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The Imperfectionists

3.54 of 5 stars 3.54 · rating details · 26,093 ratings · 4,198 reviews

BONUS: This edition contains a The Imperfectionists discussion guide.

Set against the gorgeous backdrop of Rome, Tom Rachman’s wry, vibrant debut follows the topsy-turvy private lives of the reporters, editors, and executives of an international English language newspaper as they struggle to keep it—and themselves—afloat.

Fifty years and many changes have ensued since the pa...more

ebook, 246 pages

Published April 6th 2010 by Dial Press Trade Paperback

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Oct 02, 2011 K.D. Oliveros rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to K.D. by: The New York Times 100 Best Novels of 2010

Shelves: first-novel, tragicomic, new-york-times, drama, humour

The Imperfectionists is perfect. At least for my taste. You may have a different opinion about this book, but for me, it is just way above the many other books I've read. It is entertaining. It is thought-provoking. It is heart-wrenching. It is funny. It is informative. It has everything I am looking for a contemporary fiction novel.

This book was one of the 100 Best Books in 2010 according to The New York Times. That and the very encouraging blurbs on both covers of the book made me buy and read...more

43 likes · like · see review

Mar 13, 2013 Madeleine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: newsroom-nostalgia, head-in-the-clouds-nose-in-a-book, our-libeary, mmxiii, tooting-my-own-muted-horn

Once upon an occupationally happier time, I was an award-winning journalist. The "award-winning" part wasn’t all that important (though obviously not some unwelcome kudos) because I have loved print journalism in ways one should never love an inanimate intangible ever since the gateway drug that was my mediocre private university's labor-of-love, student-run newspaper showed me what I was meant to do with my life, a certainty that was cemented by the soaring pride I felt when our Little Paper Th...more Once upon an occupationally happier time, I was an award-winning journalist. The "award-winning" part wasn’t all that important (though obviously not some unwelcome kudos) because I have loved print journalism in ways one should never love an inanimate intangible ever since the gateway drug that was my mediocre private university's labor-of-love, student-run newspaper showed me what I was meant to do with my life, a certainty that was cemented by the soaring pride I felt when our Little Paper That Could beat the piss out of Princeton's college paper in the New Jersey Press Awards the year I was opinion editor.

When I graduated as a bright-eyed, enthusiastic young drunk, the only tears I shed during the ceremonial severance from the first place that ever felt like home were over saying goodbye to the paper that had directed me to my future path (and, for bonus sentimentalization, introduced me to my husband). At the time, I had no idea that I would spend the rest of my professional career desperately seeking the same sense of personal pride and professional satisfaction that has, so far, been exclusive to my days as a collegiate journalist.

I am grateful that I got to spend a little more than three years in newspapers; unfortunately, my dream job exists in an industry that has been manhandled literally to death since the rise of the internet. My last paper was under the control of a company whose corporate-bigwigs’ salaries reached numbers that I still can't believe actually exist and whose stock is doing well enough to reliably earn a spot in certain mutual funds' top-ten holdings. So, naturally, the newsrooms themselves -- the places where the actual product is miraculously birthed seven days a week as the few remaining editors and reporters and behind-the-scenes staff pick up yet another unceremoniously laid-off comrade's smorgasbord of responsibility -- face cut after cut, furlough after furlough, bloodbath layoff after bloodbath layoff and are still expected to perform as they did in the golden days of print journalism.

When I bid adieu to the newspapering life, I was disillusioned and demoralized. What began as the personal satisfaction of working in the very world I set out to immerse myself in ended with overworked anguish as I found myself moving farther from the very things that drew me to journalism in the first place. It had been ages since I last wrote an article or attended a meeting or snapped a photo or did any of the things that made me love coming home with newspaper ink under my fingernails. That, combined with hearing the industry's death rattle grow louder with every passing day, was what finally drove me to more stable ground.

For those and myriad other reasons, “The Imperfectionists” is a hard book for me to approach objectively: With absolutely no regard for reality, my newsroom nostalgia is a thing now steeped in shamelessly over-romantic fondness and colors anything that stirs it in a wistfully rosy hue. There are little things in here that betray the author's keen awareness of universal newsroom truths -- the bitter divide between editorial and corporate; the misunderstood self-righteousness of those tasked with maintaining some modicum of integrity in an industry that doesn't always put such an admirable endeavor above sensationalism and the almighty dollar (also: there are papers that still have corrections editors!?); the self-sacrifice and seeming dehumanization required to ascend in rank while keeping the paper's best interest at heart -- that hit all the notes of a sad song I know too well. The fictional focus of "The Imperfectionists" is the ballad of just one more newspaper on the brink of obsolescence and it is filled with the slow panic that is now endemic to any publication left standing these days.

