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Bel Canto
 
 

Bel Canto (Paperback)

de Ann Patchett (Author) "When the lights went off the accompanist kissed her ..." En savoir plus
3.7étoiles sur 5  Voir tous les commentaires (415 évaluations de client)
Prix éditeur: CDN$ 17.99
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  • Cet article : Bel Canto de Ann Patchett

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Descriptions du produit

From Amazon.com

In an unnamed South American country, a world-renowned soprano sings at a birthday party in honor of a visiting Japanese industrial titan. His hosts hope that Mr. Hosokawa can be persuaded to build a factory in their Third World backwater. Alas, in the opening sequence, just as the accompanist kisses the soprano, a ragtag band of 18 terrorists enters the vice-presidential mansion through the air conditioning ducts. Their quarry is the president, who has unfortunately stayed home to watch a favorite soap opera. And thus, from the beginning, things go awry.

Among the hostages are not only Hosokawa and Roxane Coss, the American soprano, but an assortment of Russian, Italian, and French diplomatic types. Reuben Iglesias, the diminutive and gracious vice president, quickly gets sideways of the kidnappers, who have no interest in him whatsoever. Meanwhile, a Swiss Red Cross negotiator named Joachim Messner is roped into service while vacationing. He comes and goes, wrangling over terms and demands, and the days stretch into weeks, the weeks into months.

With the omniscience of magic realism, Ann Patchett flits in and out of the hearts and psyches of hostage and terrorist alike, and in doing so reveals a profound, shared humanity. Her voice is suitably lyrical, melodic, full of warmth and compassion. Hearing opera sung live for the first time, a young priest reflects:

Never had he thought, never once, that such a woman existed, one who stood so close to God that God's own voice poured from her. How far she must have gone inside herself to call up that voice. It was as if the voice came from the center part of the earth and by the sheer effort and diligence of her will she had pulled it up through the dirt and rock and through the floorboards of the house, up into her feet, where it pulled through her, reaching, lifting, warmed by her, and then out of the white lily of her throat and straight to God in heaven.
Joined by no common language except music, the 58 international hostages and their captors forge unexpected bonds. Time stands still, priorities rearrange themselves. Ultimately, of course, something has to give, even in a novel so imbued with the rich imaginative potential of magic realism. But in a fractious world, Bel Canto remains a gentle reminder of the transcendence of beauty and love. --Victoria Jenkins --Ce texte provient d'une édition qui n'est plus publiée ou qui est non diponible.


From Library Journal

Lucky Mr. Hosokawa. The well-connected Japanese businessman, now in an unnamed South American country on yet another job, is having a very special birthday party. At the home of the country's vice president, opera singer Roxane Cos will be performing for him and his guests. But what's this? Armed men invading the premises? These ragtag revolutionaries are looking for the president and disappointed that he is not there, but that doesn't stop them from holding the party goers hostage. What happens after that was, for this reviewer, a story that failed to ignite. Patchett (The Patron Saint of Liars) generates little tension as she moves her players around the board, and one is disappointed that there is little reflection about the head-on clash of art and life. This book is getting a big promotional pitch, however, so libraries may want to consider.
- Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte provient d'une édition qui n'est plus publiée ou qui est non diponible.

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Bel Canto
81% buy the item featured on this page:
Bel Canto 3.7étoiles sur 5 (415)
CDN$ 13.13
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L'avis des consommateurs

415 évaluations
5 étoiles:
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4 étoiles:
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3 étoiles:
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3.7étoiles sur 5 (415 évaluations de client)
 
 
 
 
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Commentaires client les plus utiles

 
3 internautes sur 3 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
1.0étoiles sur 5 PLEASE AVOID!!, Mai 11 2004
Par Un client
This review is from: Bel Canto (Paperback)
I picked up this book from Amazon's main competitor because I overheard a vendor recommending it to another customer. BIG MISTAKE. This is probably the first review I write about anything I own and hopefully won't feel compelled to forewarn anybody about anything else. The writing is bad (not a good sign when you think you can make some recommendations to the author), the characters are not fully thought out and are caricatures of Latin American soap opera maids, ambassadors and guerrilla fighters. My guess is that Ann Patchett has never fully explored Latin American culture and hence does not understand what she was writing about. She probably never even sat down to think about what is the relationship one has with music because what she pours over and over in this awful book is the idea that music turns most everybody into a stupid creature (except for those who execute it). In addition to this book I bought Nick Hornby's "31 Songs," a book about the author's relationship to music in which he explores what it is that makes him -and us as well- fall for a song (a delightful read of another kind but one that shows that the author put some love into the writing process). Save your money and please do not buy this. Ah, besides, some of the Spanish words she uses are misspelled and some of the sentences are poorly constructed (grammar mistakes!). Help yourself... AVOID! By the way, I finished the book to see if the ending could be any worse than the rest of it... it was.
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3 internautes sur 3 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
1.0étoiles sur 5 Tedious, Sep 24 2003
Par J. Blinder (Denville, NJ United States) - Voir tous mes commentaires
This review is from: Bel Canto (Paperback)
What's all this hype? As a reader of 2-3 books weekly, I found this beast boring to the point of tearing my hair out from boredom. Absolutely no action, and boring subject matter. This was my Book Club's September read, and if our leader assigns another like this (it ranks right up there with "Unless"), I'll find another book group to join.

