. Like a good date, Bel Canto is cultured, intelligent, and romantic. The writing style is memorable - Patchett has a sharp eye for the expressions of love. The characters and plot are exotic but solid. There's a lot to like in the book. It's grand (revolution! love! murder!) and intimate (glances, scents, habits) at the same time.It's very much like a good opera - you might feel a bit guilty at the end for not spending your time more productively instead of swooning over art. But for people who find the arts stirring and indispensible, I think Patchett has created a desirable work.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, and timely
Review: I read Ann Patchett's "bel canto" a few months ago for a book club, and recently was amazed at the similarity of the recent Chechnen hostage crisis in Moscow. "bel canto" describes a similar situation -- patrons at a fundraiser are taken hostage in an unnamed South American country, and the days and months that follow depict the growing relationships between the hostages and the captors, and the tense and tenuous effort to end the crisis. In "bel canto" patrons have gathered for the birthday party of a wealthy Japanese benefactor, held at the home of the Vice President of the unnamed country. The country is in desperate need of the benefactor's money, and have flown in his favorite soprano from the States to perform. Shortly after her performance, the house is under siege from peasant guerrillas, who have a list of demands. What follows is a depiction of how the hostage situation leads people to reexamine their lives; strange liasions ensue, and the soprano's music is one of the few unifying forces among the disparate people involved. Patchett is a wonderful writer -- she handles a broad canvass of characters with grace, her language is lovely, and the story is compelling. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to her other books.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful book
Review: I don't know how Ann Patchett does it: she gets into the worlds of whatever she writes about, and in this book she knows the life of opera singer, and of a translator, she knows what it is like to be a hostage, and she surely knows what it is like to be in love and on the edge of death. Wow. And the ending, though disturbing, is exactly right. Brava, Ms. Patchett!
Rating:
Summary: A major departure--and accomplishment--for Patchett.
Review: Up to this point Ann Patchett has specialized in quixotic looks at small snippets of live on the edge in fine detail. A runaway wife if The Patron Saint of Liars, an obsession with the relative of an employee in Taft, a most unconventional marriage in The Magicians Assistant. All of the quite excellent books took in depth looks at the psyche of an outsider and his/her interactions with a very small circle of antagonists. In Bel Canto Patchett widens the scope of her work without dramatically altering--while yet significantly expanding--her habitual writing model. In effect she has created an ensemble mechanism witch allows her to effect her approach and methodology within an expanded and dynamic environment. The expansion arises through the employment of an environment of radically different characters of extraordinarily divers experience and social status. In previous works the characters were all "of a type" if you will and, to some extent, offered the reader a shared experience, though differing visions arising from that same experience. The dynamic comes from the interactions between-and the understandings thus achieved-by the various characters. The backdrop for this undertaking is a large-scale hostage taking situation in a "fictional" South American country (seriously suggestive of Peru). A band of revolutionaries, bent on kidnapping the country's President, are foiled when he skips the event in question to watch a soap opera. Encumbered with a huge lot of hostages-industrialists, politicians, diplomats, staff and various wives and children, the guerillas quickly jettison the staff, wives, children, etc., and hunker down with the rest. It is through the interactions and interplay between the holders and those held that Pratchett engages in the examinations and explorations which constitute the hallmark of her novels. What is important here in not so much the plausibility of the full cast of characters-which some seem to take issue with-or the verity of the Stockholm dynamic-a bone of contention for other critics. Rather it is the interplay-and resulting sense of intimate discovery-- of people suddenly marginalized. And in this realm, Patchett is a master. I have read-and can heartily recommend-all of Miss Patchett's work. I wouldn't necessarily cast Bel Canto as her best work, but it is certainly her most mature and accomplished novel to date. One of the best books of 2002 in my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical
Review: Patchett's book is about a group of people taken hostage in a South American country. It's about the relationships that develop between the hostages and their captors, and it's a wonderful study of the importance of music and art in life.
Rating: 
Summary: Good story...great writer...
Review: I thought "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett was a really good story. I also think Ms. Patchett is a great writer. Very colorful in her worded description of things. It takes a lot of talent to make someone feel as though they are a fly on the wall during a play-by-play in a story. Ms. Patchett did exactly that for me. The reason I gave the book four-stars instead of five was because I didn't exactly agree on a few things in her story, not meaning I'm right and she's wrong, it's just a different point of view that I see (captor v's captive.)
Rating:
Summary: This book is magic
Review: I've heard this style of writing called "magical realism" and for the first time I understand what this means.
The story begins realistically enough: dignitaries are in attendance at a private concert given for a Japanese businessman in an unnamed South American country. Just as the famed American soprano sings her final note, the lights go out and the group is left to wonder if they saw her accompanist rise to kiss her or whether they had imagined it. They are not immediately alarmed by the sudden darkness. Then a band of rebels invades the room via the air ducts and they begin to understand that they are no longer guests, but hostages.
Or are they? As the story progresses, the roles of hostage, translator, industrialist and guerilla are transformed, as each character learns to live in a world that becomes increasingly divorced from reality. Over four and half months, this motley group revises their ideas of love and loyalty, and comes to forget that the world outside has not forgotten them.
Ann Patchett weaves a remarkable tale, setting a dream-like mood while making her characters distinctive and engaging. Like her characters, I could have had this story go on and on...but, sadly, all good things must end. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful surprise!
Review: Based on the plot summary, I wasn't sure I was interested. Still, I borrowed the book from a friend when our book club selected it. Bel Canto is a delight. It's a fast, compelling read with characters who inspire caring and compassion from the reader. While some parts of the plot may not be entirely believable, you are so drawn to learn what happens to the characters next, that you are able to suspend any disbelief. Patchett writes evocative descriptions which recreate sight, sounds, even smells so faithfully, the reader is absorbed into the time and place.
Rating:
Summary: LIFE CHANGING
Review: This book and a book called Dreams: Gateway to the True Self changed my life...
| 
