Bel Canto

Author: Ann Patchett

Rating: ⭐ 5/5

Date Read: 2014/08/10

Pages: 318

Bel Canto is a strange little novel: a page turner in which not much really happens, a melodrama that’s psychological and character driven. In short, an unnamed Southern American country holds a birthday party for a Japanese businessman, complete with an American opera singer. Terrorists take over the party and hold everyone hostage. The novel deals with the hostage situation.

But, even with this sketchy outline of the plot of the novel, it won’t be what you would expect. I was incredibly surprised by this book: by the details that Patchett included, and, even more, by the ones she didn’t. It’s hard for me to even explain what the book is about, since it’s more about the experience itself than about any of the plot points that make it up. I guess it’s a bit like the opera in that way.