2008 Woodie Awards
Patchett's lyrical prose recounts an exciting, if perhaps farfetched, story
Sarah Gunner
Issue date: 4/8/04 Section: Entertainment
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Hostages, terrorism, opera and love: all of these are prevalent themes in Ann Patchett's fourth novel Bel Canto. Patchett manages to combine these seemingly unrelated topics into a novel that is strangely captivating and breathtakingly beautiful.
The novel begins inconspicuously with a kiss. Roxanne Coss, a renowned American opera singer, has just finished a performance in an unnamed South American country in the home of that country's vice president. She has been contracted to sing because a Japanese businessman, Mr. Hosokawa, is an ardent fan of opera and the country is throwing him a birthday party in the hopes that he will build some factories to boost the poor economy.
As her last aria ends, the lights in the house extinguish and Roxanne's accompanist kisses her. This strong display of love contrasts with the event that immediately follows: the overtaking of the vice president's house by a group of terrorists. The terrorists have come only for the president, Masuda, who at the last moment bowed out of attending in order to watch his favorite soap opera in his own home.
The terrorists are left with no other options: without the president in attendance, they take the entire party filled with hundreds of people from several different countries hostage. As the hostage situation drags on for months, the distinctions between hostage and terrorist slowly disintegrate.
While all of the people know that the situation will never be resolved peacefully, many wish that the world would simply forget about them and leave them in the vice president's house forever. The relationships that develop, and the surprising bonds between hostages and terrorists alike, make for a book that is both compelling and provocative.
Patchett weaves together a novel that is more about love than the terror that it begins with. While the plot is at times far-fetched, the reader realizes that it is not the plot that matters, but the complex human relationships that are formed through the hostage experience. Her words resonate as powerfully as the opera that this book centers around, and her portrayal of characters is excellent. She forces the reader to feel sympathy for the leader of the terrorists just as she shows the power Roxanne Coss wields over the entire house with her magical voice.
The novel begins inconspicuously with a kiss. Roxanne Coss, a renowned American opera singer, has just finished a performance in an unnamed South American country in the home of that country's vice president. She has been contracted to sing because a Japanese businessman, Mr. Hosokawa, is an ardent fan of opera and the country is throwing him a birthday party in the hopes that he will build some factories to boost the poor economy.
As her last aria ends, the lights in the house extinguish and Roxanne's accompanist kisses her. This strong display of love contrasts with the event that immediately follows: the overtaking of the vice president's house by a group of terrorists. The terrorists have come only for the president, Masuda, who at the last moment bowed out of attending in order to watch his favorite soap opera in his own home.
The terrorists are left with no other options: without the president in attendance, they take the entire party filled with hundreds of people from several different countries hostage. As the hostage situation drags on for months, the distinctions between hostage and terrorist slowly disintegrate.
While all of the people know that the situation will never be resolved peacefully, many wish that the world would simply forget about them and leave them in the vice president's house forever. The relationships that develop, and the surprising bonds between hostages and terrorists alike, make for a book that is both compelling and provocative.
Patchett weaves together a novel that is more about love than the terror that it begins with. While the plot is at times far-fetched, the reader realizes that it is not the plot that matters, but the complex human relationships that are formed through the hostage experience. Her words resonate as powerfully as the opera that this book centers around, and her portrayal of characters is excellent. She forces the reader to feel sympathy for the leader of the terrorists just as she shows the power Roxanne Coss wields over the entire house with her magical voice.