'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
"Beautiful Ruins" is a colorful voyage through a village of the Italian Cinque Terre, the labyrinthian vicissitudes of Hollywood and the complicated lives of colorful characters, including the real-life Richard Burton. Jess Walter's new novel consists of three main stories, plus a first chapter of a novel by an American ex-GI, the beginning of a memoir by a failed Hollywood producer and a play.
