How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
When the lights went off the accompanist kissed her….Not only was everyone there certain of a kiss, they claimed they could identify the type of kiss: it was strong and passionate, and it took her by surprise….Or was it that they wanted her too, all of the men and women in the room, and so they imagined it collectively. They were so taken by the beauty of her voice that they wanted to cover her mouth with their mouth, drink in. Maybe music could be transferred, devoured, owned. What would it mean to kiss the lips that had held such a sound? (1.1)
Yep, this is definitely a kissing book. Sounds like music can produce love in Bel Canto, and it's pretty similar to romantic love.
Quote #2
Certainly he [Mr. Hosokawa] knew (though did not completely understand) that opera wasn't for everyone, but for everyone he hoped there was something. The records he cherished, the rare opportunities to see a live performance, those were the marks by which he gauged his ability to love. Not his wife, his daughters, or his work. He never thought that he had somehow transferred what should have filled his daily life into opera. Instead he knew that without opera, this part of himself would have vanished altogether. (1.9)
Opera and love. May sounds like a stretch if you prefer AC/DC or Justin Biebz, but this quotation shows us once again how much music and love are linked in Bel Canto. Is that because they produce similarly intense experiences? Hmm…
Quote #3
…within a matter of days after [Simon and Edith Thibault's arrival in the host country as ambassadors from France], a most remarkable thing happened: he found her again, like something he never knew was missing, like a song he had memorized in his youth and had then forgotten. Suddenly, clearly, he could see her, the way he had been able to see her at twenty, not her physical self at twenty, because in every sense she was more beautiful to him now, but he felt that old sensation, the leaping of his heart, the reckless flush of desire. (2.20)
Love isn't just produced by art. Sometimes love is good, old-fashioned butterflies for a person, sappy texts and all. Well, okay, terrorists don't really let you send texts to your crush, but it's the same idea. Simon Thibault's love for his wife stays steady throughout the whole book, and it connects him to the world outside the hostage crisis, unlike other characters who almost forget their lives outside by the end of the story.
Quote #4
Her voice vibrating the tiny bones deep inside his ear. Her voice stays inside him, becomes him. She is singing her part to him, and to a thousand other people. He is anonymous, equal, loved. (2.102)
Huh? Mr. Hosokawa's daydream about being in the audience during Roxane Coss' singing is kind of weird at first. What's it mean to be anonymous and loved? Isn't knowing the person you love, like, required? To take a stab at it, maybe Bel Canto is saying there's a way that a performer can give the music as a gift of love to the whole audience, and each individual listening can receive that love with the same delight you'd feel if your favorite pop star sang a song just for you. Bel Canto seems to think so, anyway.
Quote #5
How quickly one could form attachments under circumstances like these, what bold conclusions a man could come to: Roxane Coss was the woman he had always loved; Gen Watanabe was his son; his house was no longer his own; his life as he knew it, his political life, was dead. Ruben Iglesias wondered if all hostages, all over the world, felt more or less the same way. (2.149)
Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm in a hostage crisis and so are you…We're betting most people don't write this on their Valentines. But maybe Ruben Iglesias has a point here. Maybe intense and dangerous experiences makes us more willing to risk looking silly and show affection for others. Maybe love grows when things are tough, whether it's romance or friendship.
Quote #6
Father Arguedas felt a rush of tenderness for this man [Roxane Coss' accompanist, dying of diabetes], an almost choking bond of love. He had played for her. He had heard her voice day after day and been shaped by it. With great sincerity he whispered, "I absolve you from your sins," into the chalk-white ear. (3.48)
If you can fall in love with the beauty of music, maybe you can somehow feel affection for people who are near that beauty. Maybe in Bel Canto beauty rubs off on those close to it and makes people feel more intensely for each other. Might be a good idea to practice those scales on the clarinet after all.
Quote #7
"It may not seem immediately evident that I would be a man who has a deep understanding of art and I want you to know that I am. The Secretary of Commerce in Russia, what would that be to you? And yet because of my background I feel I am specifically qualified."
Again, Roxane waited to see if there was more of the sentence coming and when there didn't seem to be she asked him, "Qualified to what?"
"To love you," Fyodorov said. "I love you." (7.126-128)
Um, okay. We're guessing you didn't list your art class resume before asking your last crush out on a date. But then, if someone loves art, maybe it makes sense that they'd love the artist who makes it. And maybe an artist like Roxane would be glad to know someone is so moved by whatever she made. Even if "qualified" is more something you'd put on your LinkedIn than in a flirty snapchat.
Quote #8
"And what if there is nothing for me to give you?" She [Roxane] seemed to be interested in Fyodorov's argument.
He [Fyodorov] shook his head. "What a thing to say, after all that you have given to me. But it is never about who has given what. That is not the way to think of gifts. This is not business we are conducting. Would I be pleased if you were to say you loved me as well? That what you wanted was to come to Russia and live with the Secretary of Commerce, attend state dinners, drink your coffee in my bed? A beautiful thought, surely, but my wife would not be pleased. When you think of love you think as an American. You must think like a Russian. It is a more expansive view." (7.149-150)
Fyodorov has a kind of love for Roxane that doesn't want anything back. He wants to admire her for her talents, and he doesn't want anything except to tell her about it. It's probably no accident that Fyodorov is a great appreciator of art and someone who knows how to love this way. After all, a painting can't kiss you back, but that hasn't stopped Fyodorov from loving art.
Quote #9
It was too much work to remember things you might not have again, and so one by one they opened up their hands and them let go. Except for Messner, whose job it was to remember. And Simon Thibault, who even in his sleep thought of nothing but his wife. (10.94)
For lots of the people in this book, being plunged into a strange new world makes them forget their old lives and discover new wonder and affection. But for Thibault, love keeps him from vanishing into the forgetful world of the hostage crisis. He still has a link to the rest of the world, and a strong one. That's proof that you don't have to get kidnapped far from home to find love. Nice to know, huh?
Quote #10
He [Thibault] was sure that Gen and Roxane had married for love, the love of each other and the love of all the people they remembered. (Epilogue.29)
We know, we know: the Epilogue feels a little strange. Gen and Roxane are getting married so soon after losing people they both loved? Seems like something your average psychologist would recommend against. But maybe there is some sort of shared love they've found through all their intense experiences that's deeply genuine. We're not telling you to pick your partners this way, but maybe it works in the novel.