April's book club was Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. We were all very polite in our comments. The club sometimes seems too false: we don't want to hurt the feelings of our hostess or those among us who consider the selection to be one of their favorite books.
Bel Canto was published in 2002 long after the prevalence of hostage taking political tactics. This one occurs in an unnamed South American country at an international event honoring an Asian potential investor who only attends the event because it is a birthday party for him where his favorite opera singer is performing. Despite being called Bel Canto, the book themes the importance of all arts as civilizing factors in an otherwise hostile, threatening and incomprehensible world.
I struggled to finish the book in order to be done before our meeting and the ending is absolutely dissonant and did not make sense given the plot development preceding it.
I really can't write more about the book or the club meeting as I am typing this while watching the bombs at the Boston Marathon, thinking about how political extremists no longer take hostages but kill.
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