Don't Miss Beautiful Ruins

Until Beautiful Ruins, I had never read any of Jess Walter’s work, nor listened to any of Edoardo Ballerini’s performances. But when I started listening to their masterful collaboration I got the same feeling I did when listening to Water for Elephants and The Help for the first time. There’s something special here, without a doubt. Ballerini caught my attention right away, as the novel starts out with a description of the Cinque Terre along Italy’s coast and is made even more beautiful by his impeccable Italian. Walter speaks of intersecting lives and flips back and forth between present-day Hollywood and the Italian Riviera of the 1960s, telling a captivating story of love, disillusionment, friendship, and the realities of responsibility that I won’t soon forget (and won’t stop recommending until everyone I know has a similar soft spot in their heart for Pasquale Tursi!)...Show More »

« Show Less

The problem I often find with panoramic works of fiction is that too many characters and too many time periods can dilute the power of a novel. It’s tough to spread ourselves so thin in real life, and it’s the same with a book: how can you care about so many characters at once? But in Beautiful Ruins – a grand work that reaches back 60 years and stretches to encapsulate a remote Italian village and the glamour of Hollywood under the same roof – Jess Walter manages to make every character’s individual perspective legitimate. From the German World War II soldier whose name we never learn, to the 19 year-old drug dealer/club promoter/romantic, and even to Richard Burton himself, Walter gives each character a voice – but not a pigeonhole...Show More »

And Edoardo Ballerini’s performance – in its myriad voices each perfect in its own way - bestows a level of believability and immediacy. His narration serves as a great equalizer: everyone here deserves the same respect and reverence. Around the office we’ve been referring to Beautiful Ruins as the next The Help. That always gets a few disbelieving raised eyebrows. But while Walter’s novel may not contain the same clear moral imperative, its message, while subtler, is just as important. If you’ve ever – in one of your more metaphysical moments – felt overwhelmed by the swirling stories, the multiple points of experience, the many lives all existing at once, this book untangles the mess for you- and the result is pretty beautiful. "

« Show Less