Rating: 
Summary: Refreshing
Review: I felt this book was very unique and started off great, grabbed my intention, and I really enjoyed it. I loved the development of the characters and the style was refreshing.
Rating:
Summary: a story to ponder
Review: It is intriguing to see reviewers on both ends of the spectrum in rating this book. It is NOT an action packed, adventure story. Nor is it a soap opera type, shallow relationship story. Instead it is a book to ponder. Some may find it slow, especially if they have become addicted to action stories, which seem to be the current emphasis of modern literature. But give this story time. Think about it. Watch for things the disparate characters have in common, regardless of culture, economic level or nationalities. How do people in impossible situations change, develop, learn to cope? How do they form a new reality? It is utterly fascinating to meditate upon this story.
If you prefer a fast paced story, then read another story as you slowly wend your way through this book. It is worth contemplating. Don't be satisfied with only fast food, when you could be savoring fine cuisine.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome beauty and danger make for an interesting novel
Review: This is beautifully written novel worth reading and passing on to friends. Time stands still for the hostages and hostage takers and yet so much is discovered about life, death and love. While our characters are facing the worst possible danger of their lives, there is a sense of being more alive inspired by the presence of the Opera singer's beauty and talent. There is a juxatoposition between captivity or internment and feeling more alive. The senses are heightened in the face of danger and awesome beauty.
Rating: 
Summary: Magical or Unrealistic?
Review: The book is often praised for its "magical" feeling, but often the occurences and characters merely seem to be contrived and false. Patchett's writing is beautiful: she's undoubtedly one of the better writers working today. But it's hard to buy everything in this book: the terrorists stunned and pacified by a beautiful opera singer; the superhuman Japanese young man who just happens to speak nearly every language on earth; the lack of police or military response for DAYS and DAYS on the outside. If the reader can accept Patchett's world as predominantly allegorical, then this book can work. But I found it lacking in a crucial emotional and logistical reality that one sees so apparently in Marquez or Allende. When a truly brilliant writer like Marquez depicts revolutionaries, he's able to capture that thread of cruelty and hostility in them as well. Patchett's terrorists come off--with the exception of the one with shingles--as naive boys, soothed by music as easily as cartoon beasts, and incapable of anything truly threatening. I don't buy it. Even in a story as fanciful as this one, there is that element of anger that's needed for us to understand the hostage situation. Without it, everything seems like the central conceit of a long and occasionally dazzling writing exercise.
Rating:
Summary: Bel Canto
Review: Don't miss this wonderful story of opera and thrills. After reading this story, I wanted to find a sequel because it was such a fast, wonderful read. Humor, thrills, politics and love. What else could one ask for? Pack it in your suitcase. It is a must read for the summer.
Rating: 
Summary: So much potential.
Review: I read the first 160 pages, which took forever, and the last chapter, and I got pretty much the whole story. At first I thought the book was sophisticated and intriguing, but it took so long to get to the point that it turned me off. The end was out of nowhere and left many questions. This IS your run-of-the-mill, "people get taken hostage and then you learn about their sordid lives." Not to my taste at all.
Rating:
Summary: Starts out well...
Review: Although it was enjoyable overall, it was not that great. (I preferred the Magicians Assistant.) In Bel Canto especially the story drags on too long, the middle has too much "filler".
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Summary: A REVERIE OF GUNS, TERRORISM AND PUCCINI
Review: The premise of this very readable book is based on the 4-month Peruvian hostage crisis in 1994. As the novel opens, 57 men, 18 terrorists and one remarkable opera soprano (Roxanne Coss) begin their new life behind the closed doors of the vice presidential mansion, in a surprise guerrila coup. The government of a small South American country was holding a birthday party for the head of Japan's leading electronics manufacturer, hoping to attract its business. Mr. Hosokawa, they know, can't resist the opportunity of a private performance by Ms. Coss. But it's not Hosokawa or Coss the terrorists want -- they were after the country's president. Unfortunately, they quickly learn that he skipped the soiree to watch his favorite soap opera. Upon successfully storming the building, the rebels find their kidnapping attempt foiled, and they don't know what to do. The plot is engrossing, and Patchett's pen is eloquent in many moments. The mild relationship that develops between the Japanese businessman and the soprano, despite the lack of a common vocabulary, is interesting. Yes, there are issues with the novel. The characters are somewhat cardboard although we are pointed to everyone's good sides. The resolution to the predicament itself, though supposedly hinged on an actual event, is specious at best. Yet, Bel Canto is high on my recommendation list because of the variety of grounds it manages to cover with a very readable summer treat -- art/music, the quagmire of politics, love that transcends geographic boundaries and trappings, Red Cross negotiations, fear, rebellion. Patchett makes it happen. This isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of review, but not every thing that comes highly recommended need be one.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written with lots of depth
Review: There are so many things about this book that I love. In addition to the lyrical narrative, I found the relationships that eventually develop between the captors and the hostages surprisingly effective and haunting. It made the surprising climax and ending resonate all that much more.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I've just read several of the reviews and am compelled to write my own. Others have told you the plot lines, so I won't. I loved how every sentence was beautifully crafted and turned. I could imagine the author spending time experimenting with each phrase to get it just right. The individual sentences stopped me in my tracks many times because of their impact. I loved the characters and got quite involved with their individual growth and development (as people).
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