Beautiful Song

On December 17, 1996, the Japanese Embassy in Lima Peru was sieged and everyone who were inside attending the party in honor of the emperor was held hostage.

“Bel Canto”, a book by Ann Patchett, is a a story based on the drama of the mentioned Lima Crisis.

Ann Patchett – hello, my name is Ann Patchett and I am a writer. I feel that there is a lot of drama in the Lima Crisis. I will study the opera and I will write a novel about how I would want to imagine life that has happened inside captivity.

Kasumi Hosokawa – I am the president of Nansei Electronics, I am hardworking and I am crazy about opera. It is my reward after a long day at the office and the best songs can only be sung by Roxane Coss. I do not want to do business with this unnamed South American country. I am only here because they said Ms. Coss will sing for me on my birthday party at the vice president’s house. This is my chance to be with her.

Roxane Coss – I don’t care who or what surrounds me as long as I can continue taking care of my voice and continue singing. I will make everyone fall in love with me through opera. I will be given special treatment because I am more beautiful than any other opera singer… and also, I am the best. That Japanese businessman makes me feel so calm and there is a different aura in him. He is very nice to talk to. There is no one else in this world who has made me feel this way. I do not know his language but I want him in my chambers every night. Gen will tell him that.

Gen Watannabe – I have the gift of language and I am Hosokawa’s translator. I am loyal to him alone. I do what he tells me to do. That young boy who always stares at me is not a boy after all. That kid is in fact a girl and she is even smarter and more beautiful than the other girls I have met in university. I’ll teach her how to speak Spanish in the China closet. I am in love with her but I have to learn how to say things on my own and not simply saying what another one is saying. I will tell the anti-terrorist force that she is my wife so she can go free.

Carmen – I am a Quechuan Indian and I joined the terrorist band because I want to fight for freedom… for my parents and my siblings to have a better life. I am smart and beautiful and I want that tranductor. I will ask him to teach me Spanish and other languages. I want him to understand me better and sticking to that schedule where I become his student in the first half of our secret meetings does the trick. After doing the shaggedellic dance at the garden for the first time that night under the pretty stars, I just can’t seem to have enough of him. We do it every night then on. Oh, St. Rose of Lima, please guide me! The singer and the tranductor’s boss are at it every night and no one knows except for Beatriz. Oh, St. Rose of Lima, please help me!

Beatriz - The tranductor gave me his watch. I saw on the television that once a boy gives the girl a gift, they are together… maybe the tranductor is my boyfriend now? My head hurts from too much thinking! I’ll lie down and sleep or watch TV. I just hope Gen. Benjamin won’t catch me.

General Benjamin – I was a school teacher but the government imprisoned my brother so I joined La Familia de Martin Suarez. I left my family to capture the president and get my brother out of prison but now I am stuck in this plush house owned by the Vice President, trying to make a point through an unplanned hostage-taking.

Ruben Iglesias - So what if these people are terrorists? This is my house and I am the host. I may not be as popular as the president but I will be, soon. Now, the outside world has sent us raw food. I do not know how to cook. The French ambassador may know how. I could help so could that young boy. I have grown to like him. I’ll adopt him when this crisis is done.

Ishmael - I am a good boy and I merely joined this band because of life’s dirty joke that left me on the streets. I learned to play chess watching General Benjamin and Hosokawa play. I also love to garden. The vice president asked me to be his son when we get out of the mess we are all in and I would love to. Father Arguedas seem to think otherwise.

Father Arguedas – There is no point in promising things that may not even come true. It is not right to give false hopes. Whatever happens, I am here for a reason, that is why I opted to stay even when I was asked to leave. I love the opera and I have a friend who could send us the music that Ms. Coss needs for Kato to play.

Tetsuya Kato – I am working for Nansei Company as a numbers person. I wake up very early in the morning in order for me to be able to play the piano before going to work. Now that we have been captured and Ms Coss needs an accompanist, I could step up and do what I have always loved to do most. I hear the French ambassador has took over the kitchen duties and has been asking for some knives.

Simon Thibault – I am French and I can cook. I love to garden, too! Oh, how I miss my wife. The only comfort I have now is the scarf that she gave me. I could live another day with a hope that I’d get to see her again someday. These boys helping out in the kitchen are as paranoid as their leaders. I would show them how to slice the ingredients so food can be decent. It is strange today. Ms. Coss is not here.

Cesar - I know I can sing. I have been listening to Ms Coss but she is not here. People are waiting. I can sing, indeed and I can sound like her. I wonder what these songs mean. I can not understand them but they came with Messner.

Joachim Messner - I am off duty, I am on vacation and I am not supposed to be a part of this drama. I am from the International Red Cross and it just so happened that I am here so I have to do the negotiations. I really hope and pray that they give up before today.

President Masuda – I am the president and I skipped Hosokawa’s birthday to watch my favorite soap opera. I ordered all terrorists who captured the guests killed so I won another term.

~O~

Epilogue:

Gen and Roxane got married… Tell me, would their union sing a beautiful song? Carmen and Hosokawa, their lovers, died in the kitchen when the anti-terrorist group came while everyone else was watching a soccer match in the garden.

~~O~~O~~O~~

I know this book was a best seller, but I would have preferred a different ending. The epilogue, in my opinion, shows a union that was brought about by the tragedy and the fear of losing the memories of the love that the characters have found while in captivity.

The community that the captives and captors alike have founded can never be found anywhere else in the world in their lifetime. They lived in a utopia that spins in the present for as long as music lives on. While there, they have forgotten who they are and why they did what they had to do.

Maybe, Gen and Roxane indeed fell for each other, but even on the day of his wedding, he was still thinking of his dear Carmen.