Rating: 
Summary: a lovely variation on old themes of commonality and communit
Review: Some reviewers have reacted angrily to the "trivializing" of real-life hostage situations by this author, but I thought the treatment - via the obvious contrast with the known realities of hostage-taking worldwide - made it clear that this book was not meant to be even fake journalism and thus shouldn't be read as such. For those who for some reason are upset that a fictional work isn't more "realistic," would you rather have read a book about what REALLY happens to a single woman trapped indoors with 50+ men, some 20 or so with guns, over the course of many months? Me neither. The story we are given is dreamy, surprising, improbable though not impossible, and beautifully written. Each character has a reason - subsequently thwarted by circumstance - for being at the vice presidential mansion. Eventually, each wishes to remain nominally captive for nearly opposite reasons. The use of opera as a unifying force for this multiculti and potentially antagonistic group is very cleverly and aptly done. Facilitated by the efforts of the translator as well as the singer, the captives and captors develop a broad, fond respect for each other. It's all about communication: opera, even to the enthusiast, is not necessarily intelligible as language, but when well-performed can nearly always be understood as an expression of pure emotion. It is possible to follow and be deeply moved by the emotional content of opera without understanding the language of the song. It's not the deepest book ever...It is a lovely variation on old themes of commonality and community. HOWEVER...
VAGUE SPOILER: But I agree with many others: the ending is horrid. I can't decide if I was more upset at the "freeing" of the hostages or the contrived wedding party. Graceless and tacked-on.
Rating: 
Summary: Try to put it down
Review: You often hear the expression that a book is so good you can't put it down. This is very true in this case. Not only is it well written and with delightful humor, but it also illustrates how people from different countries and different cultures can come together and look at each other as brothers (and sisters) because of a common denominator...in this case, the love of opera and the love of an opera singer who is suddenly very human to them. As crazy as it may sound (and who wants to be arrested by terrorists and kept under guard for a period of time?) I wanted to be in that house with these people so that I could get to know them better... become friends, learn to speak each other's languages, and above all, discover a common denominator in our love for music.
In some ways, an ideal world. In many ways, a crazy world. But finally, isnt't that where we are all living?
Rating:
Summary: Bel Scrito (Beautiful Writing)
Review: The writing was masterful. Characters were quite real and you saw them change over the course of the novel. Patchett brought together individuals from many different countries and cultures, for whom there was no common language--except music. Her description of music, piano playing, singing--both the acts of playing and singing as well as the effect the music and performances had on listeners--was incredibly lyrical. In a recent NPR interview, Patchett said she didn't know anything about opera when she set out to write, but she selected several arias and played them sometimes 20 or 40 times as she was writing the music scenes. She must have had some guidance because many of the arias she put in the book were not necessarily the most familiar. (My hat is off to her for that; I figured as I read that she was very well-acquainted with a vast range of operas.) She also used humor sparingly but wisely. Chapter 7, in particular, was delightfully full of humor. Above all, I loved the way she held each character lovingly in her arms as she wrote about them and conveyed that tenderness and intimacy to the readers.
Rating:
Summary: The Power of Music
Review: "Bel Canto" is a beautiful book and one that I enjoyed very much. It is clear that Patchett took inspiration for this novel from a real life incident--the taking of the Japanese Embassy by Tupac Amaru guerrillas in Lima, Peru in 1996. Patchett does not even use the word "Peru," in her novel, but the fact that the book was inspired by this incident simply can't be missed. (She speaks of a fog that envelopes the city as "more than mist and less than drizzle." This is clearly Lima during the winter.) The fact that this is not a factual work, however, does nothing to negate the book's wonderful qualities...in fact, I think it adds to them. As the book opens, a birthday party has been arranged for a Japanese electronics tycoon. In order to make the party all the more enticing, he has been told that his favorite soprano will be on hand to sing for him. There is trouble brewing, however. A group of guerrillas has decided to use the birthday party as an opportunity to kidnap the president. The president, however, has other plans and the guerrillas end up taking the most important party guests as their hostages instead. The important thing in "Bel Canto" isn't whether or not the hostages escape to freedom. Instead, it is the far more interesting and complex psychological interactions among the guerrillas and the hostages and among the hostages themselves. Perceptions change; complex love relationships develop; surprises of all kind are in store. Of course, the soprano takes center stage in this book as she well deserves. She's a wonderful character. Much to Patchett's credit, she makes these psychological complexities completely believable. "Bel Canto" is Italian for "beautiful singing," and this book is about beautiful singing and the power of music but it is also about so much more. It is about the power of love as well as the negative influence of political and economic upheaval. The characters are fully-realized and quite believable even if the plot does slip into melodrama in a few spots. Some readers might even enjoy the bits of melodrama and, for them, the book would suffer with their absence. "Bel Canto," while taken from a factual incident, is fiction. It is, however, beautiful fiction and a book I think most readers will thoroughly enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: A Lyrical Study of Stockholm Syndrome
Review: Bel Canto is based on an actual 1996 hostage situation in Lima, Peru. That crisis in Lima also lasted many months, provides inspiration for many of the book's "true life" touches (like the president's love for soap operas) and ended in the same dramatic way. Through this, Bel Canto becomes a study of how a hostage crisis can change lives. On one level, the characters begin to experience "Stockholm Syndrome" where hostages develop sympathetic relationships with, and even love for, their captors. This documented syndrome (many real life hostages even maintain relationships with their captors long after the crisis) provides an interesting vehicle for exploring interpersonal relationships. It's hard for those of us who haven't been through something like this to imagine developing friendships with captors, which makes this all the more interesting. On another level, the book asks the question, "If you were imprisoned with something you loved so much, and brought you so much happiness, would you really want your freedom?" Would you want to leave if something/one you loved so much (and would likely never have access to if you were "free") was right there with you? For some characters, this love is for each other. For others, Opera provides the object of affection. This even extends to the captors, for whom the house they have taken over is so much more comfortable than their jungle habitat. This is contrasted against two interesting characters, one whose true love is outside the walls, and another who as a Red Cross volunteer can come and go as he chooses. Interestingly, of all the characters, this man who can actually leave at any time feels the most "captive." On top of all this, Patchett writes lyrically. This is a short read and worth your time, especially if you know the context and inspiration for this book.
