Bel Canto in 2015 Reading Challenge [Closed]

Oct 09, 2017 Stacey D. rated it it was amazing

They say that music soothes the savage beast and it's all true in this fascinatingly unique novel, which also happens to appear on a best book of the 21st century (so far) list. Personally, living in these uncertain times, I believe this special novel has earned its rightful place there.

A group of terrorists overtake a birthday party for Japanese businessman Katsumi Hosokawa in an unnamed South or Central American country on Tuesday night, October 22, 1996. Their aim was to abduct the president They say that music soothes the savage beast and it's all true in this fascinatingly unique novel, which also happens to appear on a best book of the 21st century (so far) list. Personally, living in these uncertain times, I believe this special novel has earned its rightful place there.

A group of terrorists overtake a birthday party for Japanese businessman Katsumi Hosokawa in an unnamed South or Central American country on Tuesday night, October 22, 1996. Their aim was to abduct the president of the country, a party no-show, so instead, they take the 200+ guests hostage in the vice president's opulent home where the party is held. After letting the female and infirm hostages go after a few days, the 18 ruthless generals and young fighters hold 39 international men of high stature and one woman, a world famous soprano named Roxane Coss, at gunpoint for approximately five months. Though many languages are spoken, some of the guests can only communicate through the help of Hosokawa's sensitive, indefatigable translator Gen, a pivotal figure in the story. What happens in that house during their internment is truly extraordinary. It is a social experiment taken to the ultimate level, with the most surprising results.

When one is faced with nothing but the present, in terms of considering only one's hour-by-hour existence, then both the past and the future must be forgotten. This must be one of the hardest things to do, as Patchett expresses in both the young soldiers and their captives.

But these last months had turned him around and now Gen saw there could be as much virtue in letting go of what you knew as there had ever been in gathering new information.

It was too much work to remember things you might not have again, and so one by one they opened up their hands and then let go.

Music in the form of opera ties them all together and helps them forget whatever it is they've lost "out there" in their previous lives. In the end, I wanted everyone to go on and continue the bond forged through their joint imprisionment. Alas, as Father Arguedas intuitively knows, the only existence they can share is the here and now.

This novel makes you cherish every character - and there are many; each is drawn in such a starkly beautiful, humane way. I also loved the rhythm of the novel, as well as the author's skillful prose. Here's a simple, yet exquisite line from the book's opening pages that still stays with me:

It was October 22 and so it was a cold autumn rain and the streets were waxed in a paper-thin layer of wet red leaves.

Simple but beautiful. I look forward to reading more of Patchett's work in the future. ...more

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Apr 22, 2023 Joy Gerbode rated it really liked it

I didn't really love this book, on a personal level. I'm a happy ending, fairy tale type reader. However it is beautifully written, and shares many characteristics of humanity, all in one place. It takes us through the wonder of all of the best things in life (such as music) helping us through all the worst things in life. A story to which I couldn't really relate ... but a message that is front and center in my life: though bad times, and even horrible tragedies, may be part of our lives, so ar ...more

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Sep 28, 2016 Cathy rated it liked it · review of another edition

I found myself caught off guard with this book. Based on the book description, I did not expect to find the plot going where it did at first. I liked the characters enough to stick with the book but was disappointed in the ending. I think it cut off abruptly and the epilogue was even more disappointing.

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