Book Review

I didn't want to read this book.

Let me explain.

I love Ann Patchett but I had heard mixed reviews of this book. And when I say 'mixed', I mean people really, really loved it or they really, really hated it. I just didn't want to hate an Ann Patchett novel.

Luckily, I loved this book so much I wanted to eat it. It was exquisite. Patchett says that all her novels are just a variation of The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. The basic idea is a story created around a group of disparate characters thrown together by circumstance. In Bel Canto, politicians, diplomats, musicians and terrorists are unintended hostages after a failed kidnapping attempt. The captivity drags on for a very long time. So long that lots of strange relationships are formed.

My favorite character is the French Ambassador, Simon Thibault. He is really a minor character but his story has stayed with me the longest. Simon has been married to his wife, Edith for 25 years. When he is sent to South America, he rediscovers his love for her.

"Had she always been like this, had he never known? Had he known and then somehow, carelessly, forgotten? In this country with its dirt roads and yellow rice he discovered he loved her, he was her. Perhaps this would not have been true if he had been the ambassador to Spain. Without these particular circumstances, this specific and horrible place, he might never have realized that the only true love of his life was his wife."

I can't even type it without crying. Knowing you are married to the love of your life is the most precious thing in the world. It's worth living and dying for.

I can't do justice to this book in a blog post. There is just too much. Even now, weeks after finishing it, I find myself thinking about it often. If I had a top ten list of my favorite novels, I feel like I would have to include this one.