Rating:
Summary: Hope, Possibilities, and Beauty
Review: "It makes you wonder. All the brilliant things we might have done with our lives if only we suspected we knew how." Although this simple sentence appears near the end of Ann Patchett's beautiful and brilliant "Bel Canto", it aptly sums up the whole of this excellent story. With the daunting task of setting the entire story in the sometimes-home of a South American Vice President, Patchett breathes wonderful life into a cast of characters put into unusual and tense surroundings. When the birthday celebration of a Japanese businessman becomes the hostile battleground for a group of renegade terrorists, the party's attendees become the unwilling cast which Patchett moves deftly through their paces. Although the claustrophobic setting of this story would seem off-putting, Patchett takes this chance to explore the endless possibilities of the human heart within the strict confines of its captive surroundings, giving her novel the illusion of breathtaking expansiveness and of being totally boundless. This is one of those rare books which one is loathe to put down, yet reluctant to read quickly, for the pure joy of reading the poetically written emotions and perfectly worded sentences. I found that I could only read one page per sitting, so badly did I want to savor it's exquisite flavors. Count me in as a new advocate of Ann Patchett!
Rating: 
Summary: novel trivializes terrorism, political unrest, and art
Review: Even before September 11, I would have found this novel--with its stock characters (South American terrorists, Japanese businessman, banana republic politicians) somehwere between offensive and dull. Though the author is a wonderful writer, her use of stereotypes and central casting characters and settings ultimately trivializes what could have been an interesting fictional meditation on the power of art. The smugness, insularity, and the connotative shortcuts could only have been written by an American for whom issues such as beauty, justice, and culture are not life-and-death (literally or figuratively) issues.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible ending
Review: Good, beautifully written book. You can almost hear the opera in the background. Weird ending. Where was her editor?
Rating:
Summary: Read It!!
Review: This is an absorbing story of the evolution of relationships between hostages and captors. That simple description, however, fails to capture the page-turning quality of the story which explores the dynamics of a hostage crisis in compelling yet subtle terms. What a trick THAT is! The current state of affairs may lead a reader to think that certain features here may be idealized. For instance could we dare presume today that terrorists could be so nonspecific? Or would any actual terrorists OR hostages be so incredibly fortunate as to have the amazing multilingual Gen available? What is likely and what the writer skillfully leads her readers to understand, is that any actual situation would likely produce group members parallel to those in this book: the powerful, the brutal, the order givers, the order takers, the star, the facilitator, the helpful, the lonely, the dignified, the beloved, those sure of their talents, those surprised at their own abilities, AND Messner. Ah, these characters! Weary Messner, the one character who never chagnes his perspective and the one person who has a foot in both worlds...how the reader feels his frustration AND sometimes wants him to just go away. Using a backdrop of language and cultural barriers to reinforce universal fears of isolation, this writer allows the characters to seamlessly evolve while retaining their recognizable essence. The careful crafting of this story beautifully illustrates the subtle and surprising ways people alter their perception of their environment to meet their most fundamental needs. This would be a great book to discuss in a book club. One can easily imagine it being made into a successful movie knowing, of course, that any such attempt could never measure up to the power of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting plot, great writing
Review: Bel Canto is a near-miracle of a book. Surprising and engaging plot. Very well developed characters. Beautiful writing. Sometimes the writing is so lyrical that it feels like music. The narration is so sympathetic to all parties that it transcends the situation. And the reader of this book on tape is excellent. She has the diction and tone of a poet reading her own works but manages to make each speaker different. Great work.
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