Long, laborious, filled with useless detail. The characters have no real definition - the reader knows all about them, but they are lifeless. Each of them, up to page 90 which is as far as I could force myself despite going back to this book 3 times, was more lifeless than the next.

If the purpose of plot is to advance the story - please tell me what keeps this mess moving?????

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1 internautes sur 1 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
3.0étoiles sur 5 Novel does not soar as high as an opera soprano's voice, Juil 26 2008
Par Amy MacDougall (Mississauga, ON Canada) - Voir tous mes commentaires
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Bel Canto (Paperback)
Many people had recommended this book to me, and eventually my book club chose it as our monthly selection. While I feel this novel is worth reading, it is by no means an easy read. The setting is the confines of a Vice President's home in a South American country, in which a group of inept and somewhat sympathetic terrorists take a group of international dignitaries and an opera diva hostage.

The narrative point of view shifts between several characters, never really allowing for full character development. The constant shifting between characters creates a choppy and clumsy writing style that is, at times, difficult to read. In addition, the plot takes an eternity to unfold, while the reader is repeatedly and redundantly shown how desirable and how beautiful the opera diva, Roxane Coss, is to the others. Annoyingly, the author also assumes that everyone, characters and readers alike, are enchanted by and enamoured with opera, and subsequently the opera singer and her vocal practices take centre stage over the issues of social justice the terrorists are trying to call attention to.

The last chapters of the novel generate the most narrative tension and excitement as the hostages and terrorists finally establish meaningful relationships with each other. The most striking contrast is between the privileged lives of the dignitaries and the opera star, who even in their confinement maintain this status, alongside the poverty and illiteracy of the terrorists, who really end up as the most interesting and sympathetic characters in the novel. The conclusion of the novel seems quite unfair, unjust, and unneccessary in light of other possibilities. [Amy MacDougall]
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Commentaires client les plus récents

1.0étoiles sur 5 Snorefest! zzzzzzzz!
After hearing and reading so many good things about this book, I figured it would be a winner. Well, the winning book theory never came to fruition. Read more
Publié il y a 26 jours par Nancy Drew

5.0étoiles sur 5 Simply unputdownable!!
What makes this book so special for me is not simply that it's a page-turner, but that I was taken by the novel whose storyline interests me not at all. Read more
Publié le Déc 29 2005 par Edwina Wong

5.0étoiles sur 5 Worth Reading
Art can serve so many different functions at such times: it can ease our minds, build sympathy for other humans, show us that life doesn't have to be as bad as what we see on... Read more
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5.0étoiles sur 5 Worth Reading
Art can serve so many different functions at such times: it can ease our minds, build sympathy for other humans, show us that life doesn't have to be as bad as what we see on... Read more
Publié le Jui 17 2005 par Ann Seaton

5.0étoiles sur 5 Worth Reading
Art can serve so many different functions at such times: it can ease our minds, build sympathy for other humans, show us that life doesn't have to be as bad as what we see on... Read more
Publié le Mai 6 2005 par Ann Seaton

3.0étoiles sur 5 What's all the fuss?
I honestly don't understand all the fuss about this novel. I was very excited to read it, based on the rave reviews and prizes this book has been awarded. Read more
Publié le Avril 15 2005 par William Curtis Lowton

5.0étoiles sur 5 Fantastic!
This book was wonderful. I read it and passed it along to my husband who enjoyed it just as much. When I first read the cover description, I was initially put off by the hostage... Read more
Publié le Mars 15 2005

5.0étoiles sur 5 Beautiful and full of hope
This is a modern classic. The book is simply a marvelous accomplishment by Ann Patchett. And yet, I almost did not read this wonderful book until my wife and a friend both... Read more
Publié le Mars 9 2005 par BethDeHart

4.0étoiles sur 5 Surprisingly romantic
I approached the book with one hand over my eyes. The description of a hostage taking had me worried that I was up against hundreds of pages of action drama. Read more
Publié le Nov. 4 2004 par Morag S Johnston

5.0étoiles sur 5 Like a beautiful song
A well written book examing the interpersonal relationships that form amongst a group of hostages and terrorists. Read more
Publié le Juil 28 2004

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