'Beautiful Ruins' by Jess Walter

Beautiful Ruins, Jess Walter (3)

There were many things about this book that I liked, but something was missing. The story jumps between several locations and characters – all different and interesting. My problem may be with how jarring it was to go from one to another, as if written by alternating authors. Normally, I would applaud Mr. Walter for such a device, but in this case I found it rather annoying. The story starts in a small coastal town of Italy during the early 60’s, when ‘Cleopatra’ was being filmed nearby. A young actress comes to the only hotel, run by a young Italian man dreaming of drawing more tourists to the sleepy town. She was working on the film, but is dying of cancer and has come to meet someone before going to Switzerland for an operation. The story then jumps to present day Hollywood to follow a production assistant with her very annoying producer boss. Multiple characters interact in Italy and are followed to present day. The book had a good mixture of new Hollywood, old Hollywood and Italian travelogue. The wrap-up of characters (how do they all meet again in present day?) felt a bit forced and trite, though it did answer all questions of the mystery that unfolded throughout the book.