Bel Canto

[the sunshine]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


I'm halfway through, after really fighting to get that far. Is it worth finishing?

Ugh-The poor brown people who have never heard opera. Ugh-the woman who everyone falls in love with. Yuck.

[Carmen]

I read it last Spring for a bookclub group I am in and although I did get through it and parts of it held my attention, mostly I wasn't touched by it and couldn't understand why it won the Orange Prize.

[SoHappy]

I really enjoyed it. I can't stand opera, though (gasp!), so it was hard for me to imagine the effect it had on people. But I found it compelling once the action started rolling and zipped through it.

[siddie]

Sunshine, I agree with you about the beginning. I also think the book was vastly overrated but the ending does pay off - well, the ending to the kidnap did. I don't want to give it away if you read the whole book but there is more.

[OhMel]

T

I opened this thinking you were talking about the group (musical.) They are very good -- sort of a Cocateau Twins but different type of thing. Maybe you'll be happier with that version.

[Leatherette]

I read it, and was thinking the same thing, then as my book group was discussing it, I thought, "Hmm, this is like an opera." Then the book made more sense. Generalizations, instant falling in love, drama, and at the end, weddings (between people that you have no idea why they are in love) and it's over.

Then I could appreciate the crafting of it better.

L.

[SoHappy]

Yes, Leatherette, I noticed the opera theming, too, and thought it a nice little trick.

[Verity]

OMG! I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks it's overrated. I thought it would be a psychological study and it was more like a soap opera (no pun intended). Some of the characters were interesting at first, but as the book went on, I didn't find myself caring more about what happened to them. The fact that the author reveals (most of) the ending early in the book didn't help.

I am not an opera lover so I suppose it wasn't the book for me, anyway.

[Verity]

Originally Posted by the sunshine

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


I'm halfway through, after really fighting to get that far. Is it worth finishing?

Ugh-The poor brown people who have never heard opera. Ugh-the woman who everyone falls in love with. Yuck.

I had to add that I had the same reactions!

[fek&fuzz]

I read the musicians assistant and another one about a woman who goes to live in a home for unwed mothers by the same author. Her writing is good, but too sad.

[kama'aina mama]

It's been a year since I read it but I loved it. I wish I could remember why and tell you. I just know that I couldn't put it down. I'm sorry you didn't like it. It's so disappointing when that happens with books, you know?

[spiderdust]

Originally Posted by OhMel

T

I opened this thinking you were talking about the group (musical.) They are very good -- sort of a Cocateau Twins but different type of thing. Maybe you'll be happier with that version.

I thought this was about the group Bel Canto, too!

*points to own user name*