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4 of 5 stars

This book has quite a bit more meat to it than the cover implies – in fact, if I hadn’t seen a few friends post glowing reviews about the book I probably would have passed it over. My wife bought this in the Anchorage airport to read on the way home, so I was able to borrow it when she was done with it. Usually, I don’t like the decade spanning, multiple character literary tales, but this one hangs together very nicely. For the first half of the book, I did feel like I was only getting tiny slices of a wide cast of characters, but during the 2nd half something seemed to click and I was totally engrossed, finishing the last 150+ pages in a couple days of reading before bed.

The book does feature some pretty prominent names (Richard Burton, Liz Taylor) and gives them some on-page time. This didn’t bother me as much as it seems to bother other reviewers – I’m not sure why personalities like this are off-limits, especially when they take a minor role as they do in Beautiful Ruins.

As a main character, I thought Walter did an exceptionally bang up job with Pasquale, blending the lovable but impotent protagonist in with a rich cast of supporting characters in fresh ways that felt effortless. The tension between different cultures, languages, moral codes and setting all added up to a sum that was greater than its parts. And even though much of the book centers around a “crack in the cliffs,” it’s still Italy – exotic, European and steeped with much more culture than the vapid Los Angeles that other portions of the book take place in.