I served as a missionary in the country of Ecuador from May 1996 to May 1999. I remember when I was there, in December 1996, members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement took hostages during a party at the official residence of the Japanese ambassador to Peru. At the time, Peru's president, Alberto Fujimori, was of Japanese ancestry. After about 4 months time, commandos stormed the residence, in which all the militants were killed, including 2 commandos and 1 hostage. This true life incident seems to serve as the inspiration for Bel Canto, this novel written by Ann Patchett. I previously read her book Run, which I also enjoyed. A parishioner of mine in Tupelo, Betty Montgomery, who was an English professor at a community college and who wrote her PhD dissertation at Ole Miss on the fiction of Flannery O'Connor, recommended the novels of Ann Patchett to me. I had been wanting to read this book for some time, and finally got around to reading it. Her prose is very wonderful. A lot of the story deals with the dynamics between the hostages and their captors. It is definitely a well-written novel, one that will be read for years to come.
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