general

Bel Canto was a novel I couldn't wait to read. As I plowed through the first 150 pages, I was bitterly disappointed and could easily have put this novel down without ever picking it up again. The book begins at a party with the world famous soprano Roxanne Coss performing for a crowd of important coporate big shots from around the world with one thing in common, they all love opera and they are all enamored by the soprano before them. A terrorist takeover is attempted during the performance and becomes botched once the terrorists realize their target, the president, of the fictional South American country is not in attendance. What happens from that point is the crux of the plot. This novel attempts to explore the relationships that develop in this unique hostage situation. The realationship between the captors and the hostages begins to blur and soon the group has developed a psuedo community that is held together by their love of music. Although they cannot communicate with language because they are all from different countries, music is the common ground they all share. To really enjoy this novel, the reader has to buy into the illusion that the soprano Roxanne Coss is irresistable. That was a hard one. Somehow Patchett manages to create different relationships between the hostages and terrorists; romantic, teacher/student, father/son and mother/daughter. Slowly I found myself buying into Patchett's illusions and near the end I was rooting for these new found relationships to survive. This book explored alot of really interesting concepts; music as the universal language, hostage mentality, love and loss. I only wish that Patchett had not trivalized the events with her over the top characterizations and sappy love stories between the characters.

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!

This is a beautifully-written novel, one in which the reader can empathize with all the main characters, "good" or "bad." Given the vast range of reviews here ("Fantastic!" "Boring"), it would seem that this book either hits you powerfully or totally misses its mark. For me, it worked. This book is full of so many wonderful small scenes and moments, sewn together in a beautiful tapestry, that I truly did not want the book to end. If you're looking for action, possibly pass this one by. If, however, you're interested in books exploring complex relationships forged under even more complex situations, then I suspect you'll enjoy this book.