Beautiful Ruins

by Jess Walter

Overview

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.  

“Why mince words? Beautiful Ruins is an absolute masterpiece.” —Richard Russo

“A ridiculously talented writer.” —New York Times

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061928123
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/12/2012
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	385,321
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Jess Walter is the author of seven previous novels, including the bestsellers The Cold Millions and Beautiful Ruins, the National Book Award Finalist The Zero, and Citizen Vince, winner of the Edgar Award for best novel. His short fiction, collected in The Angel of Rome and We Live in Water, has won the O. Henry Prize, the Pushcart Prize and appeared three times in Best American Short Stories. He lives in his hometown of Spokane, Washington.

Hometown:

Spokane, Washington

Date of Birth:

July 20, 1965

Place of Birth:

Spokane, Washington

Education:

B.A., Eastern Washington University, 1987

Website:

http://www.jesswalter.com

What People are Saying About This

Selman Blair

“It is a powerful and lush book.”

Ben Fountain

“[N]othing less than brilliant, a tour de force that crosses decades, continents, and genres, to powerful and often hilarious effect....A masterful novel of love, loss, and hard-won hope that satisfies on every level.”

Daniel Handler

“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.”

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein

“Within a page-turner of a plot, these triumphantly vulnerable characters leap off the page to take up permanent residence in your inner life. The effect is so powerful that to be untouched by Beautiful Ruins might well be like having no inner life at all.”

Richard Russo

“Why mince words? Beautiful Ruins is an absolute masterpiece.”

Maureen Corrigan

“A literary miracle.”

Editorial Reviews

Edgar Award–winning author Walter's well-constructed, bittersweet romance begins in April 1962, when a young innkeeper, Pasquale Tursi, puts up the "ethereal" American actress Dee Moray, who has arrived supposedly sick with stomach cancer at the remote Italian port of Vergogna. She has come from the extravagant Rome location of Cleopatra along with the philandering, tempestuous co-stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (Walter's title is taken from a description of Burton at 54). Pasquale soon discovers that 20th Century–Fox's chief troubleshooter, the young Michael Deane, has in fact whisked Dee, pregnant with the married Burton's child, away from the public eye to avoid scandal. Predictably, Pasquale falls in love with the beleaguered, vulnerable Dee, who is under pressure from Deane and the studio to get a discrete abortion in Switzerland. Fifty years later, the elderly Pasquale shows up on a Hollywood back lot looking for information about Dee's present whereabouts, much to the consternation of Deane, now a largely washed-up figure. The twisty narrative rolls on to show what actually became of Dee and her son, Pat Bender, a middle-aged, small-time performer. The Hollywood glitterati, led by the duplicitous Deane, come off looking thoroughly jaded and shallow compared to the stately, chivalrous Pasquale in Walter's (Citizen Vince) quirky and entertaining tale of greed, treachery, and love. Agent: Warren Frazier, John Hawkins & Associates. (Jun.)

Publishers Weekly

A monument to crazy love . . . Walter [is] a believer in capricious destiny with a fine, freewheeling sense of humor.

New York Times

Walter vividly draws a world both tender and cutthroat, where ambition battles reality, daydreams fight doldrums and sometimes win.

Interview

Walter is a very, very funny writer and can do Hollywood satire with the best of them. But this is also a novel with a live, beating heart, full of sympathy for its characters and a gut wisdom…You’ll want to explore these Ruins.

Newsday

A marvel, an absolute gem of a beach read that is both hilarious and heartbreaking.

Huffington Post

His [Walter’s] characters are long-suffering, prone to failure and sometimes at death’s door. But the verve and enthusiasm of this novel, from its let’s-go-everywhere structure to the comedy in the marrow of its sentences, are wholly life-affirming.

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Entrancing…Walter’s turns of phrase are as brilliant as his plot twists, making for a compelling, fun read.

People

Lyrical, heartbreaking, and funny . . . Walter closes the deal with such command that you begin to wonder why up till now he’s not often been mentioned as one of the best novelists around. Beautiful Ruins might just correct that oversight.

