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

Wonderful story, very enjoyable!

I liked everything about this one -- the characters, the story, the references to famous people that I knew of, and the narration. I would definitely recommend it if you like a good story!

Totally entertaining

Would you listen to Beautiful Ruins again? Why?

This is a great book and listening to it was a real treat. I would recommend the book but particularly the audio. It is so enjoyable.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite scenes where in 1962 in Italy. It was great to have the events around the filming of Cleopatra.

Amazing

It was one of those amazing stories you don't want to end. I never knew what was going to happen next. It always went somewhere I didn't expect. I loved listening to it. The narration was incredible. It was just one of those books I am so happy I didn't miss.

Quite enjoyable

A lovely story with interesting characters. The only negative was the amount of jumping around with multiple story threads. To me, this makes it difficult to invest in characters. Because of this, it took awhile to get going and into it.

The final chapter was a bit heavy handed, but wonderful and beautiful. You did kinda have to rack your brain to remember who was who and the audio version of the book made the delineation of some stories cloudy, but not to the point of anything overly negative.

The narrator was very good, with a few pronunciation issues, but overall was fantastic.

I do recommend. Especially great vacation book.

A beautiful story, a spellbinding book

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely recommended. The story is compelling, and the characters are people to care about.

What did you like best about this story?

Pasquale Tursi's sweetness was the best part for me. I get very tired of revolting characters; Pasquale is the opposite, a person to love.

Which scene was your favorite?

Pasquale and Dee in the abandoned gun turret was a scene so beautifully rendered that I felt I was there with them, seeing sunlight hit the paintings on the wall.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I stayed glued to the book, emotions shifting, but never in a violent way.

Any additional comments?

The story and the narrator meld together to provide an unforgettable experience for the listener. I'll wait a while, then listen to this one again . . . and again.

Interesting story

Perhaps a slow start to this novel, but as the story unwinds the pieces come together and the book becomes a page turner. This is a 4 1/2 star effort.

Good story for audio

Would you listen to Beautiful Ruins again? Why?

I enjoyed listening to Beautiful Ruins -- a nice story for audiobook where you could usually tell what time and place you were in, despite the movement of the narrative across continents and years. I didn't consider it a "masterpiece" and would not listen to it a second time, but I was definitely glad to listen to it.

I found it well-performed and paced, and at no point did I consider "putting it down," one of my personal barometers of how good an audiobook is.

Any additional comments?

This is a good book to "read" as an audiobook -- you can enjoy the story, and you don't need to see it in print to understand, or go back to refresh your memory of a complicated plot.

Depressing characters

I'm not sure why this book had the great reviews -Marketing promotion I guess. I listened to the entire book- but found every character to be depressing. And the fact that I agreed with some of the characters thoughts - had me depressed with myself. The narrator was excellent, great variation between characters, clear and easy to understand.

Great Book!

This book was a great listen. It is rich with well developed characters, nostalgia, excitement and clever twists. Beautiful ruins is a wonderful story reinforcing the idea of living every moment in the present. For days I've been quoting the characters and their wisdom. Very enjoyable and sad to see it finished.

Greatly Woven Story

What did you love best about Beautiful Ruins?

The story weaves between Italy, Los Angeles and the subjects. I LOVED how Edoardo Ballerini changes dialects throughout the book ~ and his excellent mispronounciations - it's worth it just for that. I'll definitely listen to Edoardo's other readings.