The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

I picked this novel up in one of my favorite bookstores, Kramerbooks & Afterwards Cafe in Washington, DC. Diane helped me pick it out, thinking it sounded like something I would like. It was a very fast read and I so wish I could give it five stars, but four will have to do.

Tom Rachman is a gifted writer. His prose pulls you through the story rapidly. It’s smooth as silk, deep in texture and wrought with evocative emotions. The novel itself is more a collection of short stories of characters that all intersect in an international newspaper located in Rome, Italy. He writes sage and witty commentary on the newspaper industry, office politics, relationships, and the evolution of media from print to television to the Internet.

I also enjoyed how between each “story,” there was an interlude that followed the history of the family who created the newspaper, moving through time to catch up to the novel’s main time frame.

Having said that, I should be required to give this book the top rating. However, each of the characters and their stories are so utterly depressing. I felt my own life was an utter dream in comparison and that the very worst in real or fictional people’s lives couldn’t compare the absolute depression of the characters inhabiting “the imperfectionists.” Each successive story felt like cars piling at the scene of an accident, each worse than the previous, each sadder or more depressing. I hate Hollywood endings, but at least one happy story out of the 11 or something less sad than all the other entries would have helped me.

So, excellent effort and beautifully executed, but for me, too depressing to rate it a 5. Four stars will have to suffice.