Comment

Feb 23, 2012
The Imperfectionists are a group of people who work for, or are affiliated with, an English-language newspaper based in Rome. Each chapter presents a different character - Arthur, the lazy obituary writer, Kathleen, the imperious editor-in-chief, and Lloyd, a rather pathetic has-been, just to name a few. The individual stories and relationships intertwine, giving the reader an understanding of the many facets of human relationships. Taken together, these vignettes present a fascinating, poignant, sometimes humourous, sometimes painful, picture of 50 years in the life, and eventual death, of a newspaper. The author worked as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press in Rome and as the editor at the International Herald Tribune in Paris, so he is well acquainted with newsroom politics and human foibles. This is a first novel by Tom Rachman and it received excellent reviews.