Reviews

In a South American country, a group of rich and powerful businessmen and women gather at the home of the country's Vice President. They are there to celebrate the birthday of Mr. Hosokawa, a Japanese executive with the surprise performance of a well-known and well-loved opera star, Roaxane Coss. Only on this night, the party doesn't quite go as planned and is taken over by a group of South-American terrorists with an ever-changing list of demands.

This is the starting premise of this book. This is a work of literature, written for art rather than a specific genre. I loved how the South American country is never really named; it's just not important to this story. Opera almost becomes a character in itself, it grows and changes and morphs as the story goes along. I thought the use of Stockholm Syndrome as plot was interesting, and even though it should have been predictable it wasn't. In fact I was right up to the last page wondering how the author was going to resolve all of the loose ends when I realized, "Oh, that's how."

The setting is the home of the Vice President of some South American country, indoors and out-. There is never any deviation from the home or its premises. It is presumed to be in the late 1990's or early 2000's, before smart phones existed. The plot moves along at a good clip though leaving the reader perpetually in the dark about what is coming next. There are many characters in this story of varying importance. Some are more well developed than others, while a few characters exist just to throw a monkey wrench into the works now and again. A few characters are so well developed that I felt a real emotional connection to some of them. I really did not want this book to end for some of them. The point of view is told from the third person, limited point of view and shifts between various characters. There are a couple of sex scenes around the middle of the book. There may be some limited alcohol use but no substance abuse. There are threats of violence.

I have had this book on my TBR pile for some time. I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. I enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to anyone. Though it may be more enjoyable to women and/ or people who like Opera.

magnalia's review against another edition

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5.0

What a wonderful, heart warming and heart breaking book. I need to gather my thoughts around it, but it was one of the sweetest and kindest reads I had in a while, something totally unexpected from the book about terrorists and hostages.

Lost in translation, in music, in human kindness.

fionnualalirsdottir's review against another edition

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There are a lot of themes here, opera and the bel canto tradition of singing, a siege by a group of exceptionally gifted terrorists in a south American country, communication difficulties between a group of people thrown together without a common language, impossible love affairs between unlikely characters.
Patchett handles some of these themes convincingly, for example, the beautiful voice of the soprano reaching into the souls of the other characters and awakening feelings previously unsuspected in their depths. But as is the case in most operas, credibility was stretched quite a bit throughout the tale, not least by the almost complete absence of violence between the dozen or so kidnappers and their forty plus hostages, all confined within a small space for more than three months.
The pace was painfully slow at times, perhaps reflecting the stagnant nature of the siege but the writing was excellent.

aliharvey01's review against another edition

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could not get on board with this one at all, found it hard work.

ldsbookgrl's review against another edition

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2.0

It took Jay and I a while to finish this book as we read it together, and I wish we'd never wasted our time. For crying out loud how long does it take to describe Munchausen syndrome? I also thought Pachett should never have dropped the "f-bomb" or had the characters "hooking up." I think the story would have been more interesting if the hostage/terrorist bond continued after the story like everyone of the charecters had dreamed. I thought the ending was lame and the whole story the way Pachett laid it out was really only worth about five or ten pages.