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

I loved this!

What made the experience of listening to Beautiful Ruins the most enjoyable?

This was a wonderful book. I loved the stories and how they were told

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend

Entertaining with some flaws

I felt the story goes downhill at the end. It felt like such an abrupt closure after 9 hours of build up. Worth listening to, though. The performance was done really well in my opinion.

A beautiful book

What did you like best about this story?

I had tears in my eyes several times; not of sadness. Of revelation. This book is awesome; literally--it induces the feelings of awe and elation. Loved it.

Skips a bit, but the story is good

I wonder if this could be true? I don't know, but what if. A strange woman appears at a family hotel; very ill and kind of pretty. This story goes back and forth for 50 years, through the relationships and individuals, until the circle is complete. The story keeps you interested in following each character, both individually and as a group, through the years, until the end.

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