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.
"Well-constructed…quirky and entertaining tale of greed, treachery, and love." - Publishers Weekly
"Why mince words? Beautiful Ruins is an absolute masterpiece." - Richard Russo
"This is a blockbuster, with romance, majesty, comedy, smarts, and a cast of thousands. There’s lights, there’s camera, there’s action. If you want anything more from a novel than Jess Walter gives you in Beautiful Ruins, you’re getting thrown out of the theater." - Daniel Handler, author of Why We Broke Up and creator of Lemony Snicket
The information about Beautiful Ruins shown above was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's online-magazine that keeps our members abreast of notable and high-profile books publishing in the coming weeks.
In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication.
If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel
that the reviews shown do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available,
please send us a message with the mainstream media reviews that you would like to see added.
Rated of 5
by
Poornima Apte Oustanding! Jess Walters is one of contemporary fiction's most talented writers. Every book he has written is different and engaging. This story, that traverses continents and times in compelling ways, tells the story of an Italian innkeeper in a decrepit town on the sea. When his path crosses that of a Hollywood actress, events fold along unpredictable paths until they converge to a seamless whole. "Beautiful Ruins" is a moniker for the actor Richard Burton, whose story of fame and self-destruction is familiar to many.
This novel shines light on the lives of its complex characters, each a beautiful ruin in some way, who yet manage to repair themselves and become whole again. I am so glad I managed to read this book which I missed when it was first published in the summer of '12.
Rated of 5
by
Louise J Disappointing... I was very disappointed in this novel. For all the hype and drum rolls I heard, I expected an interesting and phenomenal read – boy was I wrong!
It’s hard to explain but I actually found the story confusing at times and at other times rambling on and on and on but really not going anywhere. I will admit that I skipped and just skimmed through some of the chapters just so my misery could end a tad sooner.
Giving an undesirable review of a book bothers me greatly but when I began this book review blog I vowed to be honest. And, just because I didn’t enjoy Beautiful Ruins doesn’t mean that you won’t. I’ve read many glowing reviews so I know a lot of people did enjoy it thoroughly and I sincerely hope that you will too.
A former National Book Award finalist and winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, Jess Walter is the author of six novels, one nonfiction book and one collection of stories. His work has been translated into more than 20 languages and his essays, short fiction, criticism and journalism have been widely published, in Best American Short Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading, Harper's, Esquire, McSweeney's, Byliner, Playboy, ESPN the Magazine, Details and many others.
Stranger than fiction, blending tragedy and farce, How to Create the Perfect Wife is an engrossing tale of the radicalism, and deep contradictions, at the heart of the Enlightenment.
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
read more
Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
read more
Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
read more
U.S. ebook sales up in 2012, but rate of growth is slowing(May 16 2013) In 2012, trade book sales (i.e. non academic book sales) rose 6.9%, to $15.049 billion, and e-book sales continued to grow, although the rate of growth...
Full Story
of 5
by
Poornima Apte
of 5
by
Louise J
