Bel Canto [Paperback]

Ann Patchett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 3, 2002

The poignant - and at times very funny - new novel from the author of 'The Magician's Assistant', shortlisted for the Orange Prize. Latin terrorists storm an international gathering hosted by an underprivileged country to promote foreign interest and trade, only to find that their intended target, the President, has stayed home to watch his favourite soap opera on TV. Among the hostages are a world class opera singer and her biggest fan, a Japanese tycoon who has been persuaded to attend the party on the understanding that she will perform half a dozen arias after dinner. The tycoon's engaging and sympathetic translator plays a vital role in the subsequent relationships between so many different nationalities closeted together, interpreting not only the terrorists' negotiations but also the language of love between lovers who cannot understand what the other is saying. Ultimately, it is the terrorist strike that does more to promote foreign relations than anyone could have hoped to achieve with the party.

Editorial Reviews

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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Opera and terrorism make strange bedfellows, yet in this novel they complement each other nicely. At a birthday party for Japanese industrialist Mr. Hosokawa somewhere in South America, famous American soprano Roxanne Coss is just finishing her recital in the Vice President's home when armed terrorists appear, intending to take the President hostage. However, he is not there, so instead they hold the international businesspeople and diplomats at the party, releasing all the women except Roxanne. Captors and their prisoners settle into a strange domesticity, with the opera diva captivating them all as she does her daily practicing. Soon romantic liaisons develop with the hopeless intensity found in many opera plots. Patchett (The Patron Saint of Liars) balances terrorism, love, and music nicely here. Anna Fields has a pleasant voice and reads clearly, although she doesn't differentiate among the characters especially well. The tape quality is excellent. Recommended for large public libraries. Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins Pb; Later Printing edition (May 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841155837
• ISBN-13: 978-1841155838
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (825 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,046,481 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ann Patchett was born in Los Angeles in 1963 and raised in Nashville. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. In 1990, she won a residential fellowship to the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she wrote her first novel, The Patron Saint of Liars. It was named a New York Times Notable Book for 1992. In 1993, she received a Bunting Fellowship from the Mary Ingrahm Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College. Patchett's second novel, Taft, was awarded the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for the best work of fiction in 1994. Her third novel, The Magician's Assistant, was short-listed for England's Orange Prize and earned her a Guggenheim Fellowship.Her next novel, Bel Canto, won both the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in 2002, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was named the Book Sense Book of the Year. It sold more than a million copies in the United States and has been translated into thirty languages. In 2004, Patchett published Truth & Beauty, a memoir of her friendship with the writer Lucy Grealy. It was named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Entertainment Weekly. Truth & Beauty was also a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and won the Chicago Tribune's Heartland Prize, the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Alex Award from the American Library Association. She was also the editor of Best American Short Stories 2006.Patchett has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times magazine, Harper's, The Atlantic,The Washington Post, Gourmet, and Vogue. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband, Karl VanDevender.

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#11 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

#14 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

346 of 369 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful! May 14, 2003

By J. Marren VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

"Bel Canto" is a beautifully written story of unlikely love and secret desires. Do not be put off by the barebones plot--a group of people at a party taken hostage by South American terrorists. And do not think you are in for a routine "put a bunch of strangers in a room and then learn their life stories" sort of saga. Patchett gathers together a group that spans nationalities, professions and class and reveals the hidden depths, sometimes in a few short pages, through their interactions with each other.
Take the Russian minister of commerce--portrayed as something of a buffoon who has fallen in love with Roxane, the opera singer. He screws up his courage to declare himself--which must be done through Gen, the translator. What he says to her is completely unexpected--a wonderful story of his childhood and an art book. He declares himself a man who appreciates beauty and therefore worthy to love her, and asks nothing in return. Meanwhile we see into the heart of Gen the translator, as he awkwardly acts as intermediary he realizes he has never told anyone that he loves them, not a woman, not family, not his mother--he feels as if his life has been to act as a conduit for the thoughts and feelings of others, that he has never experienced a real life of his own. Then there is the relationship of Mr. Hosokawa and Roxane, who do not share a common language. Is it possible to love a person to whom you cannot speak?
I loved the transformation of the characters that occurs--the Vice President of the country dreams of adopting one of the young terrorists and becoming a gardener, another terrorist uncovers his great gift as a singer, a buttoned up Japanese businessman becomes Roxane's accompianist, the young priest becomes a gifted and courageous spiritual counselor. The Generals become human too, worrying about their young soldiers as a close relative might worry about a child, and regretting recruiting them for this operation that has gone terribly wrong.

