Bel Canto (Ann Patchett)

The plot was extremely slow, unrealistic, and the ending was too forced. I found myself falling asleep regularly and would recommend anyone waste their time reading this.

A very good read. Unlike pretty much any book I've read, Bel Canto is a story about a group of elite businessmen from around the world, held hostage in the mansion of some Latin American vice president. The terrorists take control of the gathering very early on (w/in the first 30 or so pages), leaving the large majority of the book to the social aspect of the hostage situation as it developed. Roxane Coss, an operatic 'genius' is among those in custody. The skillful way Patchett describes the beauty of Coss's voice in Bel Canto almost made me feel guilty for not being an opera fan.

After reading magellan's comments, I know in my heart he is right and terrorists should elicit no sympathy, but the romantic in me wants to believe all people can love one another if given the chance - or in this case the catalist of a voice so magnificent as to soothe any "savage beast." I loved the book and hold it in the highest esteem both for it's original plot, excellent writing and spell binding imagery. Except for the incompatible marriage at the very end, I thought the ending was, in fact, "the only ending."

For large portions of Bel Canto, I found myself irritated at Patchett's sympathetic, unrealistic portrayal of Latin American terrorists. I'm pretty familiar with Peru's Shining Path, Colombia's FARC, and even Mexico's Zapatistas - and nothing that I have read would hint that in actuality, terrorists are the lovable, misunderstood, talented individuals, who if given the opportunity, would become outstanding members of society that Patchett portrays them to be. In Bel Canto, this unrealistic, naive, almost silly description goes on and on - parts are funny, parts are touching, and most of it is well written. Just as Bel Canto begins to convince the reader of the dreamy, unbelievable fairy tale of how kidnappers and hostages can really get along - back comes reality - and in a hard and brutal way. The last couple pages of this book rattled me, and not to give anything away, I found myself wishing that Patchett had stuck to the liberal, housewife interpretation of Latin America's terrorist underground, and not jolted me back into the vicious reality. Patchett writes well, you get attached to the characters, and there's a lot of interesting symbolism. Worth a read.