There’s not much mystery, except for the question of how it will end for the hostages and their captors. If you like intense character studies and locked room mysteries, this might be the book for you. This is a cultured version of the reality show, Big Brother. She draws her audience in, and uses music to create a kind of harmony unknown in diverse groups. The opera singer, Roxanne Coss, becomes both mother figure and object of desire. Through it all, Patchett weaves the melody of musical tastes and performance. Hence the feeling that these characters start to lose the defined line between aggressor and victim. We follow the health of some people, while watching over the blossoming romances. Patchett creates just such a novel, with a blend of character studies and story arcs. The musical term bel canto is a style of multipart opera and Italian courtly solo singing. The dressing is music, for it is the thread that winds its way through every page of the book. She takes two groups of people and tosses them together like salad ingredients.

My conclusionsīel Canto is my first experience reading Ann Patchett’s work. But carrying guns everywhere they go is not.

Living in a home with this much luxury is entirely foreign to them. They’re young and inexperienced in the ways of the world, except for their generals. But, truthfully, Patchett develops many of the characters. He becomes a central character, since his translation services are needed in nearly every scene. But in this case, communication depends on Mr. There’s a saying that music is the universal language. What follows is a unique progression from aggression to near complacency. So instead, the rebels capture everyone else. But sadly, he stayed home that evening, preferring television to opera. What they want is to kidnap the nation’s President. A group of rebels slips in through the heating ducts, and takes everyone in the party hostage. But they have virtually nothing in common except possibly the desire for a night away from the routine and some musical excellence.Īnd then the unthinkable happens. It’s what you might call a motley crew, but in fact none of them are motley. They’re celebrating the birthday of Japanese businessman, Mr. It’s an elegant and meaningful exposition of kidnapping, but also of love.Ī group of businessmen, diplomats, and important people gather in an unnamed Spanish-speaking country to hear a world-renowned opera singer perform. Bel Canto, published in 2001 by Ann Patchett, is a melodic story of an extreme case of Stockholm Syndrome.

Patchett canto