The very human personalities pouring from these pages are what I imagine would make this a compelling story for those who haven't given their hearts to the cruel mistress of print journalism: This is, ultimately, a workplace tragicomedy that delves into the characters' personal lives, too. In newspapers as in any manically paced work environment, it is all too easy to form alliances that blind one to a compatriot's flaws, just as it's even easier to vilify the ad rep who constantly delays the release of dummy pages, the copy editor who inserts errors into flawless stories, the section editor who demands unreasonable word counts, the reporter who thinks her shit doesn't stink. Disregarding the non-professional side of one's coworkers makes it easier to despise them and launch ongoing battles, as well as serving as a much-needed distraction from the bigger, less controlled ugliness of shrinking ad sales and rapidly declining subscription numbers.

For being a dude-penned tale, the plight of being a lady journalist was explored with a surprising reverence. I wasn't always crazy about the way the female employees were represented here but Kathleen, the paper's executive editor, was a too-spot-on example of what it's like to be a woman playing in the boys' club (which, judging by some of the horror stories I've heard about newsrooms of yore, isn't nearly as bad as it used to be but, good God, some of the old-head editors I've worked with made it clear that it wasn't always my passion and journalistic acumen that got me hired). The lone female copy editor here, Ruby, paints a lonely picture of what it's like to care too much when a deserved pat on the back is swapped for constant animosity and serving as the go-to scapegoat: A woman who lives both alone and for the paper that employs her strikes a more poignant chord of melancholy than a man in the same position, and Ruby is the perfect vehicle for giving such aching sadness a place in the world outside the newspaper's walls.

Placing an English-language paper in Italy and staffing it with uprooted Americans was a nice touch. There is such a divide between Newspaper Life and Real Life that it's a difficult thing to translate for people who don't live for their work like any overly passionate journalist does, and the emphasized chasm of a cultural difference that lives just outside the office walls captures that dichotomy perfectly. There were other little flourishes that made my long-dormant inner journalist perk up with recognition, like how all of the news editor's thoughts are in headlines ("Keys in pocket, sources say") and the way all the non-flashback chapters are told in the present tense.

The closing chapters of this book broke my heart. Just. Destroyed it. It's obvious where the story's going pretty early on but it doesn't mitigate the ending's impact. Kind of like how that one last look at the newspaper office -- the very place that's become a second home after all the twelve-hour days and countless late nights, where you cried over Election Night results because there's no other place in the world you'd rather be when your candidate delivers a victory speech, where you swore in equal measures that you'd never work in this industry again because fuck this bullshit and couldn't imagine feeling this completely at home in any other workplace -- on your last day of being a journalist is always an increasingly close reality but is a terrible mix of freedom and defeat as the familiar building grows smaller and smaller in your rear-view mirror that final time.(less)

27 likes · like · see review

Apr 24, 2010 Maryann rated it 2 of 5 stars

The first reviews of this book made me eager to plunge in, but I was so disappointed that I withdrew my suggestion to nominate it for our book club! I said to myself at least twice while reading this, "I hate this book." In the last 50 pages, I found some enjoyable sequences, especially the air plane ride between Abbey and the man she had just fired. Other than that story, it was not very enjoyable reading, unless perhaps one works for a newspaper and enjoys the personalities in that trade.

Overa...more

32 likes · like · see review

Dec 18, 2011 ·Karen· rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: brits, f2f-book-group-reads

I whizzed through this highly entertaining debut by Tom Rachman wondering how on earth he'll be able to follow it. He apparently used a lot of his own experience of working for the International Herald Tribune here, so the question is where he will go for material next. The Imperfectionists is funny and tender both, Rachman's fondness for his characters with all their failings and foibles comes roaring through, and the man has an uncanny eye, oops, no, sorry that should be ear shouldn't it? for...more

15 likes · like · see review

May 19, 2010 Cynthia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2010

This is an intriguing book though disconcerting. It’s set in the present or recent past at an English newspaper produced in Italy. As Elizabeth Strout did in “Olive Kitteridge”, last year’s Pulitzer winner, each story or chapter is seen through a different person’s viewpoint. In “Kitteridge” the theme was Olive and how others perceived her or she perceived them. In “The Imperfectionists” the paper is the common denominator. All the stories are the viewpoint of a Staffer.

