I stumbled arcoss this book one day in Sam's Club while Rob was looking at gun magazines (his new thing) and after reading the front and back covers, which basically proclaimed that Beautiful Ruins would be the best book I ever read, all while showing a beautiful picture of the cliffs of Italy on the front, I bought it.
Just goes to show that you should never judge a book by it's cover.
Seriously, Beautiful Ruins is one of the 2012 100 Notables Books by the NYT Book Review. Countless magazines and papers and other famous people raved about this book. I thought it was good, but doubt it will end up on my top 10 list for the year. The story just wasn't something I could relate to. It was all about Hollywood, past and present, and making it big in the film industry. Walter did a fabulous job of weaving fact and fiction in his story-telling of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. That was brilliant and clever, if truth be told. I also liked the back and forth chapters where we read about Hollywood now and Hollywood in the 60's. There was also a back and forth between present day Hollywood and 1960's Italy. It was not hard to follow, and allowed for great character and plot development. My favorite character was Pasquale (not Pat--he made me crazy). Who wouldn't love him? Oh right...Dee.
I guess the reason this book, for me, won't go down as one of my favorites is because it was just plain depressing. The entire book was sad and somber and while I realize that's part of life, I'd rather not read a 350 page book that reminds me at every word that life just sucks sometimes. The title explains it all--we are all Beautiful Ruins. We are beautiful in our own way and in our own time, but eventually we lose our luster, people forget who we used to be, and we become just who we are. Sad. So terribly sad. Maybe I'm being an ostrich with my head in the sand, but I don't want to be a beautiful ruin. I just want to be beautiful!
I don't want to discourage anyone from reading this book. It is a clever story filled with all sorts of events my KG teaching life will never see. But, don't plan on feeling uplifted when the story is over. This is not beach-bag material, friends. This is college-level-let's-talk-this-over-with-a-professor-to-discover-the-themes material.
But it does have one beautiful cover.
Happy Reading,
:) Dodie
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