awhipple 's review for:

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

4.0

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I had read some good reviews of this awhile back, but I wasn't convinced it would be up my alley. I couldn't resist the brand-spanking-new copy on the library bookshelf, though, and I could not put it down once I started. Each chapter is really a vignette focused on one character working at a newspaper that was founded by an American in Rome after World War II. All of the characters are in the present, but the author also intersperses little bits of the backstory of the newspaper, so you learn why it was founded and how it has declined in the internet age. For me, the newspaper history was fine, but not particularly captivating. What I really enjoyed was how this author articulated individual characters and the state of their lives in such a brief, pitch-perfect way. I was truly surprised by how touched (as lame as that sounds) by the conclusion of some of the chapters--even though I had only met this "person" twenty or thirty pages ago.

Incidentally, I read that Brad Pitt had snatched up screenplay rights to this book, and I really can't imagine being less interested in seeing a book turned into a movie. I don't mean that in a "oh-heavens-they'll-wreck-it" sort of way. It just didn't really strike me as something that would translate to a film story very well. So, Brad Pitt, on the off chance that you're a Goodreads reader, I think you have your work cut out for you. . . . .