Barriers
are bridged in Ann
Patchett's Bel Canto: barriers of language, nationality, social status, even those
between gun-wielding captors and hostages.
In an unnamed South American country, a famous soprano, Roxane Coss,
has been hired
to sing at a birthday party for a visiting Japanese industrialist who
adores listening to opera and to Coss in particular. Just after
Roxane finishes her last note, the lights go off, and 18
terrorists enter the vice-presidential mansion through the
air-conditioning ducts. When they find out that their target, the
country's president, is not there, they hold instead the opera singer
and most of the men except those who are ill.
Thus begins a nearly five-month hostage situation that takes unexpected
turns. As Roxane practices daily, her voice brings both captives and
captors together in shared veneration. Liaisons develop. The
industrialist, Mr. Hosokawa, falls in love with Roxane, though they
speak no common language. His translator falls in love with a female
terrorist. Mr. Hosokawa plays chess with a terrorist general. The vice
president thinks about adopting one of the young revolutionaries when
the ordeal is over. Surprising abilities emerge. A Japanese businessman
shows a talent for accompanying Roxane at the piano; a terrorist
discovers he has a gifted singing voice and trains with Roxane. The
captors relax their vigilance as life within the mansion settles into a
strange domesticity. Who would want to return to the real world?
The interlude can't go on forever, however, as the Red Cross mediator
who delivers food and supplies remarks. When lives are lost at the end,
we mourn even the terrorists because Patchett has made them human. Bel Canto's
transcendent message is about human beings overcoming their
differences. Given the opportunity, the unlikeliest people can come to
care about each other and forge bonds.
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