Bel Canto (Harper Perennial Deluxe Editions) by Ann Patchett
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Bel Canto (Harper Perennial Deluxe Editions)

by

Ann Patchett

(Author)

4.3

-

12,437 ratings


Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award • Winner of the Orange Prize • National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist

"Bel Canto is its own universe. A marvel of a book." —Washington Post Book World

**A beautifully designed Harper Perennial Deluxe Edition of Ann Patchett’s spellbinding novel about love and opera, and the unifying ways people learn to communicate across cultural barriers in times of crisis. **

Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of the powerful businessman Mr. Hosokawa. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening—until a band of gun-wielding terrorists takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, a moment of great beauty, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different continents become compatriots, intimate friends, and lovers.

Patchett's lyrical prose and lucid imagination make Bel Canto a captivating story of strength and frailty, love and imprisonment, and an inspiring tale of transcendent romance.

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ISBN-10

0061565318

ISBN-13

978-0061565311

Print length

352 pages

Language

English

Publisher

Harper Perennial Modern Classics

Publication date

June 09, 2008

Dimensions

5.5 x 0.88 x 8.25 inches

Item weight

11.4 ounces


Popular Highlights in this book

  • If what a person wants is his life, he tends to be quiet about wanting anything else. Once the life begins to seem secure, one feels the freedom to complain.

    Highlighted by 1,937 Kindle readers

  • The kind of love that offers its life so easily, so stupidly, is always the love that is not returned.

    Highlighted by 1,926 Kindle readers

  • It makes you wonder. All the brilliant things we might have done with our lives if only we suspected we knew how.

    Highlighted by 1,638 Kindle readers


Product details

ASIN :

B000FC10S4

File size :

2358 KB

Text-to-speech :

Enabled

Screen reader :

Supported

Enhanced typesetting :

Enabled

X-Ray :

Enabled

Word wise :

Enabled


Editorial Reviews

“Bel Canto is its own universe. A marvel of a book.” — Washington Post Book World

“Patchett’s tragicomic novel—a fantasia of guns and Puccini and Red Cross negotiations—invokes the glorious, unreliable promises of art, politics, and love.” — The New Yorker

“One approaches the final pages with a heavy heart for several reasons, not the least of which being that this fine read has come to an end.” — Entertainment Weekly (A-)

“Bel Canto has all the qualities one has come to expect from a classic Ann Patchett novel: grace, beauty, elegance, and magic.” — Madison Smartt Bell

“Patchett’s ability to evoke sense of place. . .is near magical in itself.” — Publishers Weekly

“A novel that showcases Patchett's profound understanding of the heart.” — BookForum

“This fluid and assured narrative, inspired by a real incident, demonstrates her growing maturity and mastery of form as she artfully integrates a musical theme within a dramatic story.” — Publisher's Weekly

"Bel Canto by Ann Patchett should be on the list of every literate music lover. The story is riveting, the participants breathe and feel and are alive, and throughout this elegantly-told novel, music pours forth so splendidly that the reader hears it and is overwhelmed by its beauty. Ann Patchett is a special writer who has written a special book." — WXQR

“A strange, terrific, spellcasting story.” — San Francisco Chronicle

"Bel Canto invites readers to explore new and unfamiliar territory, to take some emotional risks rather than stand with Rolland among those 'already saved.'" — Chicago Tribune

"In more ways than one, Bel Canto is about finding beauty in unexpected places." — New York Magazine

“The author has taken what could have been a variation on the Lord of the Flies scenario and fashions instead a ’Lord of the Butterflies,’ a dreamlike fable in which the impulses toward beauty and love are shown to be as irrepressible as the instincts for violence and destruction.” — New York Magazine

"Patchett can be counted on to deliver novels rich in imaginative bravado and psychological nuance." — Publishers Weekly

"You'll find a few hours of entertainment and maybe even a strange yearning to be kidnapped." — Time Out New York

"A book that works both as a paean to art and beauty and a subtly sly comedy of manners." — The New York Times

"Combining an unerring instinct for telling detail with the broader brushstrokes you need to tackle issues of culture and politics, Patchett creates a remarkably compelling chronicle of a multinational group of the rich and powerful held hostage for months." — Kirkus Reviews

"Bel Canto moves elegantly through its paces, captors and captivates alike stumble on that most elusive liberty: the freedom to be." — New York Daily News

“A provocative and enchanting look at the power art has to suspend real life and to create a better world, one in which the differences between people can be erased and the barriers to our best selves can be hurdled.” — Detroit Free Press

“Blissfully romantic... with engaging wit and brilliant writing about love, Patchett has crafted a seductive, romantically charged novel...” — San Fransisco Chronicle

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Sample

Chapter One

When the lights went off the accompanist kissed her. Maybe he had been turning towards her just before it was completely dark, maybe he was lifting his hands. There must have been some movement, a gesture, because every person in the living room would later remember a kiss. They did not see a kiss, that would have been impossible. The darkness that came on them was startling and complete. Not only was everyone there certain of a kiss, they claimed they could identify the type of kiss: it was strong and passionate, and it took her by surprise. They were all looking right at her when the lights went out. They were still applauding, each on his or her feet, still in the fullest throes of hands slapping together, elbows up. Not one person had come anywhere close to tiring. The Italians and the French were yelling, "Brava! Brava!" and the Japanese turned away from them. Would he have kissed her like that had the room been lit? Was his mind so full of her that in the very instant of darkness he reached for her, did he think so quickly? Or was it that they wanted her too, all of the men and women in the room, and so they imagined it collectively. They were so taken by the beauty of her voice that they wanted to cover her mouth with their mouth, drink in. Maybe music could be transferred, devoured, owned. What would it mean to kiss the lips that had held such a sound?

