Read an Excerpt

The old adage "Wherever you go, there you are" is perhaps the most
fully realized in Ann Patchett's latest novel, BEL CANTO. When a
group of international business and political hotshots gather
together to pay homage to a big cheese with serious money (which he
may or may not offer to help the failing economy of the small Latin
country that is hosting this event), they not only get the pleasure
of hearing perform the finest opera singer in the world, but also
become the targets of a revolutionary group's kidnapping efforts.
As Roxane Coss attempts to tame the twin beasts of her heart and
the riled-up revolutionaries with song and style, every participant
in this crazy drama has a grand revelation as they move towards an
uncertain future.

Somehow Patchett manages to take what could have been a tired and
tried idea (after all, the recent murders in the capital of Nepal
speak for violence and high politics as being perfect bedfellows)
and turns it into a character study of the inner workings of people
not used to sharing their feelings, their soul's every turn.
Instead, their love of opera, the reach of the music, the pain and
pleasure it creates, manages to somehow unleash in all of them,
politico and desperado alike, a dire and desperate desire to live,
to be in the world. Roxane's mere presence, the sharing of her
artistry, her command of the situation, manages to alter the lives
of every single person in the Vice Presidential mansion. There are
characters here that you will love, and some that you may revile,
but each of them, in their own way, is complete and entrancing ---
Patchett manages to make them extravagantly drawn individuals,
whether they are the young woman revolutionary or the Vice
President looking back over his life, full of mistakes, full of
regrets.

The story tends to break down at some points under the weight of
the characterizations in tandem with the hard-lined violence.
However, none of it is gratuitous and, eventually, when a box of
sheet music is found and sorted through, the story really begins to
soar. It is the power of art that transforms the story and, in so
doing, the story becomes more artful and compelling. BEL CANTO is
an interesting mix of the mundane and the magical.