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Bel Canto: A Novel

Bel Canto: A Novel

List Price: $13.95
Your Price: $10.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
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: 4 stars
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: 5 stars
Summary: LIFE CHANGING
Review: This book and a book called Dreams: Gateway to the True Self changed my life...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Too much fluff
Review: There's been a tremendous amount of buzz around this book which initially peaked my interest. This book lacks any realism in many aspects. To comes across more as a fairy tale than an event that would actually happen in reality. One of my main desires to read is to emerge myself in lived experiences presented by the author that would otherwise allude me. I wanted to read and understand what it is like to be a hostage, to fear for my life and wonder if I'll ever survive. Rather than focusing on these aspects, this story quickly evolves into a love story between the hostages and terrorists. Plotting avenues of escape never occurred to the hostages. I would think that foreign diplomats and CEOs of multi-national corporations would not become so complacent in their present circumstances. In all honestly I couldn't wait to finish this book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Lord of the Butterflies
Review: What an unmitigated pleasure to read this elegiac celebration of opera. Packett's novel is a wonderful tribute to the healing and uplifting quality of music and its ability to bring people together. The lightness and humor that underscores the plot gives the story a buoyant quality even as it hurdles the reader to the inevitable tragic denouement. Unfortunately the postscript rings a littel false. Also, wouldn't it be wonderful if a recording were made available of all the operatic music cited in the book.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good.
Review: The novel opens with a scene from a birthday party in honor of a Japanese business tycoon. The party is hosted by an unnamed country that is trying to woo the businessman into opening a factory and stimulating economic growth in the area. The host country hires the businessman's favorite opera singer to perform for his birthday. Terrorist highjack the party in an attempt to kidnap the President of the host country; however their plans are thrown into disarray when it becomes apparent that the President is not in attendance. Left with a room filled with highly influential guest from around the world, the terrorist lockdown the party and are forced to reevaluate their original mission.

"Bel Canto" has all the elements of a truly riveting suspense story. The fact that the author has wrapped those elements in a canvas of romance and operatic tradition is probably what made this Pen/Faulkner Award Winner stand out. Unfortunately for me, that same canvas distracted from what I thought would be a great story had the author focused on the tensions and politics behind the attempted kidnapping. Instead, Patchett centers the story on the relationships that develop between hostage and kidnapper - some parental, some romantic, some platonic. As the author explores the various relationships that develop among the characters, she maintains a musical undercurrent that influences every aspect of the hostage situation. Music, opera in this case, not only soothed the "savage terrorist" but also spurred love and friendship.

Although I can appreciate the author's use of music throughout the novel (very creative), I am certain that this will be a more enjoyable read for opera enthusiast, which I am not. The best parts of the novel for me were the beginning and the end. Although everything in between is well written, it's not always well paced. For those who encounter the slow parts of the novel I encourage you to stick with it. I have no regrets about investing the time and I doubt you will either.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Truly, a work of genius and inspiration : delightful
Review: At long last, we have an award winning novel you could recommend to a friend without hesitation or fear that it might fly above their heads, for far too often the literary awards circle has tended to recognise portentously serious works in favour of more accessible titles of equal merit and distinction in their annual awards. Without a doubt, Ann Patchett's "Bel Canto" is this year's novel to rave and die for. It is truly a work of inspiration and genius that celebrates life and brings hope to humanity.

Patchett uses the occasion of a state party in some unnamed Latin American country to stage a hold-up and then watch how the hostages and their kidnappers, a randomly flung together cosmopolitan sample of humanity from opposite sides of the track first test the boundaries of trust with each other, then gradually loosen up and shed their skin as they discover their inner selves through the joys of music, love and beauty to become totally transformed - even transfigured - by the end of the story.

Not surprisingly, Roxanne Coss, the glamourous opera singer, being the only woman hostage, becomes the central figure of obsession for the male hostages. More instructively, she is the catalyst for their transformation. Through her, some relive the memory of their former lives, rediscover their passion for their wives or put to test their latent culinary talents, others (from even among the terrorists), their thirst for knowledge, or talent for chess or singing. The longer the hostages and the terrorists remain an isolated community - we never venture beyond the gates - the more completely their worldly resolve weakens. As an idyllic calm settles upon their unreal existence and the barriers between hostages and terrorists dissolve to the point we're almost unable to tell them apart, it dawns upon us that nobody really wants the siege to end. Neither the hostages nor their kidnappers, because subconsciously perhaps they realise that the real enemy - the enemy of humanity - lies beyond the gates among the politicians and the military, and they don't want back their former existence. The seige had taught them that freedom isn't necessarily about physical space - the hostages accept the privilege of using the courtyard cautiously and joylessly - but about the heart, the mind and the soul.

Even as we bask in the glow of this strangely threatening paradise, the discerning reader is never in any doubt of the final outcome. No matter, for by then we're so much in Patchett's spell no downbeat ending can spoil the experience for us. "Bel Canto" is contemporary literature at its finest and most delightful. If there's only one book you have time for this season, let it be "Bel Canto". You won't be disappointed !

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Opera Lite
Review: Based loosely on the takeover of the Japanese embassy in Peru by the Tupac Amaru group in December,1996 which lasted four months, it attempts to delve into the characters emotions. Written in a lyrical and light style, it imagines all the sweetness that can arise when terrorists and hostages are thrown together over an extended time.

The center is the opera singer, Roxanne Coss, and her voice is the pied piper making the terrorists and hostages dance in an extended utopian fantasy. Vice presidents find love of gardening with the peasant terrorist, one other terrorist shows great potential for opera, love affairs, love of cooking, singing and endless description of nothingness.

If it is a romantic fantasy, I give credit to the imagination on what may develop over time. Her chess descriptions are ludicrous. However, there is very little to engage the reader over the long haul. Cotton candy for the soul. How this won any prestigious awards is beyond me.

no fire, but it is a best seller, go figaro.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Magical Literary Experience in the Operatic Tradition
Review: While opera creates its magic with music, Ann Patchett's Bel Canto does so with words. A highly original novel, the beauty of this gem lies in the interactions of its characters and in the author's writing style. The plot is relatively simple.

Both terrorists and captives become hostage to the prolonged impasse that develops following a botched kidnapping attempt on the President of a developing South American country. The ensuing stalemate allows for the development of camaraderie, bonding , affection, and even romantic relationships to develop as familiarity grows between the benevolent terrorists of the Familia Suarez and their unintentionally obtained international array of captives . As the stand off continues, Ann Patchett has our complete and undivided attention. We eagerly read on to see a resolution to this highly charged situation.

Patchett's sense of irony adds some comic relief to what would otherwise be a very tense dramatic situation. For example: she attributes the absence of the country's President for his kidnapping to his obsession with the country's favorite soap opera .

Realistically we know some of the captives would have sought escape opportunities,. We know that not all the terrorists would have universally have become instantaneous opera fans. Despite the odds, not every single man in the room would be inclined to fall in love with the opera star.

It's ok if this novel's a bit unrealistic. If you think about it- so is the book's subject, opera.- but both provide a gratifying entertainment experience in its highest form.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Refreshing & unpredictable
Review: This book had a very unusual plot and unexpected ending. I loved getting to know the characters and observing how they reacted with each other. What happens when a group of people from all walks of life are forced into a situation where all of their roles, status, money, and skills are turned around. The poor have the power. The rich, sucessful are deamed powerless. And in a "hopeless" situation, people find love for each other and for the beauty of music and their own individual talents. I really enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it to others.


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