“Beautiful Ruins” by Jess Walter – Crossroads of Fate

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter is a bit of an unusual novel, one that takes you on a journey through time and space, beginning in a little Italian town called Port Vergogna and following a young and ambitious man named Pasquel who has big plans for himself and his little quaint coastal village, mainly revolving around his family-owned hotel. 

As a young and beautiful actress as well as a mysterious man come to stay at a hotel, we begin to learn about how their lives unfolded, who they affected and how they are interconnected.

Every chapter in this book begins in a new time, at a new place, and with new characters to follow. For instance, we get to travel to modern-day Hollywood to learn about the lives of a disillusioned development assistant who works for a legendary film producer. 

Though it may seem as if there isn’t any real connection from one chapter to the next (the confusing chronological order plays a part in that), the stories lived by people begin to intertwine as the book goes on and it becomes apparent how our actions can have consequences so far-reaching no one could predict them.

While I did enjoy the book more and more as the story progressed, I have to say that in the beginning I had a bit of trouble following everything. There are countless characters and storylines to keep track of, and I found that erratically changing the time and place from chapter to chapter only made things more confusing, at least until the plotlines started to meet. Nevertheless, if you don’t have trouble managing books with a huge cast, I think you’ll be spared the problem I encountered.

As for the rest of the book, it pretty much delivers on all fronts. It does a good job at drawing emotions from the reader, whether they be joy, sadness, anger or empathy. As hard as they may be to follow, the stories remain very compelling, entertaining and interesting, and some may argue that they serve as a parodist reflection of the many things that are wrong in modern culture (or at least perceived as such). All in all, I can do nothing but recommend this book, especially to those of you who are patient readers. 

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Jess Walter Personal site Jess Walter is an author of American origin who has so far written six novels, a number of short stories as well as two works of non-fiction. Amongst the many awards he received are the 2006 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel for Citizen Vice, as well as the 2007 LA Times Book Prize for The Zero.