Sue MacGregor, the broadcaster and chairman of the Orange Prize judges, praised the work, saying, "This is a fine piece of writing, mixing tenderness and danger to an impressive degree."[3] Critic Alex Clark praised the wide range of Patchett's writing, which "encompass[es] both lightning flashes of brutality and terror and long stretches of incarcerated ennui."[9] Several reviews note a departure in style from Patchett's earlier works and credit Bel Canto for pushing her into the national spotlight.[10][11]
Critic James Polk largely praised the novel, but noted Patchett "strained a bit too hard" to highlight the terrorists' humanizing traits, which he argued "diminished the story's taut ambivalence, making some scenes near the end sound almost like accounts of a Boy Scout jamboree."[12] Other reviewers also criticize the slow pacing[10] and unrealistic characterizations,[12][13] although other critics attribute this to Patchett's brand of magic realism.[14]
Bel Canto has been translated into over 30 languages. According to Patchett, it was slated to become a movie five or six times, a Broadway musical, and an opera by Aaron Jay Kernis, commissioned for the Santa Fe Opera's 2006 season, all of which fell through,[15][16] until the opera came together in 2015 and the film in 2018.
