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Title details for Bel Canto by Ann Patchett - Wait list

Bel Canto

by Ann Patchett
Anna Fields
Audiobook
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Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award

  • Winner of the Orange Prize
  • National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
  • New York Times Readers' Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century

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

    New York Times bestselling author 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.

    • Creators

    • Publisher

    • Awards

    • Release date

      August 3, 2004

    • Formats

      • OverDrive Listen audiobook

        • ISBN: 9780060783280
        • File size: 326319 KB
        • Duration: 11:19:49

    • Languages

      • English

    • Levels

      • Lexile® Measure: 930
      • Text Difficulty: 4-6

    • Reviews

      • Publisher's Weekly

        April 16, 2001
        As her readers now eagerly anticipate, Patchett (The Magician's Assistant) can be counted on to deliver novels rich in imaginative bravado and psychological nuance. 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. Celebrated American soprano Roxane Coss has just finished a recital in the home of the vice-president of a poor South American country when terrorists burst in, intent on taking the country's president hostage. The president, however, has not attended the concert, which is a birthday tribute in honor of a Japanese business tycoon and opera aficionado. Determined to fulfill their demands, the rough, desperate guerrillas settle in for a long siege. The hostages, winnowed of all women except Roxane, whose voice beguiles her captors, are from many countries; their only common language is a love of opera. As the days drag on, their initial anguish and fear give way to a kind of complex domesticity, as intricately involved as the melodies Roxane sings during their captivity. While at first Patchett's tone seems oddly flippant and detached, it soon becomes apparent that this light note is an introduction to her main theme, which is each character's cathartic experience. The drawn-out hostage situation comes to seem normal, even halcyon, until the inevitable rescue attempt occurs, with astonishing consequences. Patchett proves equal to her themes; the characters' relationships mirror the passion and pain of grand opera, and readers are swept up in a crescendo of emotional fervor. 8-city author tour. (June) Forecast: Opera can be a tough sell, and though the musical theme is deftly integrated, this book may have a harder time catching readers' interest than did Patchett's first novel, The Patron Saint of Liars. Positive critical response should attract attention, however.

      • Library Journal

        February 15, 2001
        In this tale by the author of such critically praised works as The Magician's Assistant, a terrorist takeover at an embassy party throws together an American diva and a Japanese CEO who is one of her biggest fans.

        Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • AudioFile Magazine
        Mixing art and politics can have unexpected results, but rarely are they so poignant. A birthday party is held for a Japanese CEO in an anonymous Spanish-speaking country. World-class lyric soprano Roxane Coss is the irresistible bait for the opera-loving Mr. Hosokawa. As she finishes singing, terrorists burst in and take everyone hostage. So begins a four-and-a-half-month siege, during which friendships and love grow between guests and gunmen. Anna Fields offers up each moment, each character slowly and deliberately, taking time to savor every subtlety. Her performance is the essence of bel canto, easy, pure of tone, with an agile, precise vocal technique. S.J.H. 2002 Audie Award Finalist (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

    Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

    subjects

    Languages

    • English

    Levels

    • Lexile® Measure:930
    • Text Difficulty:4-6

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