Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Amy  

Lynnie


fiction

Beautiful Ruins tells the stories of several characters whose lives intersected in quirky ways starting in an Italian village in 1962 and spanning time and continents to the present day. The story, which mostly focuses on an Italian man and an American woman, is told from different perspectives and from different time periods which always keeps things interesting. Additionally, Jess Walter wrote the story in different “mediums”--other avenues through which the story is told like a movie pitch, a chapter from an autobiography, and a play (to name a few).

Amy's Review

I had not intended to read this novel because of a mediocre Goodreads rating along with the chick-lit-like cover which turned me off. (By the way, this is not chick lit in my opinion.) I’m thrilled it was a book club selection or I likely would never have read it and I LOVED it! I was entirely charmed! It has a little something for everyone: fate, determination, war, brawls, romance, art, music, family, responsibility, drugs, wealth, poverty, fame, religion, dishonesty, truth, history, relationships, scandal, health, and love.

It was such a compelling, wonderful, crazy story with fully drawn and funny characters! I laughed out loud several times! The tale sucked me in from the start. The author has a gift with wit and words. I enjoyed his many similes near the beginning. I don’t know if the frequency of similes dropped off as the story continued or I just got so drawn into the story that I didn’t notice them. He used fabulous adjectives throughout also. Truly—he had fun with words and I ate them up. I loved the crafting of the story and the way the ending completed story arcs for not only the main characters but all the smaller characters too. I hadn’t even known I needed their endings but I loved having them. The novel touched me and speaks to people’s choices, philosophies, strengths, weaknesses, and desires. Pasquale Tursi has found a place in my heart forever.

The audiobook was narrated by Edoardo Ballerini and I think he was perfect. He set the quirky tone right off the bat by not sounding serious. He was a bit over-the-top and perhaps too dramatic-sounding at times….like more upbeat than warranted or more melodramatic or formal than necessary. Yet his was an inviting tone and, I believe, made me enjoy the novel more than I would have if reading the book myself. During the character dialogue, his voice acting was terrific. He carried many different voices and accents. And, I can’t help but feel that Mr. Ballerini is a fun guy. I may go seeking more novels that he has narrated in order to see if he’s always this way or just for Beautiful Ruins. Or perhaps it was just the material that prompted him to narrate this way. Either way, he made the right acting choices. I give him an A+. I also think Jess Walter must be a fun guy! And, he answered some interview questions at the end of the audiobook in his own deep voice at the end. He used the word “braided” to describe the way this tale is woven from different strands and that description is truly accurate.


Lynnie's Review

I've had this book in my "to read" pile for a while but the chick-lit cover kept it from ever being on the top of the pile.

Once I got into it though I mostly enjoyed it. The settings are wonderful to imagine and, for the most part, I liked the characters. There were some parts of the book I could have done without (the entire chapter of Alvis Bender's book, for example, added nothing to the story in my opinion), but seeing how all the characters fit together was fun to unravel. I particularly enjoyed the chapters that focused on Pasquale and Dee as their stories were the most well-developed.

The chapters are long which contributed to the time it took me to read this book- where in another book I would stay awake to read another chapter, in this book I would see that the chapter ahead would take 45 minutes to read (thanks Kindle!) and put the book down instead.  On the plus side, I went to bed much earlier every night. It wasn't a book that ever gripped me and compelled me to continue. I'm glad I read it, though, and it is certainly a good reminder that I should not judge a book by its cover.