This is really good; hypnotizing me with a laconic anticipation that inevitable tragedy seems less believable but more imminent with every turned page. I‘d read more by Patchett, and recommend this without reservation.
This is really good; hypnotizing me with a laconic anticipation that inevitable tragedy seems less believable but more imminent with every turned page. I‘d read more by Patchett, and recommend this without reservation.
Thank you @Chelsea.Poole for this awesome template! This will be so helpful for keeping my #Bookspin and #Doublespin picks organized!
Bookspin-Bel Canto (also one of my February #Roll100 picks)
Double spin-Homegoing (last months #FoodandLit pick that I didn‘t get to)
27-30 Nov 23 (audiobook)
I did not love this as much as Tom Lake or The Dutch House, but a weak pick nonetheless.
A famous opera singer attends the birthday party of a Japanese businessman at the house of the VP of a South American country which is stormed by terrorists. The resulting siege lasts months.
Interesting to see the relationships formed and the humanising of the terrorists, who are mostly young and uneducated. I was unsure about the end
It's been 15 years since I first read this and fell in love with Patchett's writing. Since then I've read all of her work and rereading this one was a treat. A birthday party for a Japanese business man in South America takes an unexpected turn when terrorists take the group hostage. It's a surprisingly tender story, less about the hostage situation than about the human connections that can be made in the most extreme situations…Cont. in comments.
I met the amazing Ann Patchett today after she gave a wonderful talk in beautiful Nashville.
⭐️⭐️⭐️½
I'm impulse rating this one - immediately upon finishing it. I'll call it a Pick because Patchett is a talented writer, and I often felt I was right alongside these characters, yearning for them to find a way out and a path to happiness.
I often couldn't put it down, except right after the end of chapter 7, which was just icky.
But I can't ignore the problems of this book, nor act like I enjoyed the ending. My feelings are very mixed.