Kansas City Star

[N]othing less than brilliant, a tour de force that crosses decades, continents, and genres, to powerful and often hilarious effect....A masterful novel of love, loss, and hard-won hope that satisfies on every level.

Ben Fountain

Beautiful Ruins is satisfying and delicate, a spectacular story of love, frustration, selfish intent, and the patience of the human heart.

The Stranger

Within a page-turner of a plot, these triumphantly vulnerable characters leap off the page to take up permanent residence in your inner life. The effect is so powerful that to be untouched by Beautiful Ruins might well be like having no inner life at all.

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein

It is a powerful and lush book.

Selma Blair

[An] enchanting novel. . . Sweeping effortlessly back and forth between Italy and current-day Hollywood, and between various modes of storytelling, Walters builds a world that won’t soon let you go.

Paula McLain

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

Take one part sun-drenched Italian coastal village and mix in two parts Hollywood studio back lot. Add a larger-than-life cast of characters and cameo appearances by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Stir in unbearable sadness tempered with a sprinkling of hilarity, then whisk in sharp observations about human nature shared via a piercing wit and lush turns of phrase. Bake in an oven set to span 50 years. The result is Jess Walter’s wonderful Beautiful Ruins (Harper: HarperCollins. ISBN 9780061928123. $25.99), which delightfully captures the heartbreak and joy of fascinating and flawed people experiencing love and loss through life’s fleeting moments.

(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Journal

Hollywood operators and creative washouts collide across five decades and two continents in a brilliant, madcap meditation on fate. The sixth novel by Walter (The Financial Lives of the Poets, 2009, etc.) opens in April 1962 with the arrival of starlet Dee Moray in a flyspeck Italian resort town. Dee is supposed to be filming the Liz Taylor-Richard Burton costume epic Cleopatra, but her inconvenient pregnancy (by Burton) has prompted the studio to tuck her away. A smitten young man, Pasquale, runs the small hotel where she's hidden, and he's contemptuous of the studio lackey, Michael Deane, charged with keeping Dee out of sight. From there the story sprays out in multiple directions, shifting time and perspective to follow Deane's evolution into a Robert Evans-style mogul; Dee's hapless aging-punk son; an alcoholic World War II vet who settles into Pasquale's hotel to peck away at a novel; and a young screenwriter eagerly pitching a dour movie about the Donner Party. Much of the pleasure of the novel comes from watching Walter ingeniously zip back and forth to connect these loose strands, but it largely succeeds on the comic energy of its prose and the liveliness of its characters. A theme that bubbles under the story is the variety of ways real life energizes great art--Walter intersperses excerpts from his characters' plays, memoirs, film treatments and novels to show how their pasts inform their best work. Unlikely coincidences abound, but they feel less like plot contrivances than ways to serve a broader theme about how the unlikely, unplanned moments in our lives are the most meaningful ones. And simply put, Walter's prose is a joy--funny, brash, witty and rich with ironic twists. He's taken all of the tricks of the postmodern novel and scoured out the cynicism, making for a novel that's life-affirming but never saccharine. A superb romp.

Kirkus Reviews

…Walter is simply great on how we live now, and—in this particular book—on how we lived then and now, here and there. Beautiful Ruins is his Hollywood novel, his Italian novel and his Pacific Northwestern novel all braided into one: an epic romance, tragicomic, invented and reported…magical yet hard-boiled…His balanced mixture of pathos and comedy stirs the heart and amuses as it also rescues us from the all too human pain that is the motor of this complex and ever-evolving novel. Any reservations the reader might have about another book about Hollywood, about selling one's soul (or someone else's, and pocketing the change) will probably be swept aside by this high-wire feat of bravura storytelling. Walter is a talented and original writer.
—Helen Schulman

The New York Times Book Review

With lively prose, sharp transitions and an entertaining cast of characters, Walter constructs a lemon meringue pie of a novel, crisp and funny on top, soft and gooey in the middle…Adept at mixing flavors and textures, Walter whips together dying beauty, enduring love, war-shadowed Italy, haunting landscapes, veiled identity.
—Allegra Goodman

