Beautiful Ruins

by Jess Walter

Book Overview

The #1 New York Times bestseller--Jess Walter's "absolute masterpiece" (Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author): the story of an almost-love affair that begins on the Italian coast in 1962 and resurfaces fifty years later in contemporary Hollywood.

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061928178
• ISBN13: 9780061928178
• Release Date: April 2013
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Cliches upon cliches

Trite and superficial, the book tries too hard to be clever, and doesn't achieve it. Painful reading. What a disappointment.

A perfectly written book!

From the first page, I was hooked. This book is so well written, I didn't feel like I was reading ..it felt as if I was actually living it. Walter's use of language is just that exceptional. Start with a lonely young man on a remote island, inhabited by a cast of eccentric characters, set in glorious Italy. Throw in drama, passion and a few movie stars and you have a delicious journey ahead of you! It is a perfectly written novel. And it should be- it took Walter fifteen years to finish it! And believe me, it was well worth the wait. A perfect read for any adult who wants a vacation from the ordinary. Enjoy!

Fast Paced Drama and Romance

Could not put it down! Wish I could read more about the characters because the book leaves out the middle of most of the character’s lives.

Beautiful cover;slow book

The beautiful cover attracted me to the novel. I enjoyed the story but it started off slow I thought. It was a good story about wonderfully flawed characters and how they are all connected to each other. There were some words or phrases in Italian as well that I enjoyed and thought adding that was a unique touch.