Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

I didn't intend this blog to be a book review site, but I would like to keep a log of the books that I read. The fact that book reviews take up a large percentage of the posts just means that I am not writing non-book review entries frequently enough.

Today's review is of Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. (Here's the Amazon.com link.) In the first few pages of the novel, terrorists storm a formal diplomatic dinner party at the Vice Presidential mansion in an unspecified South American country. Their goal is to quickly kidnap the President and escape with him to the jungle. Unfortunately for their plans, the President is not there, things go awry, and they end up in control of the compound, with a houseful of kidnapped dignitaries, but surrounded by police and military forces.

Although it's not mentioned, there are many (superficial, at least) similarities between the story and the Tupac Amaru seizure of the residence of the Japanese ambassador to Peru in 1996-1997.

This could be the setup of a Clancyesque thriller. However it's actually about as anti-Clancy as could be imagined. The story focuses on the development of relationships between the hostages and each other, and between the hostages and the terrorists. There isn't really a "main" character, but the closest thing to one would be Gen, whose role as a professional translator makes him the only person able to communicate with everyone present, and puts him in the centre of most activity.

I can't say I know what it would be like to be in that sort of hostage situation, but the book doesn't have the air of realism to me. However, I don't think it's meant to be "realistic". I think the author tried to imagine what relationships could develop in this sort of situation, and went from there. In some ways, it's more like a romance novel than a political thriller.

It's certainly an OK read, but my opinion of the book went down as I neared the end and the house became more and more of a utopia. I was going to give it three and a half stars, but I'll remove the last half star.

Three stars out of five.