A review by luhos
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

"And yet, for whatever reason, they never seemed to find what they were looking for."

Perfection is about Tom and Anna, who are from an unnamed European country, but have moved to Berlin as young, working adults, full of hope and idealism about their lives and their journey. However, as time goes on, Tom and Anna succumb to a very specific and particular brand of millennial ennui. They want for their lives to have meaning, but nothing around them is giving quite enough. They're torn between wanting to do good, to be good, and to have good things. As the nihilism creeps into them, so too does it to the city. 

I'm basically the same age as Tom and Anna, and while my life is very different, at the core of it, their experience is a somewhat universal one. This book is short and quick, but has left quite an impression on me; it gives hope, but simultaneously takes it away.

"Back in the day, looking at images like those and knowing how frustrated and unhappy they had been when they took them made them feel ashamed, deficient, as if the reality presented in the photos should somehow be capable of triumphing over how they really felt, and that their inability to enjoy such a desirable life revealed a flaw in their character. They had outgrown this insecurity. Now those images just seemed like a con."