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Summary: The unabridge cassette tape version
Review: A co-worker recommended the book and I bought the cassettes as I had an automobile trip ahead of me. Surely this will be a movie soon? It was wonderful.For those of you who already have read the book, but also might like hearing it, I highly recommend the unabridged version. The narratora - mimicking all the accented voices of the characters - is masterful and a joy to hear. Now, the most important question: Does Roxanne sing the words you readers saw on the page? Dare I answer? I wholeheartedly recommend Bel Canto on tape! Just READ, Florida!
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Summary: Why didn't they put Fabio on the cover?
Review: It seems like Ms. Patchett tried soooooo hard to make this book touching, that it ends up being a jumble of boring sentimentality. She obviously trying to say something about life, and more specifically love, but really just throws out clich' after clich' after clich'... sex, music, cooking, chess, poverty vs. wealth, and people of all races getting along. It's as if she took these themes out of a book on how to convince someone that you're deep. The people who like this book are those same people who though Titanic was a great movie... keep clear of this one.
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Summary: Bel Canto
Review: The book is mesmerizing. Although it may appear that not much is happening, a LOT is going on. An exotic, erotic, highly evocative book, which manages to use only one four-letter word. Excellent, very descriptive writing tells a compelling story which, while not exciting, is hypnotic. We're lulled into a certain peaceful acceptance of the conditions described in the novel, until they change dramatically. I was sorry when I finished the book, and found myself wondering how the characters were doing in their very unsual world.
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Summary: Made me listen to opera!
Review: This is a wonderful, different, slow paced, story. Even though it seems so unrealistic throughout, it just works. I was captured by the relationships developed, especially between Gen and Carmen. I wanted it to go on and on. Even if you are not an opera fan, you will have to listen to at least one performance during the reading of this book. I just wish I could have listened to "Roxanne Cass".
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Summary: A beautiful harmony
Review: Ann Patchett's novel is full of surprises because, despite its plot summary, it is not a thriller. Yes, the story is propelled by a terrorist attack on the Vice-President's home in an unnamed South American country. But Patchett is quite clear very early in the story about how the hostage-taking will conclude. The novel is actually a love story, but not a conventional one. True, people fall in love, in very convincing and very achingly beautiful ways. But the love story in this novel is about the love of music. Roxanne Coss, the world's pre-eminent soprano, is the pivot around which the plot moves. She captivates the rich Japanese businessman Hosokowa, but she also entrances the other wealthy industrialists, the politicos, the terrorist generals, and even the uneducated peasants who comprise the terrorist troops. What's fascinating about the book is that Patchett does not try to describe Coss's singing. Instead, she marvelously describes the impact of the music upon the listeners. Eventually, we are engrossed by these diverse characters, so convincingly alive have they become. Patchett even manages to draw us into their fervent desire for outcomes that cannot ever occur. And the novel's ending comes as abruptly as it must, breaking the spell of the beautiful song Patchett has been singing. I loved this novel. The depiction of the Stockholm Syndrome that develops between captives and captors is utteringly convincing, and the role played by music is memorable. The book is one of a kind and perfect for book group discussions. Brava, Ann Patchett!
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Summary: Bel Canto: A Tedious Musical Journey
Review: Let me begin by saying I am an Opera Buff. I am also a singer. So for me to tell you this book is one, long, tedious read is quite a departure from what you might expect. I kept on reading it, bored as I was, because so many people had recommended it I just kept looking for something compelling to happen. For more than 300 pages, nothing much happens. There were some interesting moments at the end, but you shouldn't have to read an entire book to finally discover something compelling. So,unless you like wishful, fantastical plots, stay away from this one.
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Summary: Touching and lyrical
Review: A birthday bash held at an impoverished Latin American country in the honor of Japanese Electronics magnate Mr. Hosokawa is abruptly interrupted by a terrorist siege. Amongst the international array of hostage is celebrated Opera chanteuse Roxanne Coss, vice-president Iglesias, a priest and others of Russian, French and Swedish origins with a Swiss Red-cross negotiator Jochaim Messner. Bel Canto is hence a story on the incarceration and the interaction of the motley group of terrorists with the hostage. And what a story - told with lyrical prose and grace under Ann Patchett's observant eye. It is boldly imaginative of Patchett to use opera arias as the language that bridge the diverse group and transform the grisly labyrinth into a humane heaven of love and kindness. She treads desire and passion between the translator Gen and terrorist Carmen, fatuation in Hosokawa for Roxanne and kindness when Roxanne coaches Cesar in singing. The different myriads of romance and love are scripted with emotional delicacy and a sweeping magical realism that knits you to the forgotten community and haunts you with a shattering finale. Infinitely touching, Bel Canto is a gorgeous symphony on the transcendance of love and kindness.
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Summary: Not so perfecto Canto...
Review: By the time I finished this novel, I was disappointed. Patchett's writing is good through about two-thirds of the story, then takes a deep dive into the melodramatic. I disagree with the cyber-critics who claim the story should be thought of as "magical realism". It's neither "magical" enough to be magical realism (and Patchett writes with none of the sardonic wit of a m-r master like Garcia-Marquez), nor real enough to be realistic. A beautiful magnificently talented soprano whom everyone falls in love with upon hearing her sing, an uneducated country boy who might be the next Pavarotti, an uneducated (of course) possible genius who teaches himself to play chess just by watching - all these characters together by chance in the same hostage situation?? - it's not "magical", just unbelievable. There are some memorable scenes, though, like the one when the hostages are all of a sudden confronted with pounds of fresh food that they have to cook for themselves. The French Ambassador, who appoints himself chef, and the revolutionary general suffering from shingles, are the story's best characters.
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Summary: Nectar for the soul
Review: Easily one of the most beautiful and engaging books I've ever read. (And I almost didn't read it -- did I really need a novel about a black-tie dinner party held hostage by band of terrorists?) It is enchanting, insightful, tender, charming...and above all, exquisitly written.
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Summary: Boring, mis-directed and a realy snoozer
Review: I've read thousands of wonderful fiction books in my life and this has to be one of the worst ever! The book just drags on and on -- I kept reading, hoping that I would come upon a good part, but never did. Don't waste your time.
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