Like the hostages themselves, we get lulled by the harmony and unreality of life within the compound, yet as time passes Patchett delicately conveys a sense of impending doom through the Swiss Red Cross mediator, who himself longs to become a hostage after seeing the community that has been created within the walls of the Vice President's house. Patchett tells us at the beginning of the story what the end will be, and yet creates an aura of suspense as we realize that dreams of the future will never be fulfilled.
There is a surprise ending here that I wasn't sure rang true, but the book stands without it--a wonderful novel!

135 of 143 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing, lyrical, improbable, flawed June 14, 2002

By Douglas A. Greenberg VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

In this PEN/Faulker award winning novel, Ann Patchett has created an intriguing and poetic tale based (loosely) on a real hostage taking episode that occurred in Peru in April 1997. *Bel Canto* succeeds in revealing the common humanity that persists behind the oppositional roles and stances shaped by social and political structures beyond our individual control. In these times of wars on terrorism and terrorist wars, this story emphasizes that even the most superficially frightening political fanatics ultimately are human beings with personalities, hopes, dreams, and reasons why, and for that reason alone the novel is well worth reading.

In terms of style and texture, Patchett has endeavored to compose a work that is lyrical and "magical," and she largely succeeds in creating an ethereal, dreamlike mood throughout. As such, however, the degree to which readers ultimately will embrace the novel depends upon their willingness to engage in a "willing suspension of disbelief." Those possessed of any significant degree of skepticism regarding the actual nature of political struggle, small group social psychology, and human behavior generally will find much about which to be dubious, beginning with the notion that ALL of the guerrillas would be mesmerized by Roxanne Coss' operatic singing. They also will look askance at the romantic interludes portrayed here, including the prospect of romance between a superstar American singer and a staid Japanese businessman. Furthermore, the lack of substantive political content is striking and to me, disappointing. It would seem that a lengthy confrontation between desperate rural guerrillas and cosmopolitan luminaries would reveal more insights regarding the social and economic bases for radical grassroots rebellion (and ruling class repression) than Patchett offers here. I must also join the chorus of voices rising in protest against the tacked-on ending, which is just plain horrible.

Despite these flaws, this book is a well-crafted and thoughtful work that once started is hard to put down.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Bittersweet and unusual story about life, love and music. January 25, 2003

By E. Bukowsky HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

"Bel Canto" is a style of operatic singing characterized by full, even tones and a brilliant display of vocal technique. It is also a whimsical and entertaining novel by Ann Patchett.

The book takes place in an unnamed country in South America. A birthday party has been arranged for a prominent Japanese businessman named Mr. Hosokawa. The only reason that Mr. Hosokawa has agreed to come to this party in his honor is that Roxanne Coss, a world famous soprano, is there to sing for the assembled guests. Ms. Coss does sing brilliantly and all seems to be going well. Unfortunately, the party turns sour quickly when a band of revolutionaries breaks into the house and holds the guests hostage.

Patchett, in a display of literary virtuosity, brings the characters in "Bel Canto" to brilliant life. With wit, humor and pathos, the author shows how living in close quarters with strangers sometimes brings out the best in people. Mr. Hosokawa, who is usually a businesslike automaton, blossoms into a sensitive and caring individual under the influence of Roxanne and her lovely music. Gen Watanable, who is Hosokawa's translator and secretary, falls in love with one of the female revolutionaries, and his life also takes off in unexpected directions.

Patchett touches on many themes in "Bel Canto," such as the power of glorious music to touch our souls and the importance of seeking beauty and romance in our lives. Since the world we live in is sometimes a barbaric place, it is not always possible for peace and love to flourish. Therefore, Patchett seems to be saying, it is vital to seize those rare moments in our lives when we can enjoy everything that is wonderful and amazing around us.

"Bel Canto" is marred by a pace that is a bit too leisurely and by a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion. However, overall it is an entertaining novel that is notable not only for the author's development of character, but also for her imagination, originality and wonderful use of language.