Interspersed with the vie...more

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Aug 18, 2012 Crystal Starr Light rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, book-club, idiot-protagonist

The story follows several members of an English-speaking newspaper based in Rome, Italy. There is some overlap and connection between the stories, especially the further you get into the novel. And between short stories about the individual employees of the paper is a main thread that tells the entire story of the paper.

I'm sorry for the unenthusiastic summary of this book. If you really want to get an idea of what this book is about, there are tons of summaries much better than mine (including,...more

6 likes · like · see review

Jun 26, 2010 Katie Fitzgerald rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-books, published-2010s

I don't read a lot of books that aren't written for teenagers, but I read the reviews and the jacket on this one, and decided it sounded too good to pass up. Just a little over 24 hours later, I have finished reading it, and I am so glad it caught my eye.

This novel is a series of interconnected stories about the staff members of an English-language newspaper published in Rome. Each character's chapter begins with a headline and ends with a flashback to a significant moment in the newspaper's hi...more I don't read a lot of books that aren't written for teenagers, but I read the reviews and the jacket on this one, and decided it sounded too good to pass up. Just a little over 24 hours later, I have finished reading it, and I am so glad it caught my eye.

This novel is a series of interconnected stories about the staff members of an English-language newspaper published in Rome. Each character's chapter begins with a headline and ends with a flashback to a significant moment in the newspaper's history. Though the atmosphere and history of the paper are important, and I enjoyed those sections between chapters, the truly brilliant aspect of this book is the characterization. Each and every staff member depicted throughout the story is a fully-developed three-dimensional human being. Each of them has such a specific life, and relationships with layers, complications, and in many cases, heartbreak. I loved all of them instantly, even the ones I thought I should hate, and I was impressed, as the book wore on, with how fresh everything still seemed 125, 150, 200 pages in. Rachman's writing is both extremely readable and extremely well-crafted, which is not often true of literary fiction. Often it's one or the other, but to have both, and to see it done so well was very satisfying.

The highlights for me were the relationship between publisher Oliver Ott and his dog Schopenhauer, stringer Warren Cheung's encounter with the strangely manipulative and carefree Snyder, reader Ornella's obsession with reading the paper in its entirety no matter how long it takes, and Herman Cohen's friendship with Jimmy, who has not become the man Herman expected him to be. This book made me consider the private lives of the people I have worked with, and caused me to wonder what people go home to when they leave work at night, and whether we could look at people the same way if we knew.

This book is just absolutely fantastic, and I can't wait for Tom Rachman to write his second novel. Highly recommended.(less)

12 likes · like · see review

Jun 03, 2010 Will Byrnes rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: journalism

This just in, Tom Rachman has given readers an exceptional set of stories about the birth and death of a newspaper, populated these tales with engaging characters and done so with great style and feeling.

The core here is a Rome-based English-language international newspaper. Rachman follows it from its inception in the 1950s to its 21st century demise. The story of this paper is the story of the people it touches, from founder to Obits editor, from editor in chief to Cairo stringer. There are 1...more

11 likes · like · see review

Jun 15, 2012 Allison rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Snippets from the recent past ... having freshly left a newsroom months ago the stories still hit close. Tom Rachman offers an insider's view that will have anyone who has ever worked in a newsroom chuckling. From Copy Editor chapter: "She changes into her Fordham sweatshirt, opens the refrigerator, and yawns into its white light. She cracks a Heineken and drinks it before the open fridge, her mind emptying with the can. The sharp corners of her day go smooth. She scans the fridge: a jar of blac...more

3 likes · like · see review

Oct 10, 2011 Teresa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3 and 1/2 stars

I've read a few reviews that mention this novel reads like a group of interrelated short stories and I can see that, though I don't really agree, as I don't believe the chapters are fully realized enough to stand on their own, nor were they meant to be, as they are intended to be 'chapters' in the history of the newspaper first and foremost.

