Patchett believes in telling stories straightforwardly. In a long piece for Byliner, she shows off her accumulated prowess by delivering “a veritable clearinghouse of practical advice.”Īs she says in “The Getaway Car” (with a title referring to how writing her first novel, “The Patron Saint of Liars,” was going to save her from the life of waitressing she was then leading), and demonstrates throughout these essays, Ms. Patchett started writing magazine articles at an early age (“When Your Best Friend’s a Guy”), and she nailed the tricks of that trade so well that they’re worth showing off. If these pieces were not identified by source, it would still be very easy to guess. Patchett has had the courage to assemble both the hackish pieces she’s written for Vogue, which do a sunny job of reinforcing what the reader wants to think, with freer, more soul-searching work from The Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s.

Her new book, “This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage,” reinforces the impression of an uncommonly kind person who is not above self-interest but loves books, her grandmother, the toughest nun who taught her in grade school, her husband and her darling dog. Patchett’s style is not overly confessional, but it is beguiling in ways that make her sound like someone you’d want to know. Her novels (“Bel Canto” remains the most exquisite), memoir about a friend (“Truth & Beauty”) and assorted speeches and essays all share unusual frankness and drawing power. September's Bookclub choice : The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe (1992).The best advertisement for Ann Patchett’s new collection of nonfiction is anything else Ms. Presented by James Naughtie and including a group of invited readers. In Bookclub Ann Patchett discusses the unlikely comedy in Bel Canto and how she wrote it just before 9/11, which she describes as a lifetime ago. The novel is based on events in Peru in 1996 when a guerrilla group entered the Japanese ambassador's residence and seized nearly 600 hostages and demanded the release of a number of political prisoners.

Unfortunately for the guerrillas, he has stayed home to watch his favourite soap opera, and they are left with a miscellaneous collection of hostages from various nations.Ĭelebrated soprano Roxane Coss is among those taken hostage and she strikes up a friendship with the opera-mad president of a Japanese electronics company who has long worshipped her from afar.

Ann Patchett discusses her novel Bel Canto, which was awarded both the Orange Prize for Fiction and PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.īel Canto is set in an unspecified Latin American country, where insurgents have stormed the vice-president's mansion during a diplomatic party, believing that they will capture the President himself.

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