Bel Canto - Ann Patchett

Love is a rebellious bird that no one can tame.

It's easier to love a woman when you can't understand a word she's saying

One of the best novel I read in recent times simply because this story taught me many things. This story is based on the real incident happened in Lima,Peru. A guerilla group take high level executives and vice president as hostages, what happens after is the story of this novel.

It makes you wonder. All the brilliant things we might have done with our lives if only we suspected we knew how.

The story starts with terrorists entering the ambassador's house but everything gone wrong as the target of their operation the president did not attend the party. They do not have any other choice except keep the remaining as hostages. Among the hostages were an Opera singer Roxane Cox, a pianist and a translator. The translator is a unique character, he is a communication point(translates English to Spanish, Spanish to English, Spanish to Russian, Russian to English ...) for all the people, anything needs to be done should go through him .He too very strong and understanding and helps everyone including terrorists.

It was never the right time or it was always the right time, depending on how you looked at it.

The whole group was initially stunned by the voice of Cox and slowly they started to wait for her to sing everyday, even the terrorists like her voice. Most of the males in the group were attracted towards her. I laughed loud whenever the Russian guy tried to propose to Cox, during those times one cannot remain silent about the situations of  Gen.Hilarious.

If someone loves you for what you can do then it’s flattering, but why do they love you? If someone loves you for who you are then they have to know you, which means you have to know them. 

Each character was fully developed and very interesting. I specially loved translator Gen and Carmen, one of the terrorist girl. Their romance was very interesting and the way the communicate and  understand each other is something i enjoyed reading. And I will not forget it easily too. And there is another romance between Gen's master Hosokawa and the singer Cox. Both enjoyed their role in music and even started enjoying themselves.

For a man to know what he has when he had it, that is what makes him a fortunate man.

We can learn that "bad guys" are not really bad and the good guys are not as good. In fact by the end of the story the roles are reversed. I formed a strong relationship with most of the characters , by the end of the book I felt really sad for the 'lovely' terrorists. The author did not talk anything about Peru and situation during the hostage time, I don't know why she left it out. It would have created stronger sense of emotion towards the captors, may be its good that the author left it out.

If what a person wants is his life, he tends to be quiet about wanting anything else. Once the life begins to seem secure, one feels the freedom to complain.

I stopped reading the book after 60+ pages felt bit boring , did not touch the book for next 5 days. Then one day took it and started reading without a break, good I did that. It was a roller-coaster ride of everything, though I guessed the ending and expected it that way but not the relationship between Gen and Cox. The ending did bring tears to my eyes. The community that these group of people created was uniquely bonded , no one wants to break it even the Red Cross mediator, who really enjoyed staying with them. I too did not want to break that.

The writing is superb ,sometimes lyrical and it will make a good movie. The story says all humans are nice if given chance.

Wonderful read.