For those of you that haven't or couldn't attend book club lately, we'll be publishing the previous months' discussion questions here. I hope eventually to post discussion questions for all of the books we've covered since I took over a couple of years ago and beyond, all the way to the beginning over a decade and a half ago. It will take a while. Until then, we will be posting discussion questions on a weekly basis. Here are the questions from a 2013 title, Beautiful Ruins. We hope these questions spark discussions of your own.
Beautiful Ruins
by Jess Walter
Summary:
The #1 New York Times bestseller—Jess Walter’s “absolute masterpiece” (Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author): the story of an almost-love affair that begins on the Italian coast in 1962 and resurfaces fifty years later in contemporary Hollywood.
The acclaimed, award-winning author of the national bestseller The Financial Lives of the Poets returns with his funniest, most romantic, and most purely enjoyable novel yet. Hailed by critics and loved by readers of literary and historical fiction, Beautiful Ruins is the story of an almost-love affair that begins on the Italian coast in 1962...and is rekindled in Hollywood fifty years later.
Now in the works to become a major motion picture.
Discussion Questions
What does the title, Beautiful Ruins, refer to and how does it capture the essence of the novel?
At the beginning of the story, Pasquale Tursi is waiting “for life to come and find him.” Is Dee Moray the “life” he was waiting for? Do you think most people wait for life—like a movie—to begin? Why?
When he first sees Dee, Pasquale thinks, “Life is a blatant act of imagination.” Explain what he means. Do you agree with Pasquale?
Most of the novel’s characters—Alvis Bender, Dee Moray, Shane Wheeler, Claire Silver, Pat Bender, even Richard Burton—have dreams. What are these dreams and how do they parallel and collide? How do their dreams play out in their lives?What would life be like if we didn’t have dreams? What happens when they don’t come true?
Americans pride themselves on the “American dream.” What does this term mean to you? Do you think it is still attainable today? How much of our notions of the American Dream are shaped by Hollywood? Think about Shane Wheeler, the screenwriter, whose life’s motto is Act as if ye have faith and it shall be given to you: “His was an outlook fed by years of episodic TV, by encouraging teachers and counselors, by science fair ribbons, participant medals, and soccer and basketball trophies—and, most of all, by two attentive and dutiful parents, who raise their five perfect children with the belief—hell, with the birthright—that as longas they had faith in themselves, they could be anything they wanted to be.” Is faith enough—or hard work—to make our dreams come true? Can we truly be, achieve, or do anything we desire?
Claire Silver, the chief development assistant for legendary film producer Michael Deane, was enchanted by the magic of Hollywood when she saw Breakfast at Tiffany’s two days before her tenth birthday. How do you think this movie shaped who she became? Was it for better or for worse? Is it the idea of fame that draws people to Hollywood, or something else? Is Hollywood as influential on lives today as it was through much of the twentieth century?
How would you characterize Michael Deane? One reviewer commented that he “has finer hidden instincts than the ones he has allowed to shape his life.” When we meet him, Michael Deane seems like a parody of a Hollywood producer. What are the driving forces that propel his actions and how do they confound our expectations?
At the center of the novel, though largely offstage, is the legendary Hollywood production of Cleopatra. How is the movie symbolic of the novel’s themes? How does Hollywood both fuel fantasies and destroy dreams? How is this demonstrated in the experiences of the novel’s characters?
In Hollywood, everything happens because of the pitch. Have we become a nation of individuals pitching to each other? How would you pitch your life story to someone? How would you pitch Beautiful Ruins?
In the present day, the elderly Pasquale shares the story of his first meeting with Dee, describing it as “the moment that lasts forever.” Why is this so for Pasquale? How does this revelation influence Shane and Claire? Have you ever had a moment like this?
How do dreams—like love—inspire us and hurt us? Do you agree with Michael’s adage: we want what we want? Do you think this changes with age and maturity?
Years later, Alvin tells Dee, “All we have is the story we tell. Everything we do, every decision we make, our strength, weakness, motivation, history and character—what we believe—none of it is real; it’s all part of the story we tell. But here’s the thing: It’s our goddamned story!” What about life—your own or someone you know—is real? How much do we control in our lives? What happens when we let other people tell our story for us?
How would you describe Beautiful Ruins?
(Above questions used in the original discussion)
One of Jess Walter's concerns in Beautiful Ruins is how real life intersects and influences art. Talk about the numerous ways that idea plays out in the novel.
This is a work of social satire, skewering much in American culture. What are the many targets the author turns his satirical eye on? Is his aim accurate, fair, unfair?
Much has been made of the novel's humor? What do you find funny? Hotel Adequate View? Anything else?
The book's opening is reminiscent of a lush, epic romantic film—the beautiful dying Dee Moray steps off the boat and into Pasquale's heart. Although the book veers off new directions, is it still a love story? What kinds of love are presented in the novel? What, ultimately, does the novel have to say about love?
In what ways does Pat Bender resemble his biological father? Are genes destiny? Had you been Dee (or Debra), his mother, would you have told him who his father was?
The book's timeline, locales, different voices and unusual text treatments (Hollywood film pitch, biography, unfinished novel, how-to book) are jumbled. Did you find it confusing, hard to follow, irritating? Or was the variety intriguing? What might the author be hoping to achieve by scrambling everything up? How would the book be different if it were told in chronological order with a straightforward narrator?
Talk about contrast between the grand Hollywood projects of the past, like Cleopatra, and the reality show that Michael Deane and Claire are producing. What does it say about our current culture or collective imaginative life? Does Jess Walter suggest a solution to what he is criticizing?
What did you think, initially, of Shane's Donner Party pitch to Michael Deane? Did you agree with Michael...or laugh with Claire?
Michael Deane says his great epiphany was "People want what they want." What does he mean? Do you agree with him? How did that revelation shape his career?
In addition to Michael Deane (in Question 9), each character has a powerful revelation in which they see themselves as they truly are and see the nature of life. What are the revelations of the other characters...and how do they shape their lives?
What is the significance of the novel's title? (It was first used by a journalist to describe Richard Burton many years after his marriage to Taylor.) Who else, or what, are the "beautiful ruins"?
Of the seven main characters, which is your favorite? Least favorite (don't all say Michael Deane)?
(Secondary questions issues by LitLovers)
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