Some of them had loved her for years. They had every recording she had ever made. They kept a notebook and wrote down every place they had seen her, listing the music, the names of the cast, the conductor. There were others there that night who had not heard her name, who would have said, if asked, that opera was a collection of nonsensical cat screechings, that they would much rather pass three hours in a dentist's chair. These were the ones who wept openly now, the ones who had been so mistaken.

No one was frightened of the darkness. They barely noticed. They kept applauding. The people who lived in other countries assumed that things like this must happen here all the time. Lights go on, go off. People from the host country knew it to be true. Besides, the timing of the electrical failure seemed dramatic and perfectly correct, as if the lights had said, You have no need for sight. Listen. What no one stopped to think about was why the candles on every table went out as well, perhaps at that very moment or the moment before. The room was filled with the pleasant smell of candles just snuffed, a smoke that was sweet and wholly unthreatening. A smell that meant it was late now, time to go to bed.

They continued the applause. They assumed she continued her kiss.

Roxane Coss, lyric soprano, was the only reason Mr. Hosokawa had come to this country. Mr. Hosokawa was the reason everyone else had come to the party. It was not the kind of place one was likely to visit. The reason the host country (a poor country) was throwing a birthday party of unreasonable expense for a foreigner who had to be all but bribed into attending was that this foreigner was the founder and chairman of Nansei, the largest electronics corporation in Japan. It was the fondest wish of the host country that Mr. Hosokawa would smile on them, help them in some of the hundred different ways they needed helping. That could be achieved through training or trade. A factory (and this was the dream so dear its name could hardly be spoken) could be built here, where cheap labor could mean a profit for everyone involved. Industry could move the economy away from the farming of coca leaves and blackhearted poppies, creating the illusion of a country moving away from the base matter of cocaine and heroin, so as to promote foreign aid and make trafficking of those very drugs less conspicuous. But the plan had never taken root in the past, as the Japanese, by nature, erred on the side of caution. They believed in the danger and the rumors of danger countries such as this presented, so to have Mr. Hosokawa himself, not an executive vice president, not a politician, come and sit at the table was proof that a hand might be extended. And maybe that hand would have to be coaxed and begged. Maybe it would have to be pulled from its own deep pocket. But this visit, with its glorious birthday dinner replete with opera star, with several meetings planned and trips to possible factory sites tomorrow, was a full world closer than they had ever come before and the air in the room was sugared with promise. Representatives from more than a dozen countries who had been misled as to the nature of Mr. Hosokawa's intentions were present at the party, investors and ambassadors who might not encourage their governments to put a dime into the host country but would certainly support Nansei's every endeavor, now circled the room in black tie and evening gown, making toasts and laughing.

As far as Mr. Hosokawa was concerned, his trip was not for the purposes of business, diplomacy, or a friendship with the President, as later would be reported. Mr. Hosokawa disliked travel and did not know the President. He had made his intentions, or lack of intentions, abundantly clear. He did not plan to build a plant. He would never have agreed to a trip to a strange country to celebrate his birthday with people he did not know. He was not much for celebrating his birthday with people he did know, and certainly not his fifty-third, which he considered to be a number entirely without note. He had turned down half a dozen strong requests from...

Continues...

Excerpted from

Bel Canto

by

Ann Patchett

Copyright © 2008 by Ann Patchett. Excerpted by permission.

All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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About the authors

Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett is the author of six novels, including Bel Canto, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction. She writes for the New York Times Magazine, Elle, GQ, the Financial Times, the Paris Review and Vogue.

Patchett's other novels include The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, The Magician's Assistant, Run, State of Wonder, Commonwealth, The Dutch House, and Tom Lake.

She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

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Reviews

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

12,437 global ratings

Joan M Neigbauer

Joan M Neigbauer

5

Delightful read

Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2024

Verified Purchase

Book arrived on time and in good condition. As with other Patchett books, the story and character development was excellent and surprising. I was sorry when it ended.

Sara RC

Sara RC

5

Beauty Unbounded

Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2024

Verified Purchase

In the midst of terror, love and beauty reign sublime. This is the theme of Patchett’s ode to the joy of living unbound by the shackles of unwanted circumstances. Bel Canto becomes a morality tale of utmost value as we seek to live and love in our contemporary world wrought with uncertainty, war, and discord. She weaves a beautiful story which challenges us to see beyond culture, beyond language, beyond appearance and wealth to the soul of what it is to be human. Brava!

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Kindle Customer

Kindle Customer

5

Revolutionary Song

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2024

Verified Purchase

A story to steal your heart. When a revolutionary group in a small country raids a party to.capture a president and end up taking over 200 international diplomats and guests hostage, they find that a single small woman with the voice of an angel captures them and transforms everyone involved instead. A beautifully told and mesmerizing story you will carry in your heart for the rest of your life!

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wvfgolden

wvfgolden

4

Everything but the epilogue

Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2023

Verified Purchase

Well written. Very descriptive and artistic with colors you can see and sound you can hear. Skip the epilogue and it's a great story.

5 people found this helpful

MizEl

MizEl

3

Begnnng draws in the reader, middle drags, ending creates impression author just wanted to finish.

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2024

Verified Purchase

The story started off promising then way too slowly devolved into a predictable climax in which the writer indulged in the use of a handy, though entirely too convenient, sleight of hand to wrap up an impossible situation in the easiest, most unimaginative manner. And the epilogue? Where did that come from? Why did Patchett spend several hundred pages on character development, and then conclude the story with a scene so trite and unbefitting of her protagonists that it totally exceeded any reasonable bound of credibility?

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3 people found this helpful

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