Bel Canto

I'm on an Ann Patchett kick these days to I picked up Bel Canto and read it like I would eat cheese cake.  I parceled it out carefully and enjoyed every single bite.  Bel Canto, translated into English, is beautiful singing.  The story is about an opera singer who is taken hostage with 200 others by South American terrorists.  Most of the others are released after 24 hours but the opera singer and 50 men remain hostage for months.  During those months both the hostages and the hostage takers change.  Their lives and values come into sharper focus because they know they may not survive this situation.  Hidden talents emerge and relationships are formed.  The story is taken from a real life hostage situation that occurred at the Japanese Embassy in Peru.  I think it's odd to read an entire book that pretty much stays within the confines of a single house but that is what happened.  I have a picture of that house in my mind.  I can see the piano, the walled garden, the bedrooms, and the kitchen.  When a book transports me to a place like that, I know I've read a good book.