Beautiful Ruins Audiolibro Por Jess Walter arte de portada

Beautiful Ruins

A Novel

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Beautiful Ruins

De: Jess Walter
Narrado por: Edoardo Ballerini
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The acclaimed, award-winning author of the national bestseller The Financial Lives of the Poets returns with his funniest, most romantic, and most purely enjoyable novel yet: the story of an almost-love affair that begins on the Italian coast in 1962 . . . and is rekindled in Hollywood fifty years later.

“Why mince words? Beautiful Ruins is an absolute masterpiece.” —Richard Russo

“A ridiculously talented writer.” —New York Times
 Drama y Obras Estados Unidos Ficción Ficción Histórica Ficción Literaria Género Ficción Histórico Literatura Mundial Romance Siglo XX Vida Familiar Matrimonio Italia Divertido Para sentirse bien Sueño
Intricately Woven Narrative • Vivid Italian Setting • Emotional Depth • Satisfying Conclusion • Authentic Accents

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*Love don't make things nice - it ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren't here to make things perfect. We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and to love the wrong people and die.* [Moonstruck]

The ruination of love, a promising career, a cliff-side village, innocent ideals, a culture, even a handsome youthful face, ...elements that comprise this *beautiful* novel about balancing what we want, with what is best. It is Time that moves the element of Ruin in each case: deceit, vanity, circumstance, ego, and duty--and author Walter perfectly constructs every minute of time in this brilliant book with insightfullness and finesse...my favorite Jess Walter book to date, and one of my favorite novels of the year. A cast of some of the most memorable and endearing characters to come along in a while (and there are a lot of them in this 40 year saga), including the larger-than-life tornado of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, in a rare supporting role. It is the breathtaking Italian coast that steals the show as the main character -- so perfectly drawn that I remember that sea breeze off the Amalfi and Liguaria coasts like I was there just yesterday. Liz and Dick buzz through this seaside town and these villager's lives like a wreckless speedboat, and the story develops in that ever-growing destructive wake.

This book is cinemascope in text! About as different in subject as you could get from Walter's recent The Financial Lives of Poets, but still glittering with his original and accurate voice, his knack for capturing the social zeitgeist, and his tender compassion masked so well as dark irony. Written and performed so damned well, that I thought parts were absolutely serious (it's Hollyweird...who knows?) and it took me a few minutes to remember, "this is Jess Walter...this is sarcasm, this is funny!" (outbursts of laughter followed). He describes the lecherous and oily machinations of the 60's Hollywood scene, and a particularly vile film producer that has had so many spa treatments, facial surgeries, botox injections, "cyst and growth removals," that at 72 yrs. old he looks "like a 9-yr. old Filipino girl;" this waxen-faced producer has his assistant hold "Wild Pitch Fridays", one where a hopeful screenwriter even pitches a movie about "Donner!" (complete with exclamation point and chapter entitled "Eating Human Flesh")--it is gut-busting funny. A highlight of the book was the too-brief section where Sir Richard Burton appears--a ridiculously elegant drunk womanizer--performed so well by narrator Edoardo Ballerini that I enthusiastically made everyone I came in contact with while I listened share this part.

But, high-brow chuckles aside, this is not a humorous novel--it is a love story--or at least, several love stories, with *beautiful* and poignant scenes that just resonnate in the listener. Walter creates heart warming (and heartbreaking) moments, as well as the wonderful and sincere Pasquale, one of the most lovelorn characters since Florentino from Gabriel Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera --and one of the few characters with conscience in this story, that actually even considers the theme of desire vs. duty. (A conscience imbedded in him by a dying Italian mama and the great character of his old crone aunt, a "witch" that calls women whores and puts a curse on a drunken Sir Richard.)

The last small section of the book is one of the most outstanding "wrap-ups" I've read --moving, and again, *beautiful* in every sense.

Large and sweeping, absolutely panoramic; but it is Walter's undeniable talent that aligns it all so effortlessly that it flows into a masterpiece. Ballerini as narrator: Perfezione! From his lilting Italian prose, to his remarkable Welsh drunk dialect...no one could have performed this book better. Some may find the bulk of cast and their individual stories overwhelming, or the skipping between the past and present confusing; the conversations can languish and don't always serve to move the story forward...but there was nowhere else I wanted to go, and I loved every minute of this beautiful book..

Literary Cinemascope

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At first I was completely turned way off by the - what I would consider to be - trite Italian, lusting after a Hollywood starlet. And what moniker does the author dream up? "Dee"? then "Dee Moray"? What a pedestrian run-of-the-name-generator! I would have thought Jess Walter could have done something a little more baroque than "Deborah Moore" to "Dee Moray". And then...her son is named "Pat". Pat is what you do to a dog.

So, from there, I went on to dislike the un-original and overdone paper doll characters, and especially the sincere spirit with which this book seems to have been written. Where is the guy who wrote the dark and ironic "The FInancial Lives of the Poets"? Perhaps this book is an earlier work and from a less cynical period in the author's life and mind.

But, I eventually came to appreciate the message, or one of them, anyway. I am attracted by the various personae we all inhabit as time passes, and we may think someone is 25 inside when she is actually a 60-something cancer sufferer, and the inner 25-yr-old is of no interest. The casing falls apart and I lament the death of the inner spirit that attracts others just when the outer shell, the body, becomes a barrier and a hindrance. I know, this isn't one of the primary themes but it touched me anyway. It's sad that when we are in the prime of our youth, people are interested in knowing our "inner selves" but only because the outer self beckons. Once we have no outer signs advertising our abilities to connect physically and emotionally, the social environment falls away.

The book is masterfully crafted, no doubts about that. But I'm only giving it a "4" because the female point of view is explored so infrequently. Despite its wide scope, this book is about the "big playahs" doing the "big" things.

The play at the end is a brilliant touch, and actually manages to tie together many of the emotional tangents. I actually found myself crying at the play's end, and on a lighter note - I want a designer do-over like the after-party apartment in Sand Point, Idaho.

This read is well worth a credit, but it's not nearly as interesting as "The Brave" by Nicholas Evans, which deals with a similar emotional and physical geography, the Hollywood scene, and the connections that may or may not happen along the way.

I Hated It. Until I loved It.

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This is one of the best books I've listened to in years. The amazing part is it didn't need thrilling suspense, a great science fiction idea (one of my weaknesses) or intense action to keep me interested. In other words my usual over sugary drink - which we all know can lead to poor health, was reduced down to a clear sparkling refreshing plain old glass of water.

This is a great story that unfolds over many eras and from different perspectives with a little dash of celebrity to add some spice.

The insights this author has into how we sometimes miscommunicate or misinterpret our reality was a joy to hear because we don't always admit to or realize those inaccuracies are a part of our life. Why is that delightful? Because it explains so much in how things don't always turn out the way we are trying to steer them and are not always the way we imagine them. (I'm thinking of how a main character was way off in her inspired interpretation of a painting left by a German Soldier.)

I was uplifted by this story and for all of those readers like me who are wary of books that don't punch with the usual thrills of zombies, vampires, aliens, murder ... (this list of some of my weaknesses can go on quite long) ... please take a chance on this book. You won't be disappointed.

Deep Insight into the Human Condition

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I can't relate to the reviewers who were so enraptured with this book. Although it held my attention through to the end, I never felt any sympathy for the characters, and the storyline seemed implausible. I did very much enjoy the narration, however. Ballerini is one the best. Overall, an easy read, but not compelling.

Ho Hum

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This is a great listen. Jess Walter is well worth your time and "Beautiful Ruins" is a stand out.

Better than "Poets".

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