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June 10, 2001 Captive Audience In Ann Patchett's novel, a lyric soprano is among those taken hostage in South America. By JAMES POLK BEL CANTO By Ann Patchett. 318 pp. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. $25. n December 1996, 14 members of the Tupac Amaru guerrilla group entered the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru, seized nearly 600 hostages and demanded the release of a number of political prisoners. The resulting siege lasted four months, captured international headlines and ended in a bloody assault by the Peruvian military. Loosely inspired by that event, Ann Patchett's fourth novel is set in the vice-presidential mansion of an unnamed South American capital, where some 200 foreign diplomats, government officials and businessmen have gathered to celebrate the birthday of a Japanese electronics mogul and opera buff named Katsumi Hosokawa. The not-so-subtle intention is to charm the industrialist into investing in the host country, something he has no intention of doing. Even so, he has been unable to resist the bait that's been dangled before him: a recital by the lyric soprano Roxane Coss. Mr. Hosokawa has already attended 18 of her performances in concert halls around the world, often inventing business trips that will place him in the audience. But never before has he heard her in such a close, intimate setting. Although he feels twinges of guilt for accepting the invitation, the opportunity is too rare to be missed. One who does miss it is the country's president, unwilling to forgo a climactic moment in his favorite television program. To him, no number of glorious arias and no number of supposed commercial opportunities are worth missing the valiant attempts of a soap-opera heroine named Maria to free herself from captivity. His obsession with Maria's fate also causes President Masuda to miss experiencing captivity himself, when members of a rebel group called La Familia de Martin Suarez storm the vice-presidential mansion. At first, ''Bel Canto'' seems a departure for Patchett, whose previous novels have demonstrated her precise eye for the shadings of human interaction played out on small stages: a performer's widow trying to find an independent self in ''The Magician's Assistant,'' a runaway bringing meaning to her life at a home for unwed mothers in ''The Patron Saint of Liars,'' a former musician recovering his identity in ''Taft.'' But despite its larger frame, what gives this novel its power is Patchett's flair for sketching the subtleties of her characters' behavior. Barely has the occupation of the mansion gotten under way when the wider issues of international affairs recede and the intricacies of the relationships between (and among) captors and captives come to the fore. In this crisis, Mr. Hosokawa's translator, Gen Watanabe, who, despite an extraordinary bent for languages, ''was often at a loss for what to say when left with only his own words,'' discovers both his voice and his emotions. Vice President Iglesias assumes the dual roles of housekeeper and gracious host as the standoff stretches on. And Tetsuya Kato, a Nansei Electronics vice president with ''a reputation for being very good with numbers,'' lets his artistic soul take wing. Most interesting, Roxane, the lone woman remaining after many of the hostages are released, realizes the true power of the music that has been her life's work, causing her to sing ''as if she was saving the life of every person in the room.'' Unfortunately, Patchett strains a bit too hard to give the revolutionaries similar dimensions. Among the occupiers of the mansion are a young man who learns chess simply from observing a few games and another who reveals himself as a musical prodigy by mimicking Roxane. While these humanizing details bring poignant scope to the novel's early warning that the terrorists ''would not survive the ordeal,'' they also diminish the story's taut ambivalence, making some scenes near the end sound almost like accounts of a Boy Scout jamboree. Nevertheless, especially early on, ''Bel Canto'' often shows Patchett doing what she does best -- offering fine insights into the various ways in which human connections can be forged, whatever pressures the world may place upon them. James Polk teaches literature at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Return to the Books Home Page
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by Ann Patchett ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2001
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 the terrorists’ 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.
Pub Date: June 2, 2001
ISBN: 0-06-018873-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
ROMANCE | GENERAL ROMANCE
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IT ENDS WITH US
by Colleen Hoover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 2, 2016
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s ( November 9 , 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
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Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
GENERAL ROMANCE | ROMANCE | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
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by Rebecca Yarros ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 26, 2019
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ ( Wilder , 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
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ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
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Mary E. Trimble
Captivating stories from the american west to west africa.
Book Review: Bel Canto
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, is an extraordinary novel that held me captive from beginning to end. As a matter of fact, being held captive is what this book is all about.
A prestigious party is being held at the home of a Vice President somewhere in South America. The occasion is honoring the birthday of Mr.Kosokawa, a powerful businessman from Japan. The famous opera soprano, Roxane Coss, has enthralled the international guests with her singing. It’s a grand event. Until terrorists take the entire party hostage.
From the beginning, the take-over goes awry. The person being sought, the President of the country, isn’t in attendance. This causes great confusion among the three generals leading a gang of gun-wielding youths.
Nothing goes according to plan, but life goes on. From a panicked, life-threatening situation, people fall into a routine. They cooperate, form bonds, friendships, even fall in love.
This is a marvelous, entertaining book, a New York Times Bestseller and winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award. For me, it hit a profound chord. When my husband and I were with the Peace Corps in The Gambia, West Africa, we were “detained” in a single house for 8 days, along with 118 people from many different countries. This book brought back vivid memories of that attempted military takeover.
I highly recommend Bel Canto . You’ll find yourself bunking in with many interesting international house guests.
