Another wonderful book by Jess Walter! Like no other author Jess Walter can describe normal, middle-aged people who have somehow let their lives slipped by and still make it an extraordiary reading experice. Beautiful Ruins is just such a book. Through several parallell stories we get to know people, their past and present, what they wish their lives to be, and what they have actually become. This really shouldn't make for a good reading, but it does, and even thinking back on the book now, it gives me a warm, glowing feeling of happiness with my own, very ordinary, middle-aged life. Though everything is not perfect, there are certainly some things that are very good! Heartily recommended!

I've had this book lying around for quite a while and just picked it up to brush up on Liz Hand's work before her visit in the shop on September 8. This is vintage Hand; dark, gothic, filled with historical and literary references and allusions as well as youth angst, drugs, sex and well darkness. It is VERY well written and quite captivating. The film tangent reminded me of Flicker for some reason. I liked it! (Oh and it's not in print at the moment, but drop us a line and we'll get you a nice second-hand copy if you're interested. You should be...)