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

Swept away!

This book drew me in from the first sentence, and I could not stop listening until the last. The yearning of the characters, the bittersweetness of their fates, the interweaving of such disparate lives - all this could have devolved into something cringeworthy and manipulative. But Jess Walter is brilliant and his marvelous use of language, both english and italian - his obvious empathy for his characters - his wonderful humor and tenderness are what make this tale a gift to listen to. Ballerini's reading is pure pleasure - and I especially enjoyed the pure musicality of his italian.

a very good read

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

The story was surprising and the performers voice was fabulous!!!!

What did you like best about this story?

I love the discription of the island

Which scene was your favorite?

when he discribed how bad his facelift looked ...I howled

in the top 3 books so far read on audible

pitch perfect story with same for narrator. you get it all with this book: the ways our choices shape are lives, and the completely unpredictable ways chance creeps in. and hilarity. Richard Burton was wonderful.

Beautiful Ruins, beautiful book

This is a wonderful novel that is beautifully written. Can't imagine that there is anyone that wouldn't find something in this book that strikes a chord. Jess Walter introduces us to each character by presenting them in such a thorough way. Mr. Walter has presented an opportunity to see that it's never too late; that redemption is possible. He shows us that good things exist if we choose to reach for them.

Listening to Edoardo Ballerini, a master, read this book is delicious. Each of the characters are enhanced by his interpretation.

I didn't want this book to end. I wanted to hear more about these people that were brought to life. They all have depth. And the book did not leave me frustrated with the "what happened to's". In other words, the story is complete.

Luckily, there are more novels by Jess Walter and more books read by Edoardo Ballerini.

Enjoyed it.

Enjoyed the story around real life characters. Loved the Italian flare from the narrator.

Love story spans generations and continents

Would you listen to Beautiful Ruins again? Why?

Yes, I would be able to get more details out of it a second time. It's very rich and deep.

Any additional comments?

I loved the character development and the big Hollywood names.

Beautiful Ruins

What did you like best about Beautiful Ruins? What did you like least?

It kept my interest. I liked the character development. This book is really many stories linked together.

Would you be willing to try another book from Jess Walter? Why or why not?

I've never heard of this writer before this book. I probably would try another book; however, it really has to do with the story and whether or not it sounds like something I would enjoy.

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

His narration is good.

Could you see Beautiful Ruins being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes....it would be a movie I would look forward to seeing.

Should I go on?

I just finished the first part of this audiobook and I must say two things: 1. I dont like or care for any of the characters and 2. Nothing happens!! For the entire duration of the first part, nothing has happened!!! I barely know the characters because they are very shallow and I do not know the direction the story is taking. I actually could not tell you what the story is about! I am seriously thinking about giving up and reading another book. I don't want to lose my money but neither do I want to waste my time. Should I stick with it or give up?

Not at All the Chick Lit I Had Feared

I really enjoyed this audio book a lot more than I'd expected. I couldn't really get through the book's description, but it keep appearing in my recommendations and people were saying it was good. Boy, were they right! I'm glad I took their suggestion.

I think all you need to know is that the book opens with a young American actress arriving in a small fishing village in Italy in the early 1960s but be prepared to be taken far away from that core story as you move toward finding out what finally happened.

There's much to like about this tale, full of completely believable but unforeseeable twists and turns, as well as well-drawn, complex characters.

great writing. a lucky pick

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

have already recommended it to several friends. I wanted to see if others liked it as much as I did

What other book might you compare Beautiful Ruins to and why?

Would compare it to Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and/or City of Thieves both of which I really enjoyed. Just good stories, not mysteries but ones that keep you listening to see how it all turns out

Which character – as performed by Edoardo Ballerini – was your favorite?

Narrator was very great. Can't narrow it down to a character, each had a distinct voice

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Life has a way of surprising you