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

great listen!

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

You learn the stories of each character and then they are so interwoven, so as to tie it all together.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved how the characters grew and changed as they became self aware.

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

His voices!

A pretty good listen...

What did you love best about Beautiful Ruins?

The evolution of the characters over time.

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

No. This book was a little bit crass for me. I would not seek out something else by this author.

What about Edoardo Ballerini’s performance did you like?

His Richard Burton voice.

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

Don't know.

Great writer, great story great narration.

If you want a novel to to take you to some place exotic and introduce you to characters you care about and totally capture you, you'll love Beautiful Ruins. It's hard to imagine any lover of great fiction not being entertained by this story. I've been a member for several years and this ranks as one of my favorites. Download it now.

Entertaining

Would you try another book from Jess Walter and/or Edoardo Ballerini?

yes

Would you recommend Beautiful Ruins to your friends? Why or why not?

yes, It was not a "must read" but it was worth the time spent listening

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

The italian inn keeper

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I would watch it on TV

Any additional comments?

I think the writer did a good job helping the reader to invision the characters.
The narrator was good as well.
He kept the interest going when the story line fell a little flat at times.

Didn't want it to end

I was grabbed from the first few minutes, and attribute this not only to a very interesting story line but the flawless narration of Mr. Ballerini.

The characters are people I truly cared about. The plot had very interesting twists and turns that kept me thoroughly engaged and entertained. If you're looking for a novel to dive into, I highly recommend Beautiful Ruins.

Great performance.

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

Edoardo Ballerini does an excellent job. I live in Italy and was pleasantly surprised to hear this lovely language spoken with a proper accent.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

There are many different stories told and in the end the listener is satisfied to know how they all end.

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

I would have read it the way he did----I'm Italian!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I seldom listen to a book in one sitting, I like to savor it in small pieces and imagine where the author will take me in the next chapter. Beautiful Ruins crosses continents, skips around time and has many characters, at times I felt as if I were reading many short stories.

Brilliant, funny, poignant

I LOVED this audiobook. It's beautifully written and beautifully read. The characters are captivating and believable - compelling but not overdone. The story in the authors own words is "braided" - weaving together different lives and times and themes - and in the end they come together with a touching humanity that made me laugh and cry and feel content and feel inspired. I've never read a book quite like this one. I'll listen to it many times.

Loved this book

My friend has been urging me to read this for a couple of years. I ended up getting it on Audible and listening to it while on some long training rides for an upcoming endurance event. If I do well in the event it will be because I couldn't bear to get off the bike and interrupt listening; therefore my rides ended up being as long as they needed to to get to a tolerable stopping place.
I highly recommend. I love how the story's mingle and separate. Very well done.

Performance of the reader Was phenomenal

The story itself was OK entertaining enough. Just the right amount of variation and intonation changes amongst the characters and the accents really made this book come to life.

The best audio book ever ve heard

Simply great writing, wonderful characters, interesting cultural geography, superb performance….all “braided together”(author’s words) into an enveloping story of the beautiful ruins of what it is to live and love.