Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

This is an old post from 2016 in the draft stage. Don’t remember reading this book or anything about it. But it is essential to blog as I don’t want to read it again accidentally. Like how I read Great Gatsby twice and still don’t remember anything about it.

Its been a while since I blogged. I hadn't been reading as much as I used to read before.  I have joined two book groups to get back to my reading and also to diversify my reading. For the past decade or so I had been reading crime fiction exclusively with a few exceptions here and there. Now it seems just right to explore farther off to fields unknown.

As I started reading Bel Canto, I couldnt help feeling that this is some sort of joke. The book starts with a siege- terrorists have sieged the house of Vice-president of a unnamed third world nation who is hosting the birthday party of Mr. Hosokawa, founder and chairman of the largest electronics corporation in Japan, in the hope of future investments in the nation. There is no fear or tension about the situation. The President of the nation does not come to the party because he does not want to miss an episode of his favourite soap opera. Terrorists at one point say something like don't kill her accidentally. While we hear a few times that the hostages fear for their life, there is something comical about the whole seige. 

Pin It