The fully realized people that populate the novel are the strongest element. There is sympathy for even the most unlikable characters (except...more

9 likes · like · see review

Feb 06, 2011 Chance rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories

Unlike a newspaper's human interest stories, which provide a glossy, manipulative look at the private lives of normal people, this book has a real interest in humans, albeit fictional ones. You see characters from multiple perspectives across the vignettes. There's no over-arching plot, just a series of articles. Just like in a newspaper. Quirky character Ornella de Montericchi, reader of the newspaper at the center of this book, "never learned the techniques of newspaper reading, so took it in...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jul 15, 2010 Rachel rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crap

This isn't the worst thing I've read this year. Rachman, over and over again, convinced me to care about his characters and their relationships. I can't agree with Goodreads's assessment that the interspersed chapters on the history of the paper are dull; I found them warm and subtle. Neither, however, can I agree that Rachman "creates a diverse cast of fully realized characters." They may have diverse physical descriptions, but all speak with exactly the same voice. He even has one character, s...more

41 likes · like · see review

Sep 20, 2011 Marialyce rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: august-2011-books, 2011-group-reads, sept-2011

It was a bit hard for me initially to get into this story but eventually I was able to enjoy the various characters that were together in the newspaper world that Rachman created. This was the author's first book, and he did a fine job writing of an Italian newspaper that is having a hard time staying afloat.

The book follows some quirky people who work for the paper from the guy who writes obituaries to a crazy war correspondent, who you just had to love he was so manipulative, to the weird pub...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 29, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An interesting read, especially since my father was something of a newspaper man. Not an international newspaper man, by any stretch of the imagination, just a reporter and then the editor of our local newspaper for a time when I was a child, but still...I remember listening to him express the language and concerns of journalism when I was growing up. For that reason alone, I think, The Imperfectionists had a nostalgic appeal to me. I didn't particularly like my father, but I did like the idea o...more

3 likes · like · see review

Feb 03, 2011 Susann rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Susann by: Sheila

Shelves: idlewild

**warning: somewhat spoilerish**
Interwoven stories about the staff at an English-language newspaper in Rome. At the start, I was impressed with Rachman's story-portraits and finished the first few chapters breathless for the next one. But the characters' all too human flaws gradually laid me low, until I wondered if and worried that we're all as sad-lonely-desperate-petty-conniving-selfish-cruel as these people are. I feel sorry for each character, some with sympathy and others with just pity. W...more

11 likes · like · see review

Feb 04, 2013 Jelena rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I came by “The Imperfectionists“ through personal recommendation and several positive reviews I read.

Although indicated to be a novel, the book consists of short stories so that each chapter portraits another staff member at an international newspaper, with intermezzi focusing on the paper’s history and owners. This specific structure is in my opinion rather a shortcoming, since the stories are not intended to be read separately, but at the same time the thread is too weak to provide the structu...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 03, 2011 Layla Strohl rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

To say I enjoyed this book would be a great understatement. I I loved this book. Tom Rachman's characters come to life in this amazing debut novel that revolves around the 50 year span of a small international, English-language daily newspaper located in Rome. Over the span of fifty years we meet the founder and publisher Leo Ott, a rich businessman with a passion to have the paper succeed despite having a family back in the States. We meet copy editor Ruby Zaga, who despite 2o years of service...more

3 likes · like · see review

May 29, 2011 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-mt-bookpile

I'd been told that this was a book about a newspaper and the various types (sorry, no pun intended) employed there. That's not quite true - it's a series of short glimpses of the lives of different people employed at an unnamed international paper, more like short stories loosely woven together than they are a novel. That's not to say that these aren't interesting people, just that anyone looking for a combination of "The Front Page" and All the President's Men won't find that here.

The character...more

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Sep 26, 2010 Pei Pei rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: american, contemporary, international, acs-book-club, short-stories

I enjoyed the first two stories in this book, but as I kept reading I lost interest. The book couldn't seem to make up its mind about what it wanted to be. As separate stories, it was uneven. I enjoyed some stories and laughed and paused thoughtfully at surprising moments, but many of the stories weren't strong enough to stand alone; the dialogue was sometimes cringeworthy and actually seemed to get worse as the book progressed (the same is true, I think, of the general quality of the stories)....more

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Sep 15, 2010 Jessica-Robyn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: young-adult readers looking for change of pace

Shelves: pov-multiple, standalone-novels, adult-fiction

As a young adult reader it was a big jump going from "realistic" YA to how realistic really could be written. When I first picked up this book I wasn't sure exactly what to expect and after the first chapter I wasn't sure I would come out being interested in the story, but as I read on I really began to love what I was reading. The Imperfectionists is a story about an international newspaper and the people who love, live and breath the news they print. Going into the personal lives of people you...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Sean rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: journalists who want to read about fictional journalists.

