The Imperfectionists is Tom Rachman’s first book. The first books are essential. The first acquaintance with the author, the first impressions always remain in mind. I will never forget Rachman for this book was different and exciting, and I will surely follow his next books.
The Imperfectionists may be a bit complicated for people who take long breaks while reading because the story is told in chapters that are related to each other but from different narrators. In each episode, we read a story about the newspaper and its employees (and a reader), which, in my opinion, can make fantastic short stories on their own.
Reading about the newspaper, its people and readers was so much fun and I think I’ll miss it. Give this a chance as soon as possible. Enjoy!
You know, there’s that silly saying ‘We’re born alone and we die alone’ -it’s nonsense. We’re surrounded at birth and surrounded at death. It is in between that we’re alone.
Tom Rachman, The Imperfectionists
The Imperfectionists
The newspaper was founded in Rome in the 1950s, a product of passion and a multi-millionaire’s fancy. Over fifty years, its eccentricities earned a place in readers’ hearts around the globe. But now, circulation is down, the paper lacks a website, and the future looks bleak.
Still, those involved in the publication seem to barely notice. The obituary writer is too busy avoiding work. The editor-in-chief is pondering sleeping with an old flame. The obsessive reader is intent on finishing every old edition, so leaving her trapped in the past. And the publisher seems less interested in his struggling newspaper than in his magnificent basset hound, Schopenhauer.
The Imperfectionists interweaves the stories of eleven unusual and so endearing characters who depend on the paper. Funny and moving, the novel is about endings – the end of life, the end of sexual desire, the end of the era of newspapers – and about what might rise afterwards.
Tom Rachman
Tom Rachman is an English/Canadian novelist. His debut novel was The Imperfectionists, published in 2010 by Dial Press, an imprint of Random House. The book has been published in 25 languages. Rachman was born in London, England, and grew up in Vancouver.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
