Rereading Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

hey guys welcome back to my channel or welcome to my channel this is the first time that you are here my name is Jenny and I make books and tea videos on the Internet and today we're gonna be talking about one of my favorite books of all time and that is bel canto by Ann Patchett I'm gonna give you a little bit of a summary about what the book itself is about I'm going to talk a little bit about the audio book because I did listen to it this time and then a little bit about my reading experience with bel canto so let's get started with what the book is about so the book is set in a South American country that is never named and it is centered around a birthday party that the host country is throwing for a Japanese businessman that they hope will build a factory in their country so it brings together all these dignitaries and businessmen bankers and their wives from all of these countries across the world so there are all these really rich and important people all in this one setting in this basically this house and they are all kind of brought together the Japanese businessman is enticed there because they bring in the opera singer rocks and costs to sing so the Japanese businessman who's mr. hos okawa he is a huge fan of opera just the one thing that really brings him joy in his life and so he has followed roxxon's career ever since his daughter gave him a record of her of one of her operas and so he has repeatedly turned down invitations to come to this country because he has no intention of building a factory that's not anything that really doesn't anything to do with the plot so much as it is just you know these people all came together for the specific reason and so he's repeatedly turned down invitations until they let him know that she is going to be singing there and so the plot kind of kicks off the night of the birthday party and so it's all these people who speak all these different languages and one of the main characters and kind of the main storyteller of this is again who is mr. Jose cow is translator so he speaks a number of languages he's able to communicate with everybody but everybody else isn't really able to communicate with each other so the plot kicks off when the lights go out at the end of Roxanne Casas sing singing and everyone sort of thinks that it's just dramatic effect and nobody really thinks anything of it they're all clapping and carrying on and then they realize you know that the candles also went out and so the lights eventually come back on and they see that they are surrounded by militants so basically it becomes a hostage situation with a terrorist group in the host country who have come to the event to kidnap the president blot twist which isn't really a plot twist this all happens really early on so none of this is spoilers and the president isn't actually at the event because he stayed home to watch a soap opera and so the terrorists have come for the president the president isn't there and so they kind of panic and end up taking the entire party hostage and that's really where everything kicks off so the whole story is really about it's a character-driven novel so it's really about the people it's about the relationships and it's about the disparity between these rich businessmen and dignitaries and these what are referred to as terrorists or militants throughout the entire book so the socio-economic difference between them but also the difference in opportunity the difference in education just the difference period between these two groups so that's really while it's about the fact that it is a terrorist it's a hostage situation they're our hostage and negotiations kind of going on really the focus of the book is what's happening inside the house and how these different people are interacting so it's an incredible book it has a really slow start I will say so the first hundred pages are a little slow but once you get past that it really starts to pick up it's kind of what is in the book referred to as the the time before the box and the time after the box which won't make sense until you actually read it but really it's kind of when music gets brought back into the book that's when everything sort of starts to really liven up and kick off which i think is a really notable thing because another part of of it to me is how universal music is so you know one of the things at the beginning of book is that these terrorists are waiting in the air vents to ambush this dinner party and kidnap the president and they're listening to Roxanne cost sing and it's the first time they've heard you know music of this caliber and how it affects them so you know those little things get brought in and it's just a really beautiful narrative that is incredibly character focused and you just get inside all of these characters minds and you know you forget about the language barriers a little bit you forget about the you know the difference in their upbringing and in their opportunities in life and it's just really interesting you know I think there is a little bit of the Stockholm Syndrome and it just I don't know I find it to be just a really beautifully written book and Patchett does a wonderful job with just the the written word in general I'm a huge fan of her works across the board but this is just to me like her crowning achievement it's the one that she's won awards for and there's a reason for that it's just incredible I read this initially as a physical book about ten years ago so I was 21 22 22 when I read it the first