There were a number of bright spots in this book, about the staff of an English-language newspaper based in Rome. It's not so much a novel as a series of character vignettes, interelated short stories about individual members of the editorial staff, with interspersed flashbacks to the newspaper's earlier days.

Journalists--especially journalists who have worked for dying publications--will see people they know in this book. The characters are fleshed out well, in all their self-loathing and neuro...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 12, 2010 Alana rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010_12_december, reviewed

So... I'm telling you now that my sudden and vehement dislike of Tom Rachman's The Imperfectionists is totally irrational and cannot be defended with any argument that paints me as a level-headed reviewer. Up until approximately five pages from the end of the novel, I would have given this a three-and-a-half-out-of-five star review... not necessarily because I enjoyed every single moment of the novel, but because I thought it was an interesting look at the fascinating and rather endangered indus...more So... I'm telling you now that my sudden and vehement dislike of Tom Rachman's The Imperfectionists is totally irrational and cannot be defended with any argument that paints me as a level-headed reviewer. Up until approximately five pages from the end of the novel, I would have given this a three-and-a-half-out-of-five star review... not necessarily because I enjoyed every single moment of the novel, but because I thought it was an interesting look at the fascinating and rather endangered industry of newspaper publication.

Then a dog was killed and I'm sorry, but I immediately experienced a flash-back to my six-year-old self, uncontrollably sobbing because a story I was reading started with the drowning of a kitten. It's a horrific, staggering moment and I started to worry that I might actually cry into my scarf, standing on the subway in rush hour, attracting covert glances from other winter-clad commuters, while some child in a stroller would stage whisper, "Mommy, why is that lady crying?" Thankfully, I held it together, but my ability to enjoy any part of the novel had vanished.

My significant other laughed at me when I said this, then realized I was serious, but I yield to you the same points I yielded to him. Yes, I understand that the author didn't actually kill a real-life dog. Yes, I understand that the killing of the dog is supposed to be a horrific and heart-breaking moment (even if it's totally unnecessary). No, the act of killing the dog was not itself described, but rather, simply the fact/means of it stated. But because it was in there at all, my opinion of the book plummeted and I just cannot recommend this to anyone in good conscience. You see what I mean? It doesn't matter for me that up until then, I was thinking mildly positive things about the work. I know this is ludicrous and I know that I can read about people dying without batting an eyelash. Kids can die and I wince (like any normal person), but there's just a line a writer can't cross for each one of us and mine happens to be furry. I'm a terrible, unacceptably biased reviewer and I'm sorry.

The Imperfectionists, aside from being a novel where a dog is murdered, focuses on the employees of an English-language newspaper based out of Rome. The newspaper in the present day is clearly failing, but the employees trudge on, putting out the paper every day under increasing amounts of stress. Told in a series of snapshot stories that each focus on a different person, the stories weave through their lives to show private agonies and professional failures. There's very little happiness here (though perhaps a few small victories are recounted) as we read about the editors, publishers, and reporters that have had their lives changed by the paper. It covers the entire lifespan of the paper -- from its founding after World War II to its modern-day closure -- and while most of the characters live in the present time, there are short glimpses back at the lives of its previous employees.

While reading The Imperfectionists, I found myself recalling Joshua Ferris's And Then We Come to the End, another novel that follows several employees of a company that's going under. Even before the dog incident, I would say I far preferred And Then We Come to the End, and I'm betting that Rachman had read that one. Ferris is a far better writer than Rachman, who I felt relied rather heavily on the emotions stirred simply by the facts of the situation -- the decline of newspapers (which most, if not all, literate people are somewhat saddened by) and job loss. The writing itself seemed on the more positive side of mediocre (inoffensive? passable?), but still made me feel that this novel was overwhelmingly over-rated in the praise I've seen bandied about.

