Play Book Tag discussion
February 2022: Thought Provoking
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[WPF] Bel Canto by Ann Patchett - 5 Stars
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Such a beautiful review, Charlie! This is a lifetime favorite, and I find myself thinking about it on so many levels frequently.How wonderful too that your wife is cancer free all these years later!
A most meaningful review, Charlie. I have hesitated to read this book, but now your review is leading me to it. It's special when books can make us think about pivotal times in our lives. I'm glad your wife is doing well!
Marvelous review, of a fantastic book! An all time favorite of mine.So glad your wife was a fighter who had someone like you by her side!
Also a five-star read for me and I have it one of my top 10 lifetime book read. Great review!
I really enjoyed this when I read it, back in my pre-online book group days (and perhaps before they were around since I read it before 2007 since I know where I was living at the time.)It took me years to read another by her in case I was disappointed, but I wasn't, so someday I'll read a third.
I really loved this book. Glad you did, too, Charlie! Definitely thought-provoking!
Holly R W wrote: "A most meaningful review, Charlie. I have hesitated to read this book, but now your review is leading me to it. It's special when books can make us think about pivotal times in our lives. I'm glad ..."Holly, I'm betting you'll like it. It's one of my all time favorites. Movie is also very good.
I love Ann Patchett. Just finishing her book of essays and learned that this was her 4th book and the first to really achieve commercial success. Thanks for a nice review, Charlie.
Interestingly, the publication date of the book was May 22, 2001, which was soon after the dotcom bubble burst but less than 120 days before the world truly changed as a result of actual terrorist attacks on 9/11.
Central to the book is the before and after effect of how everyone’s lives come into sharper focus and clearer depth once they are forced to slow down while trapped in captivity, almost like an extended form of meditation. Paradoxically, once taken hostage by the terrorists, each character is unfettered from the confines of their chaotic, self-interested daily concerns and once freed (from their personal subconscious prison) experiences a deeper, more connected mental state.
Wikipedia states that Bel Canto denotes "the Italian vocal technique of the 18th century, with its emphasis on beauty of sound” and references Sara Rodgers in her book The Philosophy of Singing who states “the true purpose of singing is to give utterance to certain hidden depths in our nature which can be adequately expressed in no other way given the voice is the only vehicle perfectly adapted to this purpose; it alone can reveal to us our inmost feelings, because it is our only direct means of expression. If the voice, more than any language, more than any other instrument of expression, can reveal to us our own hidden depths, and convey those depths to other souls of men, it is because voice vibrates directly to the feeling itself, when it fulfils its 'natural' mission. By fulfilling its natural mission, I mean, when voice is not hindered from vibrating to the feeling by artificial methods of tone production, which methods include certain mental processes which are fatal to spontaneity. To sing should always mean to have some definite feeling to express.”
This book made me think whether I have experienced a similar life event. Something where my normal existence was terrorized by some outside agent for a prolonged period that unlocked my mental state into a deeper understanding, a time when Life got in the way of my life and I discovered the beauty of Life. The answer is yes, when my wife had cancer almost 25 years ago and the 1-year period that became her survivor story. Similar to the character Messner (the Red Cross worker/negotiator that shuttles to and from and keeps both the terrorists and the prisoners tethered to the outside world), I was my wife’s caretaker. These were long days and strewn with “hidden depths in our nature”. And as odd (or wrong) as it may sound but identical to the prisoners in the book, I hated but also cherished and sometimes even miss those days given the singleness of my purpose and the clarity of my mind and existence. And although the cancer is gone (thank God), the memory of it all (like Carmen) has survived and emerges every so often but especially when I experience something as pure and beautiful and thought-provoking as Bel Canto.