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Books : Bel Canto: A Novel |
List Price: $25.95Amazon.com's Price: $20.24 You Save: $5.71 (22%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060188733
ISBN: 0060188731
Label: HarperCollins
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: June 01, 2001
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: May 22, 2001
Studio: HarperCollins
Sales Rank: 251942
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening -- until a band of gun-wielding terrorists breaks in through the air-conditioning vents and takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different countries and continents become compatriots.
Without the demands of the world to shape their days, life on the inside becomes more beautiful than anything they had ever known before. At once riveting and impassioned, the narrative becomes a moving exploration of how people communicate when music is the only common language. Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion and cannot be stopped.
Ann Patchett has written a novel that is as lyrical and profound as it is unforgettable. Bel Canto engenders in the reader the very passion for art and the language of music that its characters discover. As a reader, you find yourself fervently wanting this captivity to continue forever, even though you know that real life waits on the other side of the garden wall. Bel Canto is a virtuoso performance by one of our bestand most important writers. It is a no novel to be cherished.
Amazon.com Review:
In an unnamed South American country, a world-renowned soprano sings at a birthday party in honor of a visiting Japanese industrial titan. His hosts hope that Mr. Hosokawa can be persuaded to build a factory in their Third World backwater. Alas, in the opening sequence, just as the accompanist kisses the soprano, a ragtag band of 18 terrorists enters the vice-presidential mansion through the air conditioning ducts. Their quarry is the president, who has unfortunately stayed home to watch a favorite soap opera. And thus, from the beginning, things go awry.
Among the hostages are not only Hosokawa and Roxane Coss, the American soprano, but an assortment of Russian, Italian, and French diplomatic types. Reuben Iglesias, the diminutive and gracious vice president, quickly gets sideways of the kidnappers, who have no interest in him whatsoever. Meanwhile, a Swiss Red Cross negotiator named Joachim Messner is roped into service while vacationing. He comes and goes, wrangling over terms and demands, and the days stretch into weeks, the weeks into months.
With the omniscience of magic realism, Ann Patchett flits in and out of the hearts and psyches of hostage and terrorist alike, and in doing so reveals a profound, shared humanity. Her voice is suitably lyrical, melodic, full of warmth and compassion. Hearing opera sung live for the first time, a young priest reflects: Never had he thought, never once, that such a woman existed, one who stood so close to God that God's own voice poured from her. How far she must have gone inside herself to call up that voice. It was as if the voice came from the center part of the earth and by the sheer effort and diligence of her will she had pulled it up through the dirt and rock and through the floorboards of the house, up into her feet, where it pulled through her, reaching, lifting, warmed by her, and then out of the white lily of her throat and straight to God in heaven. Joined by no common language except music, the 58 international hostages and their captors forge unexpected bonds. Time stands still, priorities rearrange themselves. Ultimately, of course, something has to give, even in a novel so imbued with the rich imaginative potential of magic realism. But in a fractious world, Bel Canto remains a gentle reminder of the transcendence of beauty and love. --Victoria Jenkins
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I was expecting more from this book after hearing glowing reviews from trusted sources. It dragged for me. While I loved the language and imagery that Patchett used, I had no emotional attachment to the characters. I found most of them to be quite shallow and unsympathetic. While I believe that the pace was intentionally slow, so as to add the proper setting for the story, it never regained what momentum it had in the beginning. I was lost in the monotony, and it was a struggle for me to get through. ... Read More
Rating:  -
An interesting allegory about an elite group of people trapped in a concept that continues to breakdown, but still persists. The story is so similar to El Angel Exterminador that I kept getting distracted by looking for comparisons.
Rating:  -
The book never lets you down, and you will stay up late nights, reading rapidly to see what follows. But you realize the enjoyment will soon end, so you will slow down your reading to stretch it out. Each character gives you a gift, as each one shows you their character. At times, characters are very funny--the poor host saddled with so many guests for so long, the French man who cooks for them all. And there are so many sweet, wonderful moments. Implausible, yes, but what a great read.
Rating: -
An unusual book, but one of those you remember well. It builds like "Bolero" with finely drawn characters. Felt like I was there watching, unseen.
Rating: -
There is an absolute beauty in the simplicity of this story and to Ann Patchett's writing in general that I find irresistible. "Bel Canto" was the first of her books that I read and it lead me to read every other novel she's written. I'm only sorry I have to wait for something new to be published.
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