Beautiful Ruins

Jess Walter has always shown himself to be a clever and talented author in his previous works. But with Beautiful Ruins he has taken a leap onto a higher level (let's say shelf) and shows himself as being a much better writer, one capable of impressing me enough to rate this book as something to CROW about—even when I was only half way through the book.

It's plot that involves many characters moving in and out of the limelight over quite a span of time. There is the wonderfully slow pace and innocence of a tiny, almost forgotten, town lodged on the rock cliffs of Italy. The sweet owner of the town's only hotel is captivated by a beautiful (but no ruin) blonde American actress that steps off a boat in the harbor. Then, there's a story that revolves around Dick and Liz (and others) making the uncontrollably-expensive film Cleopatra. Walter aptly describes the back-stabbing world of Hollywood, a world were fortunes come and go and come again, and people are immortalized on film...seemingly forever. As a reader I got to spend some time up close and personal with Richard Burton as he drank and charmed his way through this epic time of his life. A scene that has stuck in my mind, is one where the "simple" hotel owner sits beside Burton and watches him as he excessively drinks, smokes, and speeds a sports car down the curving Italian roads. Watching this life force roar down the narrow roads both scared and captivated him at the same time.

The range of happenings and feelings of the book's events — modern and half a century old — exposes a sweetness, a selfishness, a dishonesty, and a loveliness that was all described just right and so very cleverly written that the book is extremely touching, funny and lovely. This is a book that I'm sure to read again some day. ( )

I enjoyed the writing and the story of this book. I'm glad I persevered because the chapters switched not only persons but to the past and then present and involved a lot of characters and I would normally quit. But it was for my book group and well worth the effort. The book was about there are screen actors, a novelist, and Pasquale, an innkeeper, who keeps his patrons fed and watered on homemade wine and dreams. Among all the shimmer and hope are the lost souls who long to create something, anything. And just as Jess Walter introduces us to these characters, he follows them for fifty years. The journey will delight and captivate you. ( )

The cover photo led me to believe this was going to be another summer romance set on the beautiful coast of Italy.  Instead, Jess Walter gives us two very complex interwoven stories: one set in 1962, at the time the movie Cleopatra was being filmed in Rome, and the other 50 years later. 

It begins

"The dying actress arrived in his village the only way one could come directly -- in a boat that motored into the cove, lurched past the rock jetty, and bumped against the end of the pier."

The central character, Pasquale Tursi is the owner of the Hotel Adequate View in Porto Vergogna Italy.  One day, as he is trying to build a tennis court on the cliffs of his small town, he sees a glamorous woman alighting from a small boat and making her way to his villa. 

Fifty years later, on the other side of the world in Hollywood, Claire Silver, executive assistant to big time, has-been, botox-bloated producer Michael Deane, is considering whether she will ever fulfill her own dream of being a producer when an aging Italian gentleman arrives in her office looking for a long lost movie star.

The story moves back and forth between the time periods, and is told from several points of view. There are almost too many characters to track in this broad and sweeping overview of the Cinque Terre region of Italy's Liguorian coast and of Hollywood's impact on each one's life.

Each member of this cast of flawed characters is a Beautiful Ruin: from real-life Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (the fictitious adventures here are eminently believable), to Shane Wheeler, a screen-writer wannabe whose rudimentary knowledge of Italian lands him an unexpected role in the adventures.  There is a shell-shocked veteran of WW II, Alvis Bender, who wants the simple life- to write a book and spend every summer as the only regular customer of Hotel Adequate View, befriending Pasquale and his lady friend along the way; there are delightful Italian villagers and fisherman; there's an Italian mother and maiden Italian aunt, all living with Pasquo and helping? impeding? his feelings for the beautiful lady.

There's Dee Moray, the dying actress herself and her ongoing story of a personality where naivete and spunk combine.  There's her son Pat Bender (is Alvis the father?) whose failing musical/poet career gives us a glimpse of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and it's boozy, drug filled underground.

The book cover proclaims this as a roller coaster of a novel, and that is exactly the term I would use.  Each chapter, going back and forth around the globe and through the years, yields a surprise, adds a layer of complexity (and often another character).  It is a book that constantly surprises, delights, dismays, and in the end leaves the rider (reader?) as breathless as one just stepping off a long and dizzying roller coaster ride.

It's as spectacular as the scenery that is so well portrayed.  The characters are as tragically lush as the scenery is beautiful.  The story is complex, well-developed, and written to keep the pages turning.  It's much more than a beach read, and one of 2012's best books.  If you missed it last year, as I did, be sure to put it in your vacation pile for this year. If you're an audio fan, this is well done by Edoardo Ballerini for Harper Audio.  You can close your eyes and imagine yourself on the Riviera.

Beautiful Ruins was one of 10 books on the Short List for the Maine Readers Choice Awards for 2012 books.  It's definitely one for me to read again. ( )

To explain all the things this book is about would require a long summary, such as that on goodreads, but here is my best attempt at a shorter description. Beautiful Ruins involves two main stories. One, set in 1962, describes a meeting between a young, Italian innkeeper named Pasquale and a beautiful American actress named Dee. The other story follows Pasquale as, fifty years later, he tries to find the actress he felt such a connection with. In between, we get to know the many people who become part of their story, including a young assistant producer becoming disenchanted with Hollywood and a young man struggling to find his place in life.

I don’t think either my description or even the goodreads one really does this book justice. First and foremost, I would describe it as a story about human nature. The characters are incredibly believable and one of the author’s greatest strengths is writing in a style that fits each character. Through his words you can share the characters’ experiences, from a surreal scene in an idyllic Italian village to the life of someone trying to make it big in competitive and fast-paced Hollywood. As in many great, character-driven stories, the characters have their flaws but there are still many likable, relatable characters.

The language in the book is also beyond description – beautiful, poignant, want to read it out loud kind of writing. The plot was as complex and engaging as the characters. I loved they way the author slowly shared the story of Pasquale’s original meeting with Dee. As we slowly learned more about the present day, I couldn’t wait to find out how things happened in the past. I felt deeply invested in all of our characters and I thought the ending was just perfect. A little bittersweet, a little hopeful, and incredibly well written. I loved this book.

This review first published on Doing Dewey. ( )

A Booklist "Top of the List" for 2012, Beautiful Ruins is a great start to your vacation-season reading. Set in an isolated village in Italy's Cinque Terre region and the United States' West , Coast, ranging in time from World War II to the present, this is a tale of several beautiful ruins: an old hotel with no guests (tho still subject to extortion by a neighboring village's Mafia); a soldier suffering from PTSD; a lovely young actress whose career is over before it starts; gorgeous Richard Burton already drinking himself to an early grave; a would-be producer with a cheating boyfriend ready to give up her dream to take a safe but obscure job as head of the new Museum of Scientology. While each set of characters initially seems disconnected from the others, episodes crossing time and geography gradually draw their stories together breaking some connections and strengthening others. Pasquale, Dee, Pat, Claire and Shane gradually convert their shortcomings, youthful indiscretions and regrettable decisions into fulfilling lives and nuanced relationships. (Even the sleazy producer enjoys renewed career success.) As Pasquale's mother told him, "Sometimes what we want to do and what we must do are not the same. ...the smaller the space between your desire and what is right, the happier you will be." The difficult lessons each character learns (or fails to learn) are told with a light touch and the conclusion is an almost over-the-top "happily ever after" that is at the same time less idealistic and more poignant than one might expect. ( )