Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Goodreads Summary: Somewhere in South America at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening until a band of terrorists breaks in, taking the entire party hostage.

But what begins as a life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different. Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion and cannot be stopped.

Ann Patchett has written a novel that is as lyrical and profound as it is unforgettable. Bel Canto is a virtuoso performance by one of our best and most important writers.

Why I Read This Book: I have no idea why I read this book. It is not at all the type of book or author I normally read, but I read it on a Top Whatever book of Whatever Something and added to my TBR and read it.

Review: To be honest I didn't really like this book. I liked the idea of it, but it was really boring. I really had to push myself to finish it because I got tired of reading it. Not that it was a bad book, it just seems that the two somewhat exciting parts of the book are very rushed and the rest of it is just really boring. There was nothing else wrong with it except that. I liked the characters, and the plot, but I just didn't connect to the emotions the way I knew Patchett wanted the reader to because it was very very slow paced.

Rating: This is going to be my first half star book rating, and it's actually making me reconsider how cut and dry my ratings are. I normally give a book that I didn't really care about 3 stars and call it 'neutral' meaning I liked it fine, but if I had never read it my life wouldn't be missing anything, and I feel that this book was just slightly on the side of disliking it a bit more than that, however I didn't find that I "didn't like" it either. So, my rating is: