Bel Canto
Ann Patchett
number of voters: 11
percentage of voters who finished the book: 100%
percentage of voters who finished the book without skipping the middle: 91
highest rating: 7
lowest rating: 3
average rating: 5.68
best comment: “somehow all 50 used the bathrooms every day and we didn’t even have to hear about it once—that was lovely.” —Rachael, via email
As a group, I think we WANTED to like Bel Canto. And I think we ALMOST did. HOWEVER, we couldn’t talk about this book without disclaimers, and that isn’t generally a good sign.
Disclaimer #1: It’s interesting and YET … nothing really happens. The pace is slow. There is a lot of detail about a whole lot of nothing. In fact, one could skip the middle of the book and not miss a beat in the plot.
Disclaimer #2: The story involves a lot of beautiful singing BUT … the story involves a lot of beautiful singing. If you are not interested in opera singing it might not hold your interest. And even if you are opera’s greatest fan in the whole wide world, the detail with which the singing is described can be a bit much.
Disclaimer #3: It would have been a lot better IF… it ended before the epilogue. We were nearly unanimous in our opinion that the epilogue was abrupt and out of place. We weren’t prepared for it as readers, and we weren’t convinced that the characters were prepared for it either.
So with all these disclaimers, did we actually like Bel Canto? Well, yes… and no. To summarize, the description which nearly every reader gave this book: “interesting.”
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