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

Beautifully Written, Insightful and Entertaining

I usually only listen to nonfiction on audible but after hearing a lot of good things about this book over the last few years decided to give it a shot. I'm really glad that I did! This novel is a well balanced blend of beautiful writing, humor, philosophical observations and entertaining plot lines.

Best read book yet!

Eduardo Ballerini is the best. Jess Walter is good, but his reader steals the show and makes passable but pleasurable fiction something special. Regardless, one of the best audiobooks I've listened to. Easy to follow, fun, a little corny at times, but well paced.

Flawed characters finding peace or not

I loved this book. The characters may be exaggerated and more interesting than most of us but they illustrate what it means to live a life and do your best. The narration was what attracted me to the book in the 1st place and he didn't disappoint. I'm sure it's a great read a but it's a fantastic listening experience.

Enjoyable story of time and place

Really does take you to another place and time. I listened to it when it first came out, and again last year. I don't usually read twice with so many other books out there. Good to see it on editor's pick. Its a true hidden gem that you have to finish to know how it's going to end.

The story and narration drew me in immediately

captivating and thoroughly engaging. The narration is fantastic and the pace of the story very entertaining. Highly recommend.

Brilliant!!

What a brilliantly written & woven tale! It was an incredible story that was sweet, tender, raw, sad, and intricate. I fully enjoyed this book! Thank you

An Original Fabulous Story

I loved, loved, loved this story - for several reasons. The character development. The narrator - fabulous narrator, makes me want to learn Italian and go to this quaint little village in Italy (although I believe it's fictional and doesn't exist). The characters - each with a great story. The surprises - characters and back stories were brought in that I was not expecting.
No murders (well sorta - read it and you will see what I mean). No violence (other than that one time but. . . . ). No sex. NOT ONE cuss word. (How refreshing - not that I couldn't watch my language a lot more!) No politics. A story that didn't relay on any of those things or gimmicks. A love story. A story about family. Lost love. Hollywood. Italy.
I don't really know what I was expecting but not something of this caliber. It's a story you want to to not stop listening to yet you don't want it to end. It's one of those stories where you feel personally involved with all the characters and it's a story that stays with you.
The narrator is superb. Because of him, and the story, this is one I know i will listen to again some day. The story is so pleasant and enjoyable. It was what I was looking for because I'd grown very tired of all the murders and gratuitous violence and sex. Usually I like a good murder mystery with a some sex, I'm not a prude, but I was just tired of bullets through the eye, back of the head blown off, detailed sexual encounters, you get my drift.
Read it before Hollywood ruins it with a movie cause you know they will make a movie out of it. It's that kind of great story.
It's never dull and has you waiting for what happens next.
Listen to it. I think you will love it. Now I have to buy it in hardcover because it's one I want on my bookshelf too!

Very enjoyable

I felt the author did a good job pulling all of the characters together. I enjoyed the entire story and the ending was superb.

Achingly beautiful

Well written and thought provoking, with a good plot and intriguing characters. The intertwining of story lines comes together at the end with a predictable but welcome ending!

Long journey worth the time!

What did you like best about this story?

The characters are fully developed and tell their individual stories as they flow together and apart. Interesting back and forth in time. A few times I lost my way but was able to catch up without missing anything.

Any additional comments?

Excellent narrator kept me coming back!