What was bel canto based on

I admire any author who can tell a great story with the words ushering me along rather than tripping me up. Another reviewer referred to the book as "lyrical" and I heartily agree. It was just beautifully done. Second, such richly imagined characters were a delight to spend time with. I thought each character was fully developed and interesting. Even the minor characters, about whom I received limited information, still felt real.

And I got the sense that there was so much more to know about them lurking just below the surface. Finally, the story was heartbreakingly beautiful. As my waterworks attest, it was very moving, without feeling like my emotions were being made sport of. In the ending, it all just came together for me. But just like the opera singer's song had to end eventually, their peaceful suspension from reality could not endure. To me, what made the story and the illusion so poignant was the knowledge they had all along that it WOULD end.

An audience can't fool itself into thinking a performance will last indefinitely, but perhaps the awareness of the end in sight makes the beauty of the moment all the more valuable. That reference made this story even more meaningful to me. I just loved it. I gave this book five stars, but it wasn't absolutely perfect. I actually strongly disliked the epilogue. I found it disheartening, somewhat contrived, and generally unecessary. The story would have been better off without it.

In spite of that, this book is everything a great book should be. I still loved it, and enjoyed the writing, but it wasn't the same experience it was the first time.

I wasn't as impressed, as moved, or as eager to share this book with others as I was the first time around. It must have just been the way it hit me at that time in my life. Even without it being the earth-shatteringly awesome book I felt it was before, I still highly recommend it. View all 12 comments. Aug 14, Diane rated it it was amazing Shelves: modern-fiction , music , audiobooks , favorites , gorgeous-prose. To me, this book is luminous. Well, almost perfect. I'll explain in a moment.

I first read "Bel Canto" in , and I was so absorbed in the story that I would sneak away from my desk at work just to have a few precious moments with it. The story opens with a renowned opera singer, Roxanne Coss, giving a private performance at the home of a vice president of an unnamed South American country.

Several people in the room are already in love with her, and others wil To me, this book is luminous. Several people in the room are already in love with her, and others will fall in love with the sound of her voice. The moment she's done singing, the room is stormed by guerrilla fighters, and everyone in the home is taken hostage.

What follows is a fascinating look at what happens when a group of strangers are forced to live together for weeks. The fighters make demands, a poor Red Cross volunteer acts as intermediary with officers outside, and meanwhile, everyone inside the house tries to get along, despite numerous language barriers. Which brings me to one of my favorite characters, the translator Gen.

Without Gen, the entire story could not have happened, because he was the one who helped people communicate. Gen is constantly in demand, translating from English to Spanish to Russian to Japanese and back to English again.

There are some surprising and emotional attachments that form -- even Gen falls in love! My only complaint is with the ending, which I won't spoil, but to say I was devastated is an understatement. But given the scenario, you can't really expect a happy ending, can you? The characters are beautifully drawn, Ann Patchett's writing is gorgeous, and some of the scenes are so vivid that it would make a wonderful film. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who loves literary fiction.

View all 16 comments. Apr 23, Nishat rated it it was amazing Shelves: magic-realism , favorites , delicate-as-poetry , modern-classic. Men of great importance were held hostage with a soprano.

Until they realized how trivial their existences have been to the world and the world's to them. Men of different countries, men of different taste and language shut their eyes to the same beauty. Terrorists with gun earned sympathy worshipping that beauty only.

A priest found his God next to him. Bel Canto embodies art itself. The book celebrates the love for what is beyond and what is incomparably greater. Our deaths don't define us, nei Men of great importance were held hostage with a soprano. Our deaths don't define us, neither our birth places.

It is always the things we seek. And Ben Canto beautifully explores that. I wanted to write a book that would be like an opera in its structure, its grandeur, its musicality, its melodrama. Anne Patchette's carefully woven tale moves from one being to another within a room.

