Madison Smartt Bell
Bel Canto has all the qualities one has come to expect from a classic Ann Patchett novel: grace, beauty, elegance, and magic.
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
As her readers now eagerly anticipate, Patchett (The Magician's Assistant) can be counted on to deliver novels rich in imaginative bravado and psychological nuance. This fluid and assured narrative, inspired by a real incident, demonstrates her growing maturity and mastery of form as she artfully integrates a musical theme within a dramatic story. Celebrated American soprano Roxane Coss has just finished a recital in the home of the vice-president of a poor South American country when terrorists burst in, intent on taking the country's president hostage. The president, however, has not attended the concert, which is a birthday tribute in honor of a Japanese business tycoon and opera aficionado. Determined to fulfill their demands, the rough, desperate guerrillas settle in for a long siege. The hostages, winnowed of all women except Roxane, whose voice beguiles her captors, are from many countries; their only common language is a love of opera. As the days drag on, their initial anguish and fear give way to a kind of complex domesticity, as intricately involved as the melodies Roxane sings during their captivity. While at first Patchett's tone seems oddly flippant and detached, it soon becomes apparent that this light note is an introduction to her main theme, which is each character's cathartic experience. The drawn-out hostage situation comes to seem normal, even halcyon, until the inevitable rescue attempt occurs, with astonishing consequences. Patchett proves equal to her themes; the characters' relationships mirror the passion and pain of grand opera, and readers are swept up in a crescendo of emotional fervor. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Lucky Mr. Hosokawa. The well-connected Japanese businessman, now in an unnamed South American country on yet another job, is having a very special birthday party. At the home of the country's vice president, opera singer Roxane Cos will be performing for him and his guests. But what's this? Armed men invading the premises? These ragtag revolutionaries are looking for the president and disappointed that he is not there, but that doesn't stop them from holding the party goers hostage. What happens after that was, for this reviewer, a story that failed to ignite. Patchett (The Patron Saint of Liars) generates little tension as she moves her players around the board, and one is disappointed that there is little reflection about the head-on clash of art and life. Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal" Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Combining an unerring instinct for telling detail with the broader brushstrokes you need to tackle issues of culture and politics, Patchett (The Magician's Assistant, 1997, etc.) creates a remarkably compelling chronicle of a multinational group of the rich and powerful held hostage for months. An unnamed impoverished South American country hopes to woo business from a rich Japanese industrialist, Mr. Hosokawa, by hosting a birthday party at which his favorite opera singer, Roxane Coss, entertains. Because the president refuses to miss his soap opera, the vice-president hosts the party. An invading band of terrorists, who planned to kidnap the president, find themselves instead with dozens of hostages on their hands. They free the less important men and all the women except Roxane. As the remaining hostages and their captors settle in, Gen, Mr. Hosokawa's multilingual translator, becomes the group's communication link, Roxane and her music its unifying heart. Patchett weaves individual histories of the hostages and the not-so-terrifying terrorists within a tapestry of their present life together. The most minor character breathes with life. Each page is dense with incident, the smallest details magnified by the drama of the situation and by the intensity confinement always creates. The outside world recedes as time seems to stop; the boundaries between captive and captor blur. In pellucid prose, Patchett grapples with issues of complexity and moral ambiguity that arise as confinement becomes not only a way of life but also for some, both hostage and hostage-taker, a life preferable to their previous existence. Readers may intellectually reject the author's willingness to embrace theterrorists' humanity, but only the hardest heart will not succumb. Conventional romantic love also flowers, between Gen and Carmen, a beguilingly innocent terrorist, between Mr. Hosokawa and Roxane. Even more compelling are the protective, almost familial affections that arise, the small acts of kindness in what is, inevitably, a tragedy. Brilliant.