The Washington Post

As with any story that relies on scrambled chronology, it's worth wondering how Beautiful Ruins would work as a straightforward narrative. Not as well. Moments of confusion would vanish, but so would the magic. Mr. Walter…has always been more intuitive than linear, a believer in capricious destiny with a fine, freewheeling sense of humor. The deeply romantic heart of Beautiful Ruins is better expressed by constant circling than it would by any head-on approach.
—Janet Maslin

The New York Times

A monument to crazy love . . . Walter [is] a believer in capricious destiny with a fine, freewheeling sense of humor.” — New York Times

“Walter is a very, very funny writer and can do Hollywood satire with the best of them. But this is also a novel with a live, beating heart, full of sympathy for its characters and a gut wisdom…You’ll want to explore these Ruins.” — Newsday

“Walter vividly draws a world both tender and cutthroat, where ambition battles reality, daydreams fight doldrums and sometimes win.” — Interview

“A marvel, an absolute gem of a beach read that is both hilarious and heartbreaking.” — Huffington Post

“Expertly scratches the seasonal itch for both literary depth and dazzle.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Entrancing…Walter’s turns of phrase are as brilliant as his plot twists, making for a compelling, fun read.” — People

“Lyrical, heartbreaking, and funny . . . Walter closes the deal with such command that you begin to wonder why up till now he’s not often been mentioned as one of the best novelists around. Beautiful Ruins might just correct that oversight.” — Kansas City Star

“Beautiful . . . A shining, imaginative tale . . . Beautiful Ruins shows novelists how it is done.” — The Plain Dealer

“His [Walter’s] characters are long-suffering, prone to failure and sometimes at death’s door. But the verve and enthusiasm of this novel, from its let’s-go-everywhere structure to the comedy in the marrow of its sentences, are wholly life-affirming.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A beautiful narrative . . . This writer is a genius of the modern American moment.” — Philadelphia Inquirer

“A novel shot in sparkly Technicolor. . . . reimagines history in a package so appealing we’d be idiots not to buy it.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“Well-constructed…quirky and entertaining tale of greed, treachery, and love.” — Publishers Weekly

“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

“[N]othing less than brilliant, a tour de force that crosses decades, continents, and genres, to powerful and often hilarious effect....A masterful novel of love, loss, and hard-won hope that satisfies on every level.” — Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

“Within a page-turner of a plot, these triumphantly vulnerable characters leap off the page to take up permanent residence in your inner life. The effect is so powerful that to be untouched by Beautiful Ruins might well be like having no inner life at all.” — Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction

“A brilliant, madcap meditation on fate. . . . Walter’s prose is a joy-funny, brash, witty and rich with ironic twists. He’s taken all of the tricks of the postmodern novel and scoured out the cynicism, making for a novel that’s life-affirming but never saccharine.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“A novel with pathos, piercing wit and, most important, the generous soul of a literary classic. . . . Walter has planted himself firmly in the first rank of American authors.” — Boston Globe

“A literary miracle.” — Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air

“Beautiful Ruins is satisfying and delicate, a spectacular story of love, frustration, selfish intent, and the patience of the human heart.” — The Stranger

“[A] high-wire feat of bravura storytelling. . . . [Walter’s] mixture of pathos and comedy stirs the heart and amuses as it also rescues us from the all too human pain that is the motor of this complex and ever-evolving novel.” — New York Times Book Review

“His masterpiece . . . an interlocking, continent-hopping, decade-spanning novel with heart and pathos to burn, all big dreams, lost loves, deep longings and damn near perfect.” — Salon

“It is a powerful and lush book.” — Selma Blair, the New York Post

“A great getaway of a novel.” — People

“Beautiful Runs is itself a showcase for Walter’s outrageous literary gifts in virtually every genre and style. . .No wonder critics have been outdoing each other with superlatives. . .” — Nashville Scene

“[An] enchanting novel. . . Sweeping effortlessly back and forth between Italy and current-day Hollywood, and between various modes of storytelling, Walters builds a world that won’t soon let you go.” — Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife

“Combines satisfying, old-fashioned storytelling with a modern sensibility.” — Becky Aikman

From the Publisher

A beautiful narrative . . . This writer is a genius of the modern American moment.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Lyrical, heartbreaking, and funny . . . Walter closes the deal with such command that you begin to wonder why up till now he’s not often been mentioned as one of the best novelists around. Beautiful Ruins might just correct that oversight.