And for a confined story such as this, she gives life to a soaring voice. Drawing no line for herself, the abundance of well crafted words and flow of noble emotions in this savage plot, can get overwhelmingly on one's nerves which may as well explain the mixed reaction. In Bel Canto best human qualities blossom and present the philosophical problem that comes with the idea of every ideal society.

With all the contradictions coming from a single room, there's no doubt the room wouldn't stand when the time comes. View all 29 comments. Apr 27, Phrynne rated it really liked it. I have read a few of this author's books now and I know what to expect. Perfect prose, well defined characters, a slow rambling story like a stroll in a beautiful park. And more often than not a difficult ending. Bel Canto demonstrates all of those characteristics. Reading it was a real pleasure and the author did not put a foot wrong literary wise.

All of the characters are well defined and by the end they become people you know and some like Gen you really want to meet. Then there is the ending I have read a few of this author's books now and I know what to expect.

Then there is the ending. Just for once I thought the author was going to get it right. It was traumatic yet expected and almost a relief when it arrived. Then she added an epilogue which was most definitely not required.

It was just wrong. I can vaguely see what she was aiming for but it was still wrong. Four stars for a beautiful book which would have been five if I could just mentally unsee that epilogue! View all 10 comments. Jun 24, Brian rated it really liked it. This is a novel that has been on my radar for years, but I am just now picking it up. This story, told by an omniscient narrator, follows a hostage situation in the vice presidential palace of an unnamed South American country. The hostages include a world famous opera soprano, and many business and political leaders from various countries.

The point of view also considers the guerrillas who take the hostages. I have never read an Ann Patchett novel before. I will pick her up again! She has a simplicity and lovely finesse with language. I was caught up in the story, but also in the words she used to weave it. With a precise prose that brimmed with clarity Patchett created characters that, even if only a few lines of the text were devoted to them, came across as real people.

I feel like opera gets a lot of negative attention from readers of this text. And opera is important to many of the characters in the book. However, I feel the bigger point is what opera represents to many of the characters in the text.

It is a source of life and inspiration. Something that gives joy and generates much power and strong feelings. So many enchanting moments in this book. So many small pleasures. I loved the world it created. I loved the people in that world. So many characters whose small joys I felt as my own. I loved their truth, their pain, and humanity. View all 30 comments. Apr 09, karen rated it liked it Shelves: great-until-the-end. Do I remember this? So, what does that have to do with this?

Well, I guess you could say that I was intrigued with the whole idea of Stockholm Syndrome way before I knew it had a name.

Just imagine becoming emotionally attached to people that held you hostage. As my 4 year old would say So, Bel Canto , while the characters and events are mostly fictionalized, was based on an actual hostage situation in Peru in I must have been living under a rock, because I do not remember this… you think that something like this would have stuck, you know? I would think that you would start to develop a relationship with these kids yes, they were basically children and start to feel that this is what your life has become.

And so it goes in Bel Canto , these characters, hostages and terrorists are introduced systematically throughout the beginning of the ordeal and Patchett does a good job of fleshing them out and getting us attached.

To a point. I think that this is one of those books where your opinion of it will vary depending on where you are in your life. I can see this book leaving different impressions on someone who maybe has just found new love and someone who is jaded by relationships. Moreover, I think that this could determine just how much you liked this book. This is most definitely a chick lit book.

Something for every taste, I suppose. The appeal of a good book is how long and hard it stays with you. When I finished this, I was eager to share the story with my friends and family but as the days wore on, the shine was lost and I started to see the faults and the hackneyed plot.

I miss the first day when I was caught up in the story and lamenting the outcome. View all 6 comments. Jul 29, Aaron rated it it was ok Recommends it for: NPR listeners who secretly want to read a romance novel. A novel about a hostage crisis that goes wrong -- with very sexy results, Bel Canto might have been a better read if at some point Patchett did anything to acknowledge the plot's ridiculousness. Instead, she treats the readers to vague social commentary about South America, multiple nobel savage tropes, and a crisis situation where people do have sex, but only after first taking the time to fall in love.

