Rating: 
Summary: Ridiculous apologia for terrorists
Review: This book takes actual events (marxist Tupac Amaru guerilla forces seized Japanese embassy in Lima Peru and held occupants hostage until successfully surprise-attacked by Peruvian military) and distorts them pitilessly to exonerate the hostage takers (the oppressed) and indict the rescuers (the oppressors). It turned my stomach to see the guerillas depicted as, in effect, a bunch of fuzzy bunnies, who simply needed a little kindness and an ear full of opera to become thoroughly sympathetic characters from whom none of the ostensible prisoners wanted to be "rescued." Add a few ridiculous romantic pairings and the false Eden is complete. The author does provide some beautiful imagery, but that is overborne by the sheer infuriating implausibility of the story. It was absurd to have all of the men in love with the diva and with opera. Further, wherever the actual facts posed inconvenience for her agenda, the author veers away from them. For example, in reality, the only hostage fatalities were caused by the guerillas, but in this book the fatalities were either the result of an unrelated health problem or the vicious military. Some may view this book as a beautiful fairy tale or as a sad case of redemption dangled and then denied. Rather, this was fairly transparent attempt (politically motivated?) to depict terrorists and their so-called grievances in sympathetic terms. Read "Death in the Andes" by Vargas Llosa, a vastly superior book in every respect, to learn something about how people have lived with terrorism in Peru.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful
Review: I thought that this book was beautifully written. I couldn't put it down and stayed up late at night to finish it. Despite the fact that the plot is centered around a terrorist act, the character's seem to come alive and you actually feel for the hostages and the terrorists. Ann Patchett did a great job keeping my interest, drawing me into the plot and making me truly care about what would happen in the end. This was a lovely book to read!
Rating:
Summary: Bel Libro: Aria to Love that is pitch perfect
Review: After reading a series of disapointing and over-rated novels (Atonement,Carter Beats the Devil, Empire Falls, Kavalier & Clay) this book was a much needed tonic. Why didn't this book get the hype of the half-baked titles listed above? I found myself shaking my head at beautiful passages and hoping it would hold up to the last page. It did. The entire book you feel you're in the loving hands of an intelligent friend. Ms. P, I salute you-- you've written a honey! How do I add voting buttons?
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.)
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