Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

11 reviews

mylittlehappynook's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5


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greatexpectations77's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This is one of those books that unfolds slowly, and you spend so much time with it that you feel a little loss after it's over. Like your mind keeps wandering back to these fully formed characters that you've grown to care about, just to arrive at the conclusion that they're gone from your life forever. I felt such tenderness toward almost every character. And I think it was intentional, but the only bit for me that kept me from a 5-star review
was that the ending was so abrupt that I thought I had missed pages.
But the whole playing with tragicomedy was incredible, and I really enjoyed the writing.

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lottselgar's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

ann gave me the world and then ripped it out from under me. i was so hopeful. 

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helen's review against another edition

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4.0

 Loosely based on events in Peru in 1996 when a guerrilla group entered the Japanese ambassador's residence and held people hostage for four months.

This book is set in an unspecified South American country and the hostages are from all over the world, including a famous American soprano, an opera-loving Japanese businessman, and his (very overworked!) translator.

The hostage-takers start off as a scary group with guns, but over the course of the book, via Patchett's excellent use of humour and pathos, they become individuals who are trapped by their circumstances. The author makes a bold decision to tell us their fate in chapter one. This has the effect of allowing us to slow down and sink into the unfurling story without the need to rush to the end to find out what happens.

Despite the violent beginning and ending, at its heart it's a kind story about trapped people finding a common language via music and love.

4 stars because I really disliked the epilogue.

Content notes:
Death of main characters, guns, gun violence, on page sex
 

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phantomgecko's review

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reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Often when I'm talking to my husband about what I'm reading, he'll ask, "What's the point of this book?" and basically if he needs to ask, the answer is just people. Bel Canto is 100% about people and how they feel. You get glimpses of much more than just the "main" characters. Backstory after backstory. Tidbits that don't affect the plot at all but add flavor to the people soup.

This character is ashamed of her cowardly husband; this character fell in love with art as a child; this character is in love with a coworker; this character is trying to use this situation for political gain.

It's a slow book. There's a plot, but often the plot doesn't matter. The characters do tho.

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rosalind's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25


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lalu's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

This book was rather outside my comfort zone. But I loved it.

It's one of those rare stories that take a long time to read without becoming boring or ending in a reading slump - it just felt right to read the 300-something pages over the course of a month instead of just a few days since the plot spans over several months. Which surprised me because hostage situations usually are a fast-paced thing that rarely take more than a few days. But this is not your typical hostage situation. This was the story of a bunch of people from all over the world with no common language building the most exceptional relationships.
The way the reader gets to effortlessly switch between different character's perspectives and thoughts was marvelous. I immensely enjoyed not having a protagonist and instead falling in love with and rooting for every character, regardless of whether they were a hostage or a captor, because they were all so human.

The only thing that bothered me was the ending. They didn't deserve to die. Also I don't get why Gen and Roxane got married. But I guess it makes sense to have that sudden awakening and the end of the kind of utopia that they were living in. Back to real life, where you have to make compromises. This simply isn't a fairy tale with a happy ending. 
But I'm still bummed about it.

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caseythereader's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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aguattery's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I think you need an incredibly strong attachment/understanding of opera to enjoy it. 

Bel Canto has all the makings of a great book but the pacing is so slow that it's difficult to get through. There's almost no action - you could cut out half of this book and be left with the same story. I didn't even grow very attached to the characters. As a lot of other reviews mention, the epilogue  really detracts from the whole story. 

Probably the only redeeming part of this story was the last chapter. Almost DNF'd

Wouldn't read again. 

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readingrainbill's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 I'll be honest and say that Bel Canto isn't normally a book I read. While I read a wide variety of genres, this still wouldn't be one that I gravitated towards. But the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge had a prompt that required me to read a Women's Prize for Fiction winner and this was the one I chose.

What drew me to it was the fact that it was turned into a movie starring Julianne Moore and Ken Watanabe. What I didn't know  was how much I was going to like it.

This whole book takes place during a hostage situation as it drags out longer than anyone expected and we see these characters who, in any other circumstance, would never have said more than hello to each other. What impressed me was that the terrorists weren't just evil incarnate, they were people too. 

The characters' stories were beautifully interwoven by Ann Patchett and she made me care so much that when the ending came I was almost in denial. It couldn't be over, there had to be more. 

I think this is a book that everyone should read no matter your genre preferences. 

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