What The Imperfectionists *does* have is the benefit of being set in Rome. Having been in Rome a few months ago, I was pleased by the frequent mentions of specific places and neighborhoods, which allowed me to remember the twisting streets and odious traffic. I was surprised no mention was made of vespas. Given that this is a novel where it's clear things will Not End Well, it's to be expected that the tone will be relatively serious -- though there are several funny moments, even if they are often of the black humor or cringe-worthy variety. These are not happy people, by and large, and the turmoil in their lives both inside and outside of the office reflects this. A large number of tragic things happen in the course of the novel (tragic things are, after all, much more newsworthy than happy things), though they usually consist of what would be private gossip and never something printable (save for a few individual deaths). Children die, relationships are shattered, betrayals are engineered, and tempers are lost... the last item happening practically on every page. There's a pervading sense of loss... lost leads, stories, and profits... lost loves, friends, and children... lost innocence, lost opportunities, and lost dreams... and, of course, lost jobs.

Unless you're the wallowing type, I wouldn't recommend this for anyone who's recently lost a job. Nor would I really recommend this as a great "set in Italy" novel, though I did enjoy the conjuration of the city. And, it might go without saying, I wouldn't recommend this to those who are overly-sensitive to violence against animals. (It really just comes in out of the blue, folks. I'm not this crazy all the time.) If you have none of these problems and you can overlook the so-so writing, then I hope that you enjoy the novel, as it shows a certain amount of promise on the part of Tom Rachman. (Though perhaps I'm thinking that because the novel's already been optioned by Brad Pitt and that certainly can't hurt one's career.) The Imperfectionists inspires thought (even if I can't quite call it "thoughtful") and has glints of wry humor that keep the reader afloat in this portrait of a declining industry... I just wish the loyal, harmless dog would have made it to a really nice farm where he could chase rabbits.(less)

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Aug 25, 2011 Christina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Journalists and former journalists

Recommended to Christina by: A few journalism blogs

Shelves: fiction, journalism, satire

Christopher Buckley and lots of other journalists and former journalists have been giving Tom Rachman's debut novel rave reviews.

I'm not really sure if it's earned them.

I think Buckley et. al. just like the book because it's about journalists. And journalists love reading books about journalists - especially when those books mock the people we spend most of our time bitching about. Rachman's book tells the stories of the obnoxious copy editor, the spinster reporter who dates losers who take adva...more Christopher Buckley and lots of other journalists and former journalists have been giving Tom Rachman's debut novel rave reviews.

I'm not really sure if it's earned them.

I think Buckley et. al. just like the book because it's about journalists. And journalists love reading books about journalists - especially when those books mock the people we spend most of our time bitching about. Rachman's book tells the stories of the obnoxious copy editor, the spinster reporter who dates losers who take advantage of him/her, the useless guy who sits in the corner, the ambitious bitchy chick (I think I'm this one), the people who manage the paper's finances. If you've worked at a newspaper, you know who I'm talking about; every newsroom's got 'em.

I think Rachman missed a few, like the good-natured office idiot who survives stupid mistakes and lay-offs becuase he's so nice no one wants to fire him, the loud-mouth idiot with stupid Post-Its on his desk (like "fowl = birds/foul = not birds"... yes, I knew a guy with that Post-It), the photographer who only photographs pretty girls, the reporter/photographer who sleeps with/makes out with everyone in the newsroom, the ambiguously gay guy whose sexuality everyone obsesses over and the ad reps who spend more time gossiping in the office than selling ads. Again, you know who I'm talking about; every newsroom's got at least a few of these.

"The Imperfectionists" also follows the rise and fall of the particular paper - an English-language paper published in Rome - where the characters work.

I know the novel is intended as a novel, but it reads more like a collection of short stories.

I know the novel is intended as satire, but I didn't really think it was funny. It certainly wasn't as funny as Evelyn Waugh's "Scoop."

It's practically impossible to ignore the way Rachman humanizes each of the newsroom types. The obnoxious copy editor is obnoxious because his best friend continually lets him down. The spinster reporter dates losers because she has low self-esteem and doesn't think anyone else wants her. The useless guy has more important things in his life, but ceases to be useless when he loses them. The ambitious bitchy editor is bitchy primarily because she let her ambitions get in the way of her happiness because she thought she would be happy once she achieved what she wanted. (I'm definitely this chick.) The chick who manages the finances... well, she's as much of a bitch as we think she is. But you still have to feel a little bad for her.

And it was also impossible to ignore the way the characters blame each other - and the way Rachman seems to blame all - for the downfall of the paper. Corporate won't give the newsroom enough money to do what it needs to do. The ad reps don't sell enough ads. The newsroom characters balk against the idea of a Web site.

I liked it. But I'm a journalist.