From the Publisher
"Tremendous fun... Rereading this terrific novel with [Patchett]... is a master class in fiction writing conveyed in marginalia that has the tone of an ideal dinner conversation." — The Washington Post
“Handwritten notes in the margins reveal the kind of insider tidbits you didn’t even know you were dying to know….A conversation about a masterpiece…with the actual master.” — Oprah Magazine
"A fascinating look into an author's mind [that] will make for such a unique reading experience." — The Skimm
“Bel Canto is its own universe. A marvel of a book.” — Washington Post Book World
“Patchett’s tragicomic novel—a fantasia of guns and Puccini and Red Cross negotiations—invokes the glorious, unreliable promises of art, politics, and love.” — The New Yorker
“One approaches the final pages with a heavy heart for several reasons, not the least of which being that this fine read has come to an end.” — Entertainment Weekly (A-)
“Bel Canto has all the qualities one has come to expect from a classic Ann Patchett novel: grace, beauty, elegance, and magic.” — Madison Smartt Bell
“Patchett’s ability to evoke sense of place. . .is near magical in itself.” — Publishers Weekly
“A novel that showcases Patchett's profound understanding of the heart.” — BookForum
“This fluid and assured narrative, inspired by a real incident, demonstrates her growing maturity and mastery of form as she artfully integrates a musical theme within a dramatic story.” — Publisher's Weekly
"Bel Canto by Ann Patchett should be on the list of every literate music lover. The story is riveting, the participants breathe and feel and are alive, and throughout this elegantly-told novel, music pours forth so splendidly that the reader hears it and is overwhelmed by its beauty. Ann Patchett is a special writer who has written a special book." — WXQR
“A strange, terrific, spellcasting story.” — San Francisco Chronicle
"Bel Canto invites readers to explore new and unfamiliar territory, to take some emotional risks rather than stand with Rolland among those 'already saved.'" — Chicago Tribune
"In more ways than one, Bel Canto is about finding beauty in unexpected places." — New York Magazine
“The author has taken what could have been a variation on the Lord of the Flies scenario and fashions instead a ’Lord of the Butterflies,’ a dreamlike fable in which the impulses toward beauty and love are shown to be as irrepressible as the instincts for violence and destruction.” — New York Magazine
"Patchett can be counted on to deliver novels rich in imaginative bravado and psychological nuance." — Publishers Weekly
"You'll find a few hours of entertainment and maybe even a strange yearning to be kidnapped." — Time Out New York
"A book that works both as a paean to art and beauty and a subtly sly comedy of manners." — The New York Times
"Combining an unerring instinct for telling detail with the broader brushstrokes you need to tackle issues of culture and politics, Patchett creates a remarkably compelling chronicle of a multinational group of the rich and powerful held hostage for months." — Kirkus Reviews
"Bel Canto moves elegantly through its paces, captors and captivates alike stumble on that most elusive liberty: the freedom to be." — New York Daily News
“A provocative and enchanting look at the power art has to suspend real life and to create a better world, one in which the differences between people can be erased and the barriers to our best selves can be hurdled.” — Detroit Free Press
“Blissfully romantic... with engaging wit and brilliant writing about love, Patchett has crafted a seductive, romantically charged novel...” — San Fransisco Chronicle
“Positively spellbinding.” — Seattle Times
San Francisco Chronicle
The most romantic novel in years. A strange, terrific, spellcasting story.
BookForum
A novel that showcases [Patchett's] profound understanding of the heart.
Janet Maslin
Elegantly alluring. . . . A novel that begins with a kiss and absolutely deserves one.
Entertainment Weekly (A-)
One approaches the final pages with a heavy heart for several reasons, not the least of which being that this fine read has come to an end.
Chicago Tribune
"Bel Canto invites readers to explore new and unfamiliar territory, to take some emotional risks rather than stand with Rolland among those 'already saved.'"
New Yorker
Patchett’s tragicomic novel—a fantasia of guns and Puccini and Red Cross negotiations—invokes the glorious, unreliable promises of art, politics, and love.
Lloyd Moss
"Bel Canto by Ann Patchett should be on the list of every literate music lover. The story is riveting, the participants breathe and feel and are alive, and throughout this elegantly-told novel, music pours forth so splendidly that the reader hears it and is overwhelmed by its beauty. Ann Patchett is a special writer who has written a special book."
San Francisco Chronicle
The most romantic novel in years. A strange, terrific, spellcasting story.
New Yorker
Patchett’s tragicomic novel—a fantasia of guns and Puccini and Red Cross negotiations—invokes the glorious, unreliable promises of art, politics, and love.
Chicago Tribune
"Bel Canto invites readers to explore new and unfamiliar territory, to take some emotional risks rather than stand with Rolland among those 'already saved.'"
Detroit Free Press
A provocative and enchanting look at the power art has to suspend real life and to create a better world, one in which the differences between people can be erased and the barriers to our best selves can be hurdled.
Time Out New York
"You'll find a few hours of entertainment and maybe even a strange yearning to be kidnapped."
The New York Times
"A book that works both as a paean to art and beauty and a subtly sly comedy of manners."
Seattle Times
Positively spellbinding.
Washington Post Book World
Bel Canto is its own universe. A marvel of a book.
New York Magazine
"In more ways than one, Bel Canto is about finding beauty in unexpected places."
San Fransisco Chronicle
Blissfully romantic... with engaging wit and brilliant writing about love, Patchett has crafted a seductive, romantically charged novel...
New York Daily News
"Bel Canto moves elegantly through its paces, captors and captivates alike stumble on that most elusive liberty: the freedom to be."
The New York Times
"A book that works both as a paean to art and beauty and a subtly sly comedy of manners."
New York Daily News
"Bel Canto moves elegantly through its paces, captors and captivates alike stumble on that most elusive liberty: the freedom to be."
New York magazine
"In more ways than one, Bel Canto is about finding beauty in unexpected places."
OCT/NOV 01 - AudioFile
Mixing art and politics can have unexpected results, but rarely are they so poignant. A birthday party is held for a Japanese CEO in an anonymous Spanish-speaking country. World-class lyric soprano Roxane Coss is the irresistible bait for the opera-loving Mr. Hosokawa. As she finishes singing, terrorists burst in and take everyone hostage. So begins a four-and-a-half-month siege, during which friendships and love grow between guests and gunmen. Anna Fields offers up each moment, each character slowly and deliberately, taking time to savor every subtlety. Her performance is the essence of bel canto, easy, pure of tone, with an agile, precise vocal technique. S.J.H. 2002 Audie Award Finalist © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine