I despise romance and all its trappings. Sounds harsh, right? This comes mostly from my view that they are over-represented in the world of love, but that’s a story for another time. This story is about a particular romance novel that I once read. My senior year English teacher, Joan Pike, in an attempt to get me to read something other than fantasy, often handed out free suggestions on books to read. So one day, she picked out this novel by Ann Patchett called “Bel Canto.” OK, I don’t care for romance, (she knew I didn’t), but more to humor her than anything else, I read it anyway. To my delight, it was beautifully written, more than captivating, and had detailed descriptions of the main character, her love interest, and the other couple, splitting the time between the four during the crisis that followed.
The main two couples included Roxanne Coss, a soprano who Mr. Hosokawa (her love interest) had been deeply invested in for the duration of the novel, who was the president of a well-established Japanese company, and the president’s faithful translator, Gen, and a young terrorist disguised as a male, Carmen. Carmen’s band of terrorists take control of the party that the other three were attending, and hold all party-goers hostage until their demands are met. Over the course of several weeks, the terrorists begin to lax on the tight fist they held over the hostages, and even start bonding with them a bit. During this time, Roxanne and the married Mr. Hosokawa, fall in love. Carmen and Gen, likewise, begin a relationship.
Throughout, (I was enjoying this story), even if parts seemed cheesy, and Roxanne seemed too perfect at times. And then came the end. The military stormed the mansion, killing the humanized terrorists, Mr. Hosokawa and Carmen. This turn of events, unexpected but not expected, made the story all the more intriguing. How was Roxanne going to grieve for Hosokawa? Would she never marry because of this? How would Gen react when he learned of his beloved’s death?
Apparently, neither cared. Seriously, that’s what is implied about these two heartless little harpies, given they go and marry each other with little explanation to tie it together. All that build-up of “love” between two separate couples, the secret reading lessons between Gen and Carmen, the midnight rendezvous with Hosokawa and Roxanne, amounts to nothing. The reader’s expectations are spat on when the author displays little regard for realistic reactions to such a tragedy. I don’t necessarily want to see grief and sorrow, but it’s the only logical conclusion when one kills off two main love interests in one blow!
Some make the case that this particular ending "serves as a fitting way to illustrate the difference between the made-up world and the real one..." Really? Being a major critic of "literally analysis" aside, and with the explanation that the time both couples spent within the mansion was "borrowed time," the completely arbitrary pairing of Roxanne and Gen still holds no water. Even if these two would be a better couple, there's no reason for readers to conclude that from the given information.
And that, my dear readers, is why I returned the book to Joan with no small (and scathing) rant about why it was so terrible... To say the book itself was ill-handled is a lie, but the ending clouds our perception of the whole and should be handled with care. This was not the case here, which is why I still rave and harp about it.
As always, keep reading.
