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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman follows the lives of journalists working for a small international newspaper based in Rome. Each chapter feels like a short story about one of the character's lives. At first, I wasn't sure if I was going to connect to the novel as a whole this way, but I quickly changed my mind because you get brief glimpses and impressions of the other characters. I loved how when it came to a character's story that you had already met and had an impression of, you would get a whole different side to their story and a new understanding of who they are. I also loved the interludes between each chapter that explained the history of the paper. The story is told chronologically, but there was also a fluidity of time within each chapter that was unique and I really enjoyed. I could feel time shift further in the future whether it be weeks or even months from one sentence to the next, but it didn't feel abrupt or out of place. It takes skill to accomplish that and I look forwar
Story of a newspaper in Rome, throughout a number of years. Each chapter is told through the eyes of one of the staff. Good writing; great details about charactes. Each story is weird or tragic.
This is a great debut novel. Interesting weaving of the characters and the story - as well as the rise and fall of a small international newspaper. I enjoyed the structure which was like multiple short stories about each of the members of the community.
This is one that will grow on me the more I think about it. A story about a newspaper in Rome from its inception in the 1950's to its closing in 1990's. Each vignette is a bit of the private lives of those that worked/work for the paper, the family that founded the paper and one reader. They all intersect delightfully though I will caution readers, the characters are Imperfect.
I just loved this book- it is a great contemporary fiction read with an easy pace. The character interweave in ways that are unexpected. I love that it is set in Rome, as well.
Novel that reads like a collection of short stories with creative fluidity. I actually really liked it.
Very good, very quick read. I was surprised by how much I liked it.
This book beat me over and over until my soft jelly heart is simply a puddle. I can't decide if I love it for this or hate it for this.
It hurts you but in a way that brings you to life, in a way that makes you feel more human in the way that we share the most basic human traits with all humans. It was about loss, grief, envy, pain, ....about the parts of us that we really don't like sometimes and that we don't like in others.
I imagine this book is like a therapist. You tell it all the worst stories, the ones where your soul was the dirtiest, and you felt the most shame...but in the end your therapist only loves you more and feels more connected to their own humanity because we are so filthy human.
It hurts you but in a way that brings you to life, in a way that makes you feel more human in the way that we share the most basic human traits with all humans. It was about loss, grief, envy, pain, ....about the parts of us that we really don't like sometimes and that we don't like in others.
I imagine this book is like a therapist. You tell it all the worst stories, the ones where your soul was the dirtiest, and you felt the most shame...but in the end your therapist only loves you more and feels more connected to their own humanity because we are so filthy human.
The author described the lives of some interesting characters through multiple short stories of the staff of an English newspaper in Rome. Despite (or maybe because of) all of their tragic and imperfect lives, I really enjoyed the book.
Brilliant storytelling, with individual chapters that could stand alone as short stories, but that linked together create a humane and heart-wrenching portrait of life's compromises and acceptance of imperfections. It's like Raymond Carver stories told by Robert Altman ("Shortcuts" among the staff of a Rome-based newspaper). The specificity of the subject ironically belies the universality of the emotional dilemmas faced by the characters.