About the Book
National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
PEN/Faulkner Award
IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Finalist
Southeast Booksellers Assn. -- fiction Finalist
Critical Praise
“ 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
Product Details
- ISBN: 9780060838720
- ISBN 10: 0060838728
- Imprint: Harper Perennial
- Trimsize: 5.310 in (w) x 8.000 in (h) x 0.760 in (d)
- List Price: $19.00
- BISAC1 : FICTION / Action & Adventure
- BISAC2 : FICTION / Classics
- BISAC3 : FICTION / Sagas
- BISAC4 : FICTION / Literary
- BISAC5 : FICTION / Psychological
- BISAC6 : FICTION / Romance / Multicultural & Interracial
- BISAC7 : FICTION / Coming of Age
- BISAC8 : FICTION / Contemporary Women
- BISAC9 : FICTION / Crime
- BISAC10 : FICTION / Small Town & Rural
Photo by Heidi Ross
Ann Patchett
Ann Patchett is the author of novels, most recently the #1 New York Times bestselling Tom Lake , works of nonfiction, and children's books. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the PEN/Faulkner, the Women's Prize for Fiction in the UK, and the Book Sense Book of the Year. Her novel The Dutch House was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages, and Time magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. President Biden awarded her the National Humanities Medal in recognition of her contributions to American culture. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is the owner of Parnassus Books.
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BEL CANTO. A Novel. By Ann Patchett. ... 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.
By the time "Bel Canto" started its 16-week run on the paperback list in 2002, however, readers might have had a different true-life incident in mind: in February of that year, the Colombian ...
Loosely inspired by that event, Ann Patchett's fourth novel is set in the vice-presidential mansion of an unnamed South American capital, where some 200 foreign diplomats, government officials and businessmen have gathered to celebrate the birthday of a Japanese electronics mogul and opera buff named Katsumi Hosokawa.
While the love story is the book's focus, the subplot involving Maisie's illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere. A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance. 592. Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019. ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3.
Ann Patchett has written a novel that is as lyrical and profound as it is unforgettable. Bel Canto engenders in the reader the very passion for art and the language of music that its characters discover. As a reader, you find yourself fervently wanting this captivity to continue forever, even though you know that real life waits on the other ...
3.93. 291,809 ratings19,429 reviews. Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of the powerful businessman Mr. Hosokawa. Roxane Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening—until a band of gun ...
Bel Canto. Directed by Paul Weitz. Drama, Music, Romance, Thriller. 1h 42m. By Jeannette Catsoulis. Sept. 13, 2018. "Bel Canto" is a movie holding its breath. At least, that's how it feels ...
Book Review: Bel Canto. Posted on March 22, 2022 by Mary. Share on Facebook. ... This is a marvelous, entertaining book, a New York Times Bestseller and winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award. For me, it hit a profound chord. When my husband and I were with the Peace Corps in The Gambia, West Africa, we were "detained" in a single house for 8 ...
Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award • Winner of the Orange Prize • National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist • New York Times Readers' Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century"Bel Canto is its own universe. A marvel of a book." —Washington Post Book WorldNew York Times bestselling author Ann Patchett's spellbinding novel about love and opera, and the unifying ways people learn to ...
What gives this novel its power is Patchett's flair for sketching the subtleties of her characters' behavior."-New York Times Book Review . Freshman Common Book: NYU/Steinhardt School, Converse College, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Critical Praise "Bel Canto is its own universe. A marvel of a book." — Washington Post Book World
REVIEWS: Bel Canto : The Guardian Kirkus GoodReads Book Companion New York Times Bestseller. Ann Patchett's award winning, bestselling novel that balances themes of love and crisis as disparate characters learn that music is their only common language. Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday ...
Ann Patchett's Bel Canto will defy every expectation you bring to this rich book ... Imagine Henry James tackling a Tom Clancy scenario, with a dose of Lost in Translation added in for good measure, and you will get some idea of the piquant flavor of this odd, but endearing, book ... Patchett daringly moves in the exact opposite direction. The pace becomes languorous and the intensity of ...
Bel Canto is the fourth novel by American author Ann Patchett, published in 2001 by Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. It was awarded both the Orange Prize for Fiction and PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. [1] It was placed on several top book lists, including Amazon's Best Books of the Year (2001). [2] It was also adapted into an opera in 2015.
For in spite of the ripe emotionality of Bel Canto, Patchett proves herself from the start to be too unsentimental and honest to serve up a contrived ending. You can tell by the book's host of tart observations...that this is one writer who won't bullshit us. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett has an overall rating of Rave based on 7 book reviews.
Mistrust and threats of violence hover over the scene, but the house still becomes almost a utopian community. From left, foreground, William Burden, Takaoki Onishi, Rafael Davila and Danielle de ...
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.
Book Review: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. In Bel Canto, Patchett seamlessly combines action, romance and a high level of maturity to produce an amazing fictional novel that truly deserves winning the PEN/Faulkner award and Orange Prize for Fiction. It is Patchett's best work and one that will undoubtedly touch its readers in a very intimate way.
Amazon.com: Bel Canto: A Novel: 9780061719868: Patchett, ... Ann Patchett is the author of novels, most recently the #1 New York Times bestselling Tom Lake, works of nonfiction, and children's books. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the PEN/Faulkner, the Women's Prize for Fiction in the UK, and the Book Sense Book of the ...
Before The Dutch House and Tom Lake, there was Bel Canto. This is the luminous novel about music and art, love and connection that put Ann Patchett on the map for readers. Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award • Winner of the Orange Prize • National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist • New York Times Readers' Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st ...
Try " G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century," by Beverly Gage, " King: A Life," by Jonathan Eig or " American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert ...
Ken Watanabe and Julianne Moore star in "Bel Canto," an adaptation of a bestseller that was inspired by a real hostage crisis in Peru in 1996. (Screen Media Films) Review by Vanessa H. Larson
Fiction / Small Town & Rural. Product Details. ISBN: 9780060838720 ISBN-10: 0060838728 Publisher: Harper Perennial Publication Date: February 7th, 2023 Pages: 336 Language: English. "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 mezzo-soprano Liz Culpepper's fairy godmother, all chesty low notes and wry amusement, felt like an ancestor of Mistress Quickly in Verdi's "Falstaff.". Dorian McCall, with his rich ...
Gabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York Times. ... 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.