Bel Canto

#385
Title: Bel Canto
Author: Ann Patchett
Year: 2005
Publisher: HarperPerennial
318 pages

I'd call it Grade A beach reading--an interesting story, well-constructed and engaging, that holds one's attention. At the same time, it's a little silly and requires some suspension of disbelief. Still, while reading it I thought "What's going to happen next?" rather than "Why am I reading this rather than something else?" So--better than chick lit, but still a kind of genre fiction. This novel requires one to believe that opera creates an almost magical compulsion toward harmony and connection. I can buy that for purposes of a good beach read.