Beautiful Ruins

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Comments below by Melissa :

I really enjoyed the theme of the book and its amusing and ironic commentary on the crass commercialisation of creative work (particularly literary, dramatic and cinematic writing) and the extent to which even people's lives can be 'optioned' and 'tweaked' to make a buck.

I especially loved the juxtapositions - eg. Plastic people (Deane) beside genuine people (Pasquale). The Hollywood Pitching room beside the early authentic war torn coast of then unpopulated Italy.  The brash efforts of some to sell anything at any cost (Reality Tv show with a house full of anorexics) beside the innocent efforts of others (Hotel Adequate View). The has-beens beside the Hopefuls, the past beside the present, the sincere beside the false, the 'Failures' beside the 'Successes' and who actually defines these…

I enjoyed the focus on the whole world of 'selling stories', given the whole world is telling stories (as history, as art, as memoir etc.) and how we all have our own and how some people view theirs with celebration and others with regret.  How people try to matter, in more or less meaningful ways. How beautiful things can be destroyed...ruined by greed, war, denial… and how some things ruined can still somehow be beautiful (people's mistakes, a love never consummated, an ageing face, death…)

I think people who have worked for some time in the literary/performing arts industries are most likely to connect with the book's themes. I'm not surprised it was a New York Times bestseller. I'm sure it also did well in LA.

Yes, I thought it was a clever, fun, lightly tragic, ironically tongue-in-cheek look at life as art and the art of life.

Our rating for Beautiful Ruins is 7 out of 10.

Our next book is The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey and the meeting will be at Sally's on July 24th.