Kansas City Star

Beautiful . . . A shining, imaginative tale . . . Beautiful Ruins shows novelists how it is done.

The Plain Dealer

Expertly scratches the seasonal itch for both literary depth and dazzle.

Entertainment Weekly

[A] high-wire feat of bravura storytelling. . . . [Walter’s] mixture of pathos and comedy stirs the heart and amuses as it also rescues us from the all too human pain that is the motor of this complex and ever-evolving novel.

New York Times Book Review

A novel with pathos, piercing wit and, most important, the generous soul of a literary classic. . . . Walter has planted himself firmly in the first rank of American authors.

Boston Globe

Combines satisfying, old-fashioned storytelling with a modern sensibility.

Becky Aikman

His masterpiece . . . an interlocking, continent-hopping, decade-spanning novel with heart and pathos to burn, all big dreams, lost loves, deep longings and damn near perfect.

Salon

Beautiful Runs is itself a showcase for Walter’s outrageous literary gifts in virtually every genre and style. . .No wonder critics have been outdoing each other with superlatives. . .

Nashville Scene

A literary miracle.

Maureen Corrigan

Walter vividly draws a world both tender and cutthroat, where ambition battles reality, daydreams fight doldrums and sometimes win.

Interview

Expertly scratches the seasonal itch for both literary depth and dazzle.

Entertainment Weekly

Walter is a very, very funny writer and can do Hollywood satire with the best of them. But this is also a novel with a live, beating heart, full of sympathy for its characters and a gut wisdom…You’ll want to explore these Ruins.

Newsday

His masterpiece . . . an interlocking, continent-hopping, decade-spanning novel with heart and pathos to burn, all big dreams, lost loves, deep longings and damn near perfect.

Salon

[A] high-wire feat of bravura storytelling. . . . [Walter’s] mixture of pathos and comedy stirs the heart and amuses as it also rescues us from the all too human pain that is the motor of this complex and ever-evolving novel.

New York Times Book Review

A marvel, an absolute gem of a beach read that is both hilarious and heartbreaking.

Huffington Post

A beautiful narrative . . . This writer is a genius of the modern American moment.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Beautiful Runs is itself a showcase for Walter’s outrageous literary gifts in virtually every genre and style. . .No wonder critics have been outdoing each other with superlatives. . .

Nashville Scene

Lyrical, heartbreaking, and funny . . . Walter closes the deal with such command that you begin to wonder why up till now he’s not often been mentioned as one of the best novelists around. Beautiful Ruins might just correct that oversight.

Kansas City Star

A monument to crazy love . . . Walter [is] a believer in capricious destiny with a fine, freewheeling sense of humor.

New York Times

A great getaway of a novel.

People

Beautiful . . . A shining, imaginative tale . . . Beautiful Ruins shows novelists how it is done.

The Plain Dealer

His [Walter’s] characters are long-suffering, prone to failure and sometimes at death’s door. But the verve and enthusiasm of this novel, from its let’s-go-everywhere structure to the comedy in the marrow of its sentences, are wholly life-affirming.

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Entrancing…Walter’s turns of phrase are as brilliant as his plot twists, making for a compelling, fun read.

People

Beautiful Ruins is satisfying and delicate, a spectacular story of love, frustration, selfish intent, and the patience of the human heart.

The Stranger

Combines satisfying, old-fashioned storytelling with a modern sensibility.

Becky Aikman

Why mince words? Beautiful Ruins is an absolute masterpiece.

Richard Russo

A brilliant, madcap meditation on fate. . . . Walter’s prose is a joy-funny, brash, witty and rich with ironic twists. He’s taken all of the tricks of the postmodern novel and scoured out the cynicism, making for a novel that’s life-affirming but never saccharine.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Entrancing novel…Walter’s turns of phrase are as brilliant as his plot twists, making for a compelling, fun read."

People Magazine

"It is a powerful and lush book."

Selman Blair