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Summary: A peaceful captivity
Review: What would it be like to be held prisoner with a group of people we don't know, but who just happen to be in the same place as us at the time of capture? What if our captors included children still in adolescence? What develops as time goes on and captivity becomes a way of life? Do hostage and captor inevitably hate one another? These are some of the questions pondered in Bel Canto. The people gathered at the home of an unnamed South American country's vice president for the occasion of a Japanese businessman's birthday party could not be more diverse. They are captured by terrorists of the country, who demand changes for the betterment of the people's lives. In essence, Patchett creates a separate world where people learn to co-exist and value each other's talents and knowledge. Roxane Coss, the celebrated opera singer who is much admired by Mr. Hosokawa and was to provide the night's entertainment, evolves as a unifying force among the group. Her beautiful voice is a gift that transcends the language barrier in a way that not even Mr. Hosokawa's translator, Gen, can. The novel develops into an exercise in magical realism, as hostage falls in love with captor, and relationships develop that never would have been considered possible in the outside world. It becomes quite beautiful, in fact, a lesson in world peace and acceptance. After 4 1/2 months of living together, no one - captive, captor, or reader - wants the new life to end, but of course it must. A truly beautiful book!
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Summary: an excellent demonstration of finding beauty in all things
Review: On December 17, 1996 the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) invaded the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru. For more than four months they held 72 people hostage, until April 22, 1997 when the Peruvian government entered, overtaking the MRTA soldiers. In Bel Canto, Anne Patchett bases a fictive novel on these actual occurrences, transmogrifying the characters involved to new levels of cultivation despite their dire circumstances. Similar to a university semester, Patchett structures the characters' days in captivity according to a curriculum of study, in which the hostages become teachers and the captors become pupils. Through art, drama and education Patchett teaches both her characters and the reader about the enduring qualities of love and beauty. Patchett employs descriptions of song and language as one of many successful techniques that teach about beauty. This particular technique demonstrates Patchett's masterful ability to weave a somber transpiration into a novel about beauty, romance, and finding one's true self. Patchett's Bel Canto is an example of magical realism that lifts itself from the page and envelops the reader in song, language, drama, art and love. This book demonstrates the need for cultivation within an insular society, not unlike Lord of the Flies.
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Summary: Great audiobook!
Review: This is an example of a book that is better heard than read. There is not too much going on between the first few pages and the last few pages, so the joy of this book comes from the journey - not the destination. If I read this book in print, I suspect I would have turned the pages too quickly to appreciate the imagery, lyricism, insights and quiet moments. Listening to the audiobook as I drove, I could not race through 'Bel Canto' and I was able to enjoy the slow journey (referring to the book, not my driving!)
I beg to differ with a previous reviewer. I think Anna Fields did an outstanding job of reading this book. Her voice magically captured the personalities of all the characters, male and female, with a trace of their varied accents so that the characters were more vivid in my imagination than they would have been if I'd been wading through printed text.
One minor quibble: I believe I heard a description of a chess game in which a character moved his rook back and forth, taking care not to remove his fingers from the "horse's head". What an unusual chess set!
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Summary: The reader of this audio book detracts
Review: I heard great things about this book from friends, but the reader, Anna Fields, detracts from the story. Her voice is too strident, making it difficult to enjoy (or judge) the writing.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable light reading
Review: This book was an enjoyable read. Very romantic setting and some beautiful imagery. I have to concur, however, with a number of other reviewers that it took quite a bit of suspension of disbelief to get into the story.
From some reviews I had read, I also had the expectation of a deeper book that would be beautiful while maybe exploring some serious ideas, but was disappointed. It was much better written than most "fluff" novels, but never went very deep.
If you're looking for a fun book that would also make a good popular movie, you'll probably enjoy this one. Just don't expect anything all that serious (or believable).
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Summary: Enthralling...
Review: This book brought you to another place. It was a gift of learning and experiencing something you would not normally know.
I almost wanted a sequel. I couldn't let go of the characters when it was done.
Someone told me this was based on a true story - if so, perhaps there is more to the story.
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Summary: What a story!
Review: BEL CANTO by Ann Patchett One of the more unusual books I've read lately, BEL CANTO by Ann Patchett takes place in an unnamed South American country during a hostage situation. Its tale is one that will have the reader shocked, and surprised. It is definitely not what I had expected, but I liked it a lot better than I had thought I would. The premise of the story is a highly important businessman from Japan, whose business this South American country needs desperately, is flying out from Japan to celebrate his birthday. The enticement to bring him here is a very famous opera singer that is the obsession of this Japanese man, Mr. Hosokawa. The opera diva is named Roxanne Coss, and together they become the focal point of this book. During the middle of the birthday party, where the guests are dressed in black ties and fancy dresses, terrorists appear out of nowhere to take the President hostage. What the terrorists failed to verify is that the President was nowhere to be found. Instead, he was at home watching his favorite soap opera. (The terrorists later on acquiesce that this was highly understandable, as the soap opera was going through some interesting story line that had the entire country riveted. Of COURSE the President would rather be at home instead of this boring party! Who could blame him?) Instead, the terrorists find the Vice-President at their disposal, but they want the President. And they refuse to release anyone until the President is presented to them. But now they have this hostage crisis on their hands and too many hostages to deal with. It is a nightmare for these terrorists and it's the start of one blunder after another that leads the hostages into a four-month living arrangement along with the terrorists at the house of the Vice-President, whose house was used for this elaborate party. BEL CANTO was a finalist for the NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD as well as the winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award, and was deservedly so. Patchett writes a story that does not follow the news stories of our day. It is almost unbelievable of what happens to these hostages, the lives they lead for the four months they are held prisoner. Yet I found the ending shocking and true to life. She pulls the reader in, making us believe in one ending, when it's another that happens. I highly recommend BEL CANTO. It will most likely appear on my top 30 list of books read in 2004.
Rating: 
Summary: Blah
Review: This novel was unbelieveable for me. I loved the translator's character and his lover/girlfriend. But everyone else in the novel falling in love like this is some 1960's protest - just ridiculous. All these hostages are in love - ridiculous. It is like Love Actually - all the stories by themselves would be good for a movie but all together - too much - unbelievable. Especially this book - all under a terrorist situation - not happening.
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Summary: Hogan's Heros updated
Review: The soft, sentimental terrorists of Bel Canto are so much like the inept, bumbling Nazis of the old tv show Hogan's Heros that I'm expecting a tv serial to be made from this book! The turning point in relations between terrorists and hostages comes when the famous soprano, Roxanne Coss, belts out a famous Puccini aria. How many of you readers are familiar with that beautiful aria, "O Mio Babbino Caro?" There are a number of sites on the internet that have the entire aria (don't miss the last two lines that are often omitted). Sarah Brightman's web site has the words in both English and Italian. Listen to it a few times and you will find yourself with tears rolling down your cheeks. The book is a bit slow and not too believable, but enjoyable as a light read (just like Hogan's Heros). The marriage between translator Gen and soprano Coss at the end of the book was incongrous, but there were enough insights into marriage and life to keep my interest to the end.
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Summary: Bel Canto in Slow Motion
Review: Very slow mid portion of book. A stretch to imagine this really happening - a fictionalized account of a real event (the embassy take over in Peru or Chile). A few gems in the first chapter. SLowwwwwwww!
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