Valet Reader

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Oh gosh, another one of those books recommended to me by a woman who turned me away. I feel there’s a trend there, don’t you? I’m pretty much 0 for 5 (maybe more, I’m losing track) when it comes to women I’m interested in recommending a good book to me. Although that’s not really fair cause there have been a few along the way that haven’t. Seriously, nothing makes me feel better than statistics. I think from now on my approach will be to tune out any woman who I am attracted to when they start to tell me I should read such and such book. Perhaps then things will work out better for me. Ah hell, who am I kidding.

This suggestion was kind of a cheat though. I mean it was kind of obvious it was going to be relatively entertaining. Of course nothing is certain, but when a book is a bestseller (which really doesn’t mean much to me, after all Eat, Pray, Love and Omnivore’s Dilemma were both as well), in addition to winning all kinds of awards, I kind of expect something good. That’s fair, right? Although, I’m always secretly hoping I won’t like it and then can get into all kinds of interesting debates or arguments with people who try and convince me otherwise.

Anyways, what we have here is a novel that surprisingly enough has not been turned into a movie yet (IMDB does have a page set up for it though). Honestly, I’m not quite sure what kind of a movie it would make, it would probably be kind of slow and boring to tell the truth. Now, I’m not at all saying that’s how the book is, but sometimes novels just can’t be written into a screenplay. The reason I think this one may be somewhat boring and slow is that this book is all about the characters, their emotions, their feelings towards one another and their relationships.

What’s starts off as a botched terrorist attack with intentions of kidnapping the president of an undisclosed country quickly deteriorates in a full fledged hostage situation. But, bear in mind this is not your typical hostage situation. The Terrorist are a mix of 3 older gentleman and a bunch of young children. When demands are not met and the stand-off lasts for months the hostages and their captors slowly evolve into their own society, devoid of the world behind the walls of the house.

What Ann Patchett has created is a character study of individuals from all over the world. Showcasing their interactions with one another. By the end of the novel the reader is actually unclear of where their sympathy’s lay. There is that part of you that wants not only for the hostages to be released but also the release of the captors.

If you’re familiar with the Stockholm syndrome you’ll understand right away where this novel goes. If you’re not, look into it after you’ve read the book.

I must say though that if I were one of the hostages and my captors were a bunch of kids, I’m pretty sure I’d just offer them some lollipops and while they were sucking away as happy as could be I would kindly relieve them of their weapons and get away.

Not to make this post longer or anything I’ve had several people tell me that this book is very loosely based on the 1997 hostage crisis in Lima, Peru which last 4 months. Um, why don’t I remember hearing about that? Is that just me, do you remember that event?