Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Source of book: Borrowed from the library

 

This book was our selection for this month for the Literary Lush Book Club. Unfortunately, our meeting got scheduled on Memorial Day weekend, so I couldn’t attend the discussion. 

 

I have read a couple of Ann Patchett books, and enjoyed them, so I was looking forward to this one. 

 

I have to say that because of my expectations, I found I was a bit disappointed by the book. It was her first big hit, and the online information I found about her and her books seemed to indicate that Bel Canto is regarded as her best book. 

 

I do not agree with that assessment. Although I have more of her books to read, I very much think that Commonwealth was the best of the ones I have read, and that Taft is better than this one. 

 

To be clear, this isn’t because Bel Canto is a bad book. I think it is good. Just not as great as the others. I’ll try to explain why I felt that way about it in this post.

 

First, the setup. The book was inspired by the Lima Crisis, where a birthday celebration at a diplomat’s home was captured by a militant terrorist group. As in the book, the women were released, but the others kept hostage for a couple of months, before the Peruvian military forces ended the standoff. A hostage was killed along with the terrorists, and the way things went down resulted both in a massive coverup and a botched investigation into potential human rights violations by the soldiers. 

 

The rough outlines of the story and the real events are pretty similar. However, the framing of the incident is significantly different.

 

In the book, it is Katsumi Hosokawa who sets the events in motion. A wealthy businessman, he has had a lifelong love for opera, and has become obsessed with English soprano Roxanne Coss. 

 

The unnamed South American country the book takes place in wants Hosokawa to build a factory there, and, failing in all other attempts, finally convinces him to come and talk about it by throwing a birthday party for him - and paying Coss to sing at it. 

 

The hostage situation, of course, disrupts the party, and Coss becomes the only woman kept as a hostage - because of her high value. 

 

In the book, then, we have two months of this situation, but the hostages and their captors grow closer as time goes on. Roxanne sings to keep her voice in shape, and this beautiful music is at the heart of the transformation. 

 

As in real life, of course, it ends badly, with all of the captors dead, as well as one of the hostages. (I won’t spoil that part.) 

 

For me, there are a few sources of disappointment in the book. And again, do not mistake my disappointment for an evaluation of the merits of the book. It is well written and interesting and I definitely didn’t hate it. 

 

The first disappointment was one that my wife (also part of the club) noted: the book takes a rather distanced approach to the characters. Throughout the book, we get glimpses into several of the characters, but never enough to feel you really know them. The use of full or surnames accentuates this. The only characters consistently referred to by first names are the youngest of the terror group - teen boys and girls in over their heads. 

 

I found this particularly disappointing in light of my expectations of a Patchett book. Both prior ones were very interior, and gave genuine insight into complex characters. I really like that kind of book, obviously. 

 

Another related disappointment is that the book seemed to rely more on plot than on character. The crazy events were front and center, and tension about how it all would end seemed more important than figuring out the characters beyond the “how do they (predictably) respond to a crisis?” 

 

Finally, although I appreciated some of the themes (see below), it felt a bit heavy-handed, rather than Patchett’s usual light touch and nuanced portrayals. 

 

As for the themes, Patchett appears to have aimed to humanize the rebel forces, and inject some nuance into our view of third world politics. She largely succeeded - and indeed it was some of the Japanese diplomats in the real-life version who worked to uncover the unpleasant facts about the final raid. 

 

Governments do not like to admit that those who fight against them often include women, children, and desperately impoverished. It is easier to just claim they are all violent, evil men who should be exterminated. 

 

The book also brings out that when people are denied democratic solutions, they tend to resort to violence. And yet that violence doesn’t solve anything either, usually serving to entrench the brutal power they were hoping to topple. This is perhaps a great lesson in our own times, about the power of non-violent resistance. 

 

I also found a few of the sub-plots to be interesting, and really wish they had been followed up on more. For example, the young priest who stays behind to minister - a book about his story could have been fascinating in Patchett’s hands. 

Further bonus points to Patchett for getting the music right - that is important to a musician.  

There are a few lines I noted as particularly worth quoting. 

 

The first really hit home for me, because all four of my biological grandparents were missionaries to Catholic countries. I wrote a bit about that here. From my point of view, trying to convert Christians to some other sect of Christianity is…questionable.

 

The older priest (eventually released) finds himself irritated at the Mormons encroaching on his parish. 

 

The gall of sending missionaries into a Catholic country! As if they were savages ready for conversion.

 

That sword cuts both ways. The indigenous peoples weren’t savages before the Catholics came either. 

 

The young priest is more self-aware, and indeed fills a necessary role of spiritual care in the book. I love this bit though:

 

Father Arguedas adopted a “translator optional” policy in regard to confession. If people chose to confess in a language other than Spanish, then he would be happy to sit and listen and assume their sins were filtered through him and washed away by God exactly as they would have been if he had understood what they were saying. 

 

Late in the book, there is some sneaking around to fuck, while certain of the captors agree to look the other way. Without revealing everything, there is an amusing line. 

 

Thank God [character] had not fallen in love with one of the Russians. She doubted they could make it up the stairs without stopping for a cigarette and telling at least one loud story that no one could understand.

 

Finally, I will note a scene when Gen Watanabe (Hosokawa’s multi-lingual translator) wakes up automatically at precisely the right time. I myself have done that many times. Typically, when I have an early start for a hike or a trip, I can find myself wide away right at, say, three or four AM. 

 

So, there are some good moments in the book. Patchett is a skilled writer. I just didn’t find myself drawn into the book like I have her others.