Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
In December of 1996, terrorists crashed a party hosted by a Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru. What began as a celebration of Japan’s Emperor Akihito’s birthday quickly became a nightmare. Hundreds of the high-profile attendees, including officials and businessmen, were taken hostage for over four months, until they were ultimately freed in a raid by the Peruvian Armed Forces. The fiasco became known as the Japanese embassy hostage crisis, and was the direct inspiration for Ann Patchett’s award-winning novel, Bel Canto.
I picked up Bel Canto last week, and found myself quickly immersed in Patchett’s eloquent writing and intriguing premise. Though heavily based on the true story of the hostage crisis, she tweaks the plot and takes artistic liberties so that the tale becomes one of her own imagination. A central focus of her story is the idea of opera as a transcendent force, one that soothes and brings people together. With this idea in mind, Patchett brings in her main character: Roxanne, a renowned soprano singer. As a performer at the party, her voice entrances everyone who hears it, transforming moments of panic into those of serenity, and serves as the namesake of the book (bel canto means beautiful singing in Italian). With its many heavily emotional and melodramatic moments, the book could be called something of a modern drama, though the setting and tone differ vastly from any that I’ve read before.
Like many other books that appeal to my taste, the relationship between characters is the axiom of the story. In Bel Canto, the relationships between the hostages and their captors are shown in a very unique light. Over the course of the novel, various characters form strong bonds that give an emotional depth to the narrative. The book is able to elegantly tell the tales of many individuals and how their paths intertwine.
The setting was likely the most interesting part of this book. The whole story takes place within the main characters’ time as captives, and there’s an underlying sense of danger or uncertainty. The threat presented to the characters is very real. However, the sentimental interactions and emotional buildup between characters are able to distract from the tension, instead replacing it with an almost ethereal feeling as you read. At times, you can forget that there are terrorists ready to kill them at the pull of a trigger.
I had a pretty good time reading Bel Canto. The story was full of conversations and dialogue, both heartwarming and heartbreaking, with an occasional dash of comedy providing breaks from the rollercoaster of feelings. Despite this, I had some qualms with the book. I think that it was at times too melodramatic, and the magical influence of opera seemed a bit overdone. In attempting to portray the humanity of the terrorists, Patchett ironically neglected to flesh out their terrorist personas as well. Regardless, I enjoyed the book overall, and would recommend it to readers with a thing for emotional and character-centered stories.
-Andrew
The plot of this book sounds very interesting and thrilling to read and your review gave a good insight of what to expect without giving too much away which is helpful for people who are interested in the book. I agree that books that provide a wide range of emotions are very interesting and captivating to read especially if the dialogue is particularly good as it seems to be in Bel Canto. Your critiques of the book seemed very reasonable and useful to a potential reader. Great review!
ReplyDeleteThis was a nice review! This may just be me, but I always see movies in which people are held hostage, but I rarely ever see books about them so this already sounds like an interesting book. You gave a really good summary of the book and you were able to clearly identify what you liked and didn't like. I think you made a good point in that the author didn't really give the terrorists personas. It is usually important to make the bad guys in stories more than just 'the evil person'.
ReplyDeleteI think what's great about your review is how you cut to the chase quickly instead of dragging on with the summary of the book. I liked how you touched on different aspects of the novel, like the setting and the characters. From your descriptions Bel Canto sounds like an interesting read, and I'll take note of your discrepancies with it as well. Overall, great, well-rounded review.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a really interesting book. It's interesting that the author chose to take a more 'insider' approach on the event even though it probably had nationwide and/or worldwide impacts. Your review does a great job describing the book's emotional and melodramatic characteristics and its focus on character relationships. However, your paragraph about the setting is a bit confusing - you claim that it was the most interesting part of the book, but then say that the author uses character interactions specifically to distract the reader from the setting. Overall, nice review!
ReplyDeleteI like how you took apart every aspect of the book like the character dynamics and the setting and how that relates to the story. This book sound very interesting and I might take a look at it sometime soon. You did a good job of including lots of detail without it being too much. The bog is easy to read and follow. Nice Job!
ReplyDeleteThis was a really nice review. I like that you told us the real story and then described what details the author added. As other have said, you did a good job talking about all the different aspects of the story. Do you think the confined nature of the setting contributed a lot to the characters' relationships? I also like that you pointed out the irony in how the author developed the terrorists' characters. I think that a lot of writers tend to neglect developing the antagonists' personalities, and it sounds like that was even more of a lost opportunity in this story. I'll definitely be checking this book out. Great job!
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