Beautiful Ruins

By: Jess Walter

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Nominee, Fiction and Best Solo Narration, 2013

The story begins in 1962. On a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline, a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies an apparition: a tall, thin woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an actress, he soon learns, an American starlet, and she is dying.

And the story begins again today, half a world away, when an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio's back lot - searching for the mysterious woman he last saw at his hotel decades earlier.

What unfolds is a dazzling, yet deeply human, roller coaster of a novel, spanning 50 years and nearly as many lives. From the lavish set of Cleopatra to the shabby revelry of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Walter introduces us to the tangled lives of a dozen unforgettable characters: the starstruck Italian innkeeper and his long-lost love; the heroically preserved producer who once brought them together and his idealistic young assistant; the army veteran turned fledgling novelist, and the rakish Richard Burton himself, whose appetites set the whole story in motion - along with the husbands and wives, lovers and dreamers, superstars and losers, who populate their world in the decades that follow.

Gloriously inventive, constantly surprising, Beautiful Ruins is a story of flawed yet fascinating people, navigating the rocky shores of their lives while clinging to their improbable dreams.

©2012 Jess Walter (P)2012 HarperCollins Publisher

Like Being on Vacation

The writer and narrator take you back in time to a remote Italian island. It is very romantic and quite believable. This is a hard one to stop listening to. It was a little sad at the end to click into the present day, but really well done. I would recomend this to anyone who wants to escape into another landscape for a while.

Good lord – was that an amazing book.

What did you love best about Beautiful Ruins?

Poignant because of its painful searching for the balance between what is desired and what is right – and the assertion that happiness occurs whenever the two are closely aligned.

What did you like best about this story?

There was so much in there – from the flailing desire of Shane, to the raw unshackled ambition of Michael Dean, to the quiet integrity of Pasquale. Being able to bring together a broad range of characters into a symphonic whole sets this apart from everyday fiction.

What does Edoardo Ballerini bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The Italian spoken conveys emotion - that wouldn't be gleaned otherwise - a great performance.

If you could take any character from Beautiful Ruins out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Richard Burton.

Any additional comments?

The final shining moment was poetic. Hey Jess Walter, what are you? Some kind of “epiphany junky”?

Not as grand as I had hoped but still very good.

Any additional comments?

In my mind it was in CinemaScope and somehow could/should have been grander, but still a nice listen.

A satisfying listen

This book kept me involved and looking forward to my next opportunity to listen. Enjoyable from beginning to a satisfying end.

incredible book

I loved this book and the narrative. There were many moments when I'd simply get lost in the book.

What an incredible read!

Where does Beautiful Ruins rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Beautiful Ruins is in the top quarter of the books I have listened to... which is a few hundred.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I think Pasquale was my favourite character. He stayed true to himself throughout the book. He was pure, sweet and kind.

Which scene was your favorite?

Every scene was masterfully written. I was impressed with the way Jess wove the story by going back and forth from the past to the present, filling in details about the characters' lives as he went. Beautifully done.

Who was the most memorable character of Beautiful Ruins and why?

The most memorable character might well have been Dee. She endured a lot of nonsense in the Hollywood world and considering it all, was a good and caring mother. Her strength grew as the story unfolded.

Any additional comments?

This is a must read. Be prepared to be transported into the lives of these people.

Good reader but book was just ok

Crass comments and gutter language that I felt was unnecessary at times. There are other words that would have been just as provocative and less crass.

I don't understand what all the raves are about!

Any additional comments?

A cute story. That's it! Not brilliantly written. No character or story development that kept me yearning for more. When I finished, I happily walked away!

Amazing Narration

After listening to this I can't imagine reading the book -- the variation of Italian accents (Italian with American accent; American with Italian accent; pure Italian) is just perfection -- no Chef Boy-ar-Dee (ala Nicolas Cage in Captain Corelli's Mandolin). Irish, cockney, and Richard Burton thrown in on top of it. I'll listen to this one again, maybe after I take a trip to the Italian coast.

I have never been so compelled!

What a beautiful work of art! I have never been so into a book in my entire life, from the word play to the endless storyline I was transported and forgot about my own life. Getting to the end of the book made me almost reevaluate my entire life's existence. It's so crazy how a book, a made up story, can run such parallels to ones own life. This is a MUST read (well listen to rather)!