In South America, famous opera singer Roxane Cross entertains the crowd gathered at the Vice President's home to celebrate the birthday of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Until terrorists storm the party taking everyone hostage. What begins as a terrifying ordeal morphs into something poignant as individuals from different backgrounds begin to bond together.

While the premise of terrorists seizing hostages at a diplomatic party sounds thrilling, in reality, it's not. Bel Canto is a slow literary piece that took me quite a long time to get into. However, once I did, I was hooked by the characters and their increasing disconnection from reality. After months of their stalemate situation, the hostages and terrorists find transcendence in their own little Stockholm syndrome utopia, forgetting that things could not remain like that forever.