time and then this time around 10 years later at 32 I listen to it on audiobook and I would recommend the audiobook first I was a little kind of perplexed by just how like even keel and a little bit monotone the narrator is so it's not a narrator that's really lively but at the same time it's not a book that you read I feel like as a lively book so I think that her kind of even keel voice does a really good job taking the focus off of you know her kind of acting the book out and more on the characters and you kind of feel like somebody's just reading to you so not the best audio book I've ever read or listened to but I did appreciate that that she let the book speak for itself really so that I did like now as far as the rereading experience I liked listening to it on audiobook I have recently just become really in Tatia books as a whole it gives me more time to read then I was previously previously having because I can listen to them on my commute but also in rereading it and especially rereading it with ten more years of life experience there was just so much more that I got out of it because I don't think that I appreciated some of the you know little things in the book I was focused on the relationships that build between key characters and you know following that through to the end of the book and I think the first time I really missed the small things that happen between some of the minor characters because this time around those minor characters really kind of hit me hard you know you're seeing really seeing what these terrorists are never had in their life versus what these dignitaries and these businessmen had in their lives so you really when you get into it and you start thinking about those minor characters you really get a lot more out of that disparity part of the book which I think is really important to think about and to understand and to really give thought to over time and and give thought to other people's experiences and another thing that I didn't get as much out of the first time was so there's a Catholic priest that is in the house and his role is kind of a quiet role but because my husband is Catholic and I have you know had the experience with him listening to him learning about you know how he grew up his faith that kind of thing versus ten years ago when I knew basically nothing about Catholicism I got more out of that this time because I understood the magnitude of some of the things that he was doing and the choices that he was making and it I don't know I thought that was really interesting I feel like honoree reeved on as a whole for me the book was in the details which I think when you're first reading it and that's with them really any book you kind of miss those things or you don't think about them as much another thing obviously because I know how to book ends I caught more and more of those little foreshadowing things that I didn't catch the first time that made that basically that you build up to what happens in the end obviously I'm going to tell you what happens not gonna you know get into that but I started to really see where it was going before it happened which were things that I didn't see before because you know hindsight's 20/20 you you know what's coming and so when somebody says something that alludes to what's coming you you catch on quicker so it was just all around a really good experience for somebody who doesn't reread a lot of books I was really into this reread and I really appreciated also buddy reading it with Doris because hearing her thoughts was a lot of fun for somebody who was kind of processing it for a second time around and I mean it's been ten years so I forgot a lot of things and if I'm being honest but I will say that the most important thing to me at this point was that upon a second read of the book I still would consider it a five star read I still would consider it one of my favorite books of all time because you know over time you think was it really as good as I thought it was yes the answer is absolutely yes I would highly recommend this to anyone especially if you like character-driven stories this is an incredible character-driven story that I think you would really enjoy so it's definitely still a five star still a favorite and I don't feel bad owning like four copies of this book because I literally own like I think I'm three not four but yeah I absolutely recommend it if you haven't read this you should definitely pick it up if you have read it and you want to talk about it in the comments I would love to talk about it just be aware of spoilers if you are gonna say anything spoiler you just make sure you let people know cuz I don't want to ruin it for anybody because I think that the the build-up to it is really important and yes so I hope you guys are having a wonderful day I will talk to you guys in the comments and if you haven't subscribed I would love for you to subscribe and hang around to give this video a thumbs up if you liked it and I will see you next time bye [Music]

Channel: Jenni King

Views: 1,401

Rating: 4.9148936 out of 5

Keywords: booktube, booktuber, bel canto, ann patchett, ann patchett (author), bel canto ann patchett, bel canto book, bel canto movie, bel canto book review, bel canto book summary, bel canto ann patchett audiobook, bel canto ann patchett movie, bel canto ann patchett book review, ann patchett bel canto, ann patchett bel canto movie, ann patchett bel canto book review, rereading favorite books

Id: WvfPFu7-pG4

Length: 12min 51sec (771 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 01 2018