I don't know if other people - people who have not worked in news - will appreciate it. I don't think they will.(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Mar 24, 2011 Ruth Seeley rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The notion of a narrative told from multiple points of view (although technically it's all one third-person omniscient narrator) is exciting to me, but can't say I thought Rachman pulled it off here. I was bored; found it a bit of a chore to finish; wasn't entranced by any of his characters or blown away by the way their lives intertwined. Parts of it were just silly (e.g. the paper's editor's lover's mother who 'had never learned to read a newspaper' and so was only up to reading the news from...more

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Jun 13, 2012 Emily Hill rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: my-classics-selections

Oh for the Love of All that is Holy! Please, someone, tell me that Rachman earned more than a 3.5 from the Goodreads community on 'The Imperfectionists'!

Is it the irreverence, the flip attitude, the turn of a(n) intellectual phrase? The Washington Post calls it 'beguiling' - You're killin' me here!

This is off the charts, stratospherically (a) hilarious in its desperate pathos; (b) brilliant in its prose; (c) sinister in its cynicism. I'm hanging up my pen, I'm shredding all copies of my own de...more

6 likes · like · see review

Apr 09, 2011 Christy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: best-2011

Really? I'm surprised that the average rating for this is 3.5. When I first started reading it, I wasn't aware that each chapter would chronicle one of the people working at the paper, so I was a bit confused. I caught on after the second one and got completely absorbed. I can't say I've read a book this HUMAN in a long time. Each one of the characters was whacked out in some totally believable way, yet I could relate to each of them in some weird way. I loved the inner dialogue of some of them,...more

8 likes · like · see review

Jul 26, 2012 Ðɑηηɑ rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, 2-stars, 2012, male-authors, italy, english, paperback, own, shortly-reviewed, pub-2010s, award-winning, american-author

2.5/5
***
I seriously have no idea how to refer to this book. Five seconds ago I finished it, and I am still confused. It was very well written, Rachman is definitely a remarkably talented writer and he'd done an amazing job illumintaing the lives of the reporters, managers and the reader of the newspaper. The plots were great, a little funny and a little outstanding. The reading pace was very fast, for the story is not divided into short chapters, and every part - every story, every individual -...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 26, 2011 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks, library_books

Quite well-written, indeed the characters were about as diversified as it gets (although no explicitly gay ones, just a coyly implied closet case). I would've given a fourth star, but it's just so damned consistently grim; a couple of the stories have happy endings, but the rest are pretty much downers. I confess I didn't read the italicized backstory between each chapter, of the paper's founding, at all.

Recommended as something to read here-and-there, not straight through.

1 like · like · see review

May 19, 2011 Tayde Del Rio rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: releyendo

Indispensable para aquel que conozca esas emociones al límite que sólo se viven en la redacción de un periódico.

2 likes · like · see review

May 14, 2013 elizabeth tobey rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Simply put: I hated The Imperfectionists.

Tom Rachman is a good writer. His words do evoke emotion. He is talented. Unforunately, he decided to use that talent to write a book about miserable people. They aren't even the kind you really want to hate, or root for, or pity. They are just bland, soul-sucking characters of melancholy, mediocrity, and the mundane. In the rare occasions where you do feel for a character, though, you know better than to hope. Every story has one purpose and only one out...more

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About Tom Rachman

Tom Rachman was born in 1974 in London, but grew up in Vancouver. He studied cinema at the University of Toronto and completed a Master's degree in journalism at Columbia University in New York. From 1998, he worked as an editor at the foreign desk of The Associated Press in New York, then did a stint as a reporter in India and Sri Lanka, before returning to New York. In 2002, he was sent to Rome...more

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Quotes from The Imperfectionists

“What I really fear is time. That's the devil: whipping us on when we'd rather loll, so the present sprints by, impossible to grasp, and all is suddenly past, a past that won't hold still, that slides into these inauthentic tales. My past- it doesn't feel real in the slightest. The person who inhabited it is not me. It's as if the present me is constantly dissolving. There's that line from Heraclitus: 'No man steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.' That's quite right. We enjoy this illusion of continuity, and we call it memory. Which explains, perhaps, why our worst fear isn't the end of life but the end of memories.” — 36 people liked it

“You can’t dread what you can’t experience. The only death we experience is that of other people. That’s as bad as it gets. And that’s bad enough, surely.” — 32 people liked it

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