Literary Fiction · TenseTerrorists seize a birthday party for an opera-loving businessman and take the guests hostage for months
Bel Canto
by Ann Patchett
Hostage-takers and their captives form relationships over several months after a party is seized
The story opens at a birthday party at the vice presidential home in an unnamed South American country. It is held for Katsumi Hosokawa, a Japanese business chairman and opera lover, and the American soprano Roxane Coss performs. Terrorists break in intending to seize the president, but he is absent, so they take the guests hostage. The novel follows the relationships that form between captors and captives over several months. Gen Watanabe, the translator, the young terrorist Carmen and the Red Cross negotiator Joachim Messner are among the characters.
More about this book
Who
Katsumi Hosokawa, Roxane Coss, the translator Gen Watanabe, the young terrorist Carmen, General Benjamin and the negotiator Joachim Messner.
World
An unnamed South American country, inside a vice president's house.
What makes it different
It is a hostage story in which the relationships between captors and captives matter most, and opera is central.
Feel
Tense, but gentle and musical.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- Bel CantoWikipedia