Bel Canto

No rating. Anne Patchett said that she never reads her books, but recently she reread this book and published an annotated version. She said that she found several thinks that she would change, errors, plot etc. She had published three novels before this, none of them had done particularly well; this is the novel that really jump started her writing career and since then she has written a series of marvelous books.

The story is good but not great and sections of this is not great. Some of the characters are really two dimensional and in the end the story of the love interest came more r less as a surprise. I am personally surprised that this book won the Pen/Faulkner award, though there are plenty of hints of her talent in the stories. The Dutch House (which should have won the Pulitzer Prize) and Tom Lake are far superior books,

This book is worth reading a the reader can see the progression of her writing skills. It is definitely a permanent part of my collection and may be a book that I will read again. I am sure that there are little nuggets that I have missed in this tale.