Katie′s #CBR5 Review #24: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Title: Beautiful Ruins
Author: Jess Walters
Source: from publisher for review
Rating: 
Review Summary: I was completely blown away by the reality of this novel, with its intense emotion; believable characters; and insights into human nature.

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.

Read more at Doing Dewey…

faintingviolet’s #CBR5 review #16: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters

First, an admission. I only gave Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters three stars. (proceeds to run from several other cannonballers who gave it higher rankings).

I can understand how this book would rank higher for other readers, and I understand that in many, many ways this is a beautifully crafted novel which opens up one layer at a time. That Jess Walters weaves the narration in such a way that the reader grows with the characters and sees the maturity, the humanity, and the lives which are built out of the beautiful ruin of the choices we make.

That being said, this one didn’t light up my heart.

First, the basics: Beautiful Ruins is the story of Pasquale and Dee, whose lives intersect for a week in Italy in 1962 and again 50 years later. It is also the story of the lives of the people who bring them together and keep them apart. It’s a story which tries to tell us something meaningful, but doesn’t fully land on that idea until the last 30 or so pages of the novel. The book wanted to say something profound about love, hope, doing the right thing, and knowing our place in life – and most emphatically what wanting something more than what is our destiny can do to our psyches. These are big ideas and meaningful places to meditate.

For the rest…