Rating: 
Summary: Gorgeous Book
Review: When my mother recommended this book to me, saying that it was about an opera singer and a bunch of diplomats who get taken hostage in South America, I was less than enthused. But I was without a book at the time, and I decided to give it a shot.This book is gorgeous. I have no better word for it. The character development, the way the relationships grow between the characters, the care and detail that go into the descriptions of the music... Patchett has such a gift for bringing her characters to life. Please don't let Oprah's seal of approval turn you away. This is not a "chick book." This is prose at it's finest.
Rating:
Summary: An enchanting new novel
Review: I find if amusing that I chose to read Bel Canto surrounded by classical and opera singers while I was at Youth Music camp. Bel Canto is an enchanting story of people pulling together in what looks like impossible times. Roxane Coss, famous and renowned soprano is giving a Japanese fan, Mr. Hosokawa, quite a thrill by singing at his birthday party which takes place in a mansion in a 3rd world South American country. Everything is going wonderfully until 18 terrorists, literally of all ages, attack the mansion, taking everyone hostage including Roxane, Mr. Hosokawa, Mr. Hosokawa's translator Gen, and a young priest. In the beginning the hostages fear for their lives, not knowing what any of the only Spanish speaking terrorists really want from them. But as everything starts to calm down, the exact opposite of what expected starts to happen. People who would have never meet each other for language barriers and other reasons become close friends, and sometimes more. People start to forget about dying and remember how to live for the first time in years. I was really impressed with this book. I first heard about it in writer magazine and was enchanted from the start. Although I usually stick to YA and fantasy novels, I found this to be a pleasant surprise and change. Their is something special about the descriptive nature of the writing that almost reminds me of Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha (one of my favorite books). The characters are well crafted and quite memorable, my favorite being Gen, the young translator who probably saved lives dozens of times. This book is worth all the hype it's getting. I highly recommend this to readers of all ages.
Rating: 
Summary: Great character building, but hard to get into.
Review: This book is about a group of people being held hostage in the house of the Vice President of an unnamed South American Country. The South American country attempts to attract foreign business and hosts a birthday party in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a Japanese businessman who they hope will bring money and jobs to the country. He is persuaded to attend in spite of the fact that he has no intentions of bringing business to the country because he is obsessed with opera and he admires the guest singer Roxanne Coss. The terrorists target is the President of the country, but when they find out that he is not in attendance at the party they decide to keep all of the guests hostage. Gen is Mr. Hosokawa's translator and because of the number of languages spoken by the different guests in attendance, his skills are in demand. Gen falls in love with Carmen, one of the terrorists holding them captive. Roxanne discovers a singer among the terrorists, who it turns out are mostly young teenagers. The terrorists aren't really such bad people once you get to know them. Even Messner, the negotiator sent in by the Red Cross thinks that he wouldn't mind if these terrorists got away. The first day takes 100 pages and it is a little boring and I found it hard to get into. But then a large group of hostages is let go and the intimacy between the remaining people in the house begins to build as they spend days and weeks and more time together. This is not the kind of book I normally read, but I did think it was worth reading because there are a number of characters and there are special passages where the author peeks into the souls of different types of people and shows you what they value in life. It seems like it took forever to reach the conclusion and at the same time, I thought that it was quick and sudden when it finally arrived. Some will not like the ending, but it made sense to me.
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: 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: 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: Decent writing, mostly boring, totally unbelievable...
Review: Basically a Harlequin romance but better written. There were a few stiff lines, yes, like "...the silk folds of her brain" but for the most part, 'tis better fare than the pure, adulterated romance stuff. Unfortunately, though, this may be even more farcical than your average Harlequin affair: The plot is wholly implausible.
A lot of women will like this, I suppose; a lot of men will be bored to tears, like I was.
Not a lot of grit, the stuff of life--mostly a lot of fluff.
Rating:
Summary: Truly a bel canto
Review: There were two main reasons why I purchased this book: 1) the title of the book is the same as the company my cousin works for, so right away it grabbed my attention. The second reason was the cover art. I purchased the book in Europe, and the cover, being orange, stood out from all the other books on the display. I picked it up and started reading the synoposis.
Even though it doesn't seem like the plot or the characters are feasible, it doesn't matter. Pachett's gift is for weaving the two elements together in a wonderful storyline, rich with dialogue and description. So what if it's not 'reality'? This is fiction after all. I found the entire book to be very well-written, and while I was shocked by the ending, in a way it didn't suprise me. For when I went back and re-read the book, there's all sorts of forshadowing that Pachett enters in that you probably don't pick up on the first time.
This book is a love story on so many levels--human relationships, musical relationships, etc. It's truly a bel canto.
Rating:
Summary: Read it.
Review: Engaging and informative, well-written and yet prosaic, brilliant and moving, anyone who criticizes this book for not being "realistic" or that it doesn't have any action completely missed the point. This is a fantasy whose purpose seems to be to create a picture of what peace would look like...metaphorically. Instead of boring details about how the negotiations are going (which we hear about in the real world every five minutes on the news), Ann Patchett paints an imaginary picture of what might happen if people let their humanity, rather than their political agenda, dictate their actions. I was enthralled with every character from beginning to end. Did I once care whether any of it could actually happen? No. This book was such a relief from the nonstop barrage of "reality" we've been forced to swallow lately. But there was truth here that went far beyond the limits of "reality." By the end of the book I loved all the characters because Ann Patchett truly understands the human soul and she depicted it with stunning clarity. Engage your ability to imagine, and read this book. Also would recommend another Amazon read: "The Bark of the Dogwood."
Rating: 
Summary: !!! Cool Book !!!
Review: Bel Canto was a book that explored many issues concerning identity, love, and true personalities. The story moved at a medium pace, and had just the right number of main characters. Though I think that the book was good overall, the surprise twist at the end was not to my liking. Sometimes the ideas became a little overwhelming and a bit overdeveloped. Weighing the pros and cons, this book is a must-read, even if only to aquire for yourself the controversial sections.
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