It's also somewhat about opera, so allow me the metaphor that Bel Canto hits all the obvious A novel about a hostage crisis that goes wrong -- with very sexy results, Bel Canto might have been a better read if at some point Patchett did anything to acknowledge the plot's ridiculousness. It's also somewhat about opera, so allow me the metaphor that Bel Canto hits all the obvious notes with competence but without ever risking enough to engage the audience. Not to be a pure hater, I did love the hell out of the cover art.

Jun 20, Michele rated it it was amazing. Stay With This One. It's Worth It. Bel Canto is one of those novels that is good on so many levels, it's taken me days after finishing it to put my thoughts about the story and the characters into words. This work is as lyrical and dramatic as any opera, and the word "brilliant" isn't excessive to describe the talent of author, Ann Patchett. I wondered how she came up with such a remarkable and unique story, but then learned she'd been influenced by actual events involving a hostage situation in Stay With This One.

I wondered how she came up with such a remarkable and unique story, but then learned she'd been influenced by actual events involving a hostage situation in Peru. Patchett goes far beyond the headlines and enters the minds of the players on both sides. It's a fascinating story and a rewarding and entertaining character study. The country, unnamed in the story, is a developing, Spanish-speaking nation. The party, hosted by the Vice President, is a birthday party for a Japanese businessman.

It is filled with an International guest list, including the famous and enormously talented opera soprano, Roxanne Coss. Virtually everyone in the room, both hostage and captor, falls in love with her during the four-month siege. The story picks up speed when two distinct love stories begin, one between Roxanne and one of her admirers, and another, which focuses on the second-most sought-after talent possessed by a multi-lingual interpreter, a Japanese named Gen. Each, along with several intriguing subplots, led to the building of a unique story and ultimately satisfying climax.

The ending comes quickly and shook me to my core. It was not unexpected and yet it still made me cry. And then there's a surprise, which after a lot of thought, made perfect sense.

Brava Ms. My highest recommendation. View 2 comments. May 05, Sally rated it it was ok Shelves: abandoned. I just couldn't do it! The premise was great, the writing was swallowable, but the story! The painful, painful story. There was no character that I truly cared about, and when the "hostages" became "free" or whatever I threw the book across the room and there it has remained ever since. A hefty dust bunny now resides atop. I'd rather read Better Homes and Gardens than finish this one.

View all 13 comments. Jul 06, Blair rated it it was ok Shelves: Some of you loved it, some of you hated it. I'm leaning towards the latter. I thought it was a good idea poorly executed. A small South American country throws a lavish birthday party for an important Japanese business executive with high hopes that his electronics company will build a factory to help prop up their ailing economy. The executive, Katsumi Hosokawa only agrees to come because opera diva Roxanne Coss will be performing.

A terrorist group invades the party at the vice president's home Some of you loved it, some of you hated it. A terrorist group invades the party at the vice president's home taking the partygoers hostage. The hostage crisis continues for months. Stockholm Syndrome takes root, hostages develop feelings for the young gun-wielding terrorists, bonds form, relationships bloom.

And the language barrier is not an obstacle thanks to the incredible translation skills of Gen Watanabe. And of course the music, ah yes the incredible singing voice of Roxanne Coss becomes a polarizing, transcendent force that beguiles absolutely everyone. No one escapes its wondrous effect. Characters in general, were poorly developed except Katsumi Hosokawa- love that guy there is little to move the plot forward or hold your interest the vice president likes to clean.

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Read Next. Reviews Bel Canto. Matt Fagerholm September 14, Now streaming on:. Powered by JustWatch. Now playing. Snakehead Odie Henderson. The Blazing World Monica Castillo. The Drummer Robert Daniels. All rights reserved. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.

Classical music writer John Terauds is a freelance contributor for the Star, based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter JohnTerauds. Report an error. Journalistic Standards.