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The Imperfectionists
Scritto da Tom Rachman
Narrato da Christopher Evan Welch
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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.
Many changes have ensued since an enigmatic millionaire founded the paper 50 years ago, and now the staff’s personal dramas seem more important than the headlines. Kathleen, the imperious editor in chief, is smarting from a betrayal in her open marriage. Arthur, the lazy obituary writer, is transformed by a personal tragedy. Abby, the embattled financial officer, discovers that her job cuts and her love life are intertwined in a most unexpected way. And in the shadows is the isolated young publisher who pays more attention to his prized basset hound, Schopenhauer, than to the fate of his family’s quirky newspaper.
As the era of print news gives way to the Internet age and this imperfect crew stumbles toward an uncertain future, the paper’s rich history is revealed, including the surprising truth about its founder’s intentions.
Spirited, moving, and highly original, The Imperfectionists will establish Tom Rachman as one of our most perceptive, assured literary talents.
Many changes have ensued since an enigmatic millionaire founded the paper 50 years ago, and now the staff’s personal dramas seem more important than the headlines. Kathleen, the imperious editor in chief, is smarting from a betrayal in her open marriage. Arthur, the lazy obituary writer, is transformed by a personal tragedy. Abby, the embattled financial officer, discovers that her job cuts and her love life are intertwined in a most unexpected way. And in the shadows is the isolated young publisher who pays more attention to his prized basset hound, Schopenhauer, than to the fate of his family’s quirky newspaper.
As the era of print news gives way to the Internet age and this imperfect crew stumbles toward an uncertain future, the paper’s rich history is revealed, including the surprising truth about its founder’s intentions.
Spirited, moving, and highly original, The Imperfectionists will establish Tom Rachman as one of our most perceptive, assured literary talents.
Azioni libro
Inizia ad ascoltareInformazioni sul libro
The Imperfectionists
Scritto da Tom Rachman
Narrato da Christopher Evan Welch
Descrizione
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.
Many changes have ensued since an enigmatic millionaire founded the paper 50 years ago, and now the staff’s personal dramas seem more important than the headlines. Kathleen, the imperious editor in chief, is smarting from a betrayal in her open marriage. Arthur, the lazy obituary writer, is transformed by a personal tragedy. Abby, the embattled financial officer, discovers that her job cuts and her love life are intertwined in a most unexpected way. And in the shadows is the isolated young publisher who pays more attention to his prized basset hound, Schopenhauer, than to the fate of his family’s quirky newspaper.
As the era of print news gives way to the Internet age and this imperfect crew stumbles toward an uncertain future, the paper’s rich history is revealed, including the surprising truth about its founder’s intentions.
Spirited, moving, and highly original, The Imperfectionists will establish Tom Rachman as one of our most perceptive, assured literary talents.
Many changes have ensued since an enigmatic millionaire founded the paper 50 years ago, and now the staff’s personal dramas seem more important than the headlines. Kathleen, the imperious editor in chief, is smarting from a betrayal in her open marriage. Arthur, the lazy obituary writer, is transformed by a personal tragedy. Abby, the embattled financial officer, discovers that her job cuts and her love life are intertwined in a most unexpected way. And in the shadows is the isolated young publisher who pays more attention to his prized basset hound, Schopenhauer, than to the fate of his family’s quirky newspaper.
As the era of print news gives way to the Internet age and this imperfect crew stumbles toward an uncertain future, the paper’s rich history is revealed, including the surprising truth about its founder’s intentions.
Spirited, moving, and highly original, The Imperfectionists will establish Tom Rachman as one of our most perceptive, assured literary talents.
Informazioni sull'autore
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Recensioni
A touch uneven, thankfully the weaker pieces are back-loaded. Thoughts gather and scatter from Fleet Street. Nods abound to Waugh and Michael Frayn. It is a worthy screed. Notice is given for the present peril. I've bought this for several people I care about.
Rating: 4I didn’t realize until I was significantly into the book that I had read it before. It is so good that I kept reading even though I remembered parts very well. This is beautifully written, a bit funny, a bit tragic, and wholly true.
Rating: 4Wasn't sure what I was going to think about this book since each chapter is about someone different that is either working at the newspaper or associated with the newspaper some how. They are each their own little short story yet the book felt like one cohesive story. The author did a nice job of tying them all together. I don't normally like reading short stories because I usually like to know more of the story and more of the characters. A lot of times I feel let down with only a tease. But this book was very enjoyable. It is also a pretty quick read since I read it in a day and I'm a slow reader. I went to college for journalism and I worked in the Des Moines Register news room during college so this book made sense to me and drew me to it because I had a history in journalism. But still, if you really don't know newspapers and the media, it's still a nice read.
Rating: 3While well written I'm not entirely sure what the hell this book really set out to accomplish. It was meh.
Rating: 3I loved this book and I am really disappointed I cannot read another Tom Rachman straight away. Set in Rome from thr 50s to the early 2000s, against the background of the rise and fall of a English language international newspaper; it is essentially a series of short stories about characters in the paper's life, some sad, some funny, some pointed. Characters pop in and out of each others stories and they are all beguiling and believable. I particularly loved the Italian countess who reads to the whole of the paper every day and, because this takes longer than a day, is living in a increasingly distant past, until.... [no spoilers here].
I look forward to more Rachman in the future.
Rating: 5I look forward to more Rachman in the future.
Didn't love it.
Rating: 3This is an odd book for me - each chapter is a short story on one of the employees (and one reader) of a semi-major international newspaper published in Rome. Each chapter was well written, the characters fully realized. And the story was warm, full of humanity. Unfortunately, in almost all of these stories, the protagonist ended up worst off than he began, from Hardy, who ends up dating a deadbeat, to the obituary writer, whose daughter died. It seems like every chapter has an affair in it, or was driven to an affair. I'm not sure if the message was suppose to be "those in the news business are sad, lonely people".I enjoyed reading the book, and learning a bit about the news, however, at times, it was the same thing over and over.
Rating: 4Well written and sharply observed, providing a fascinating look into the world of journalism (as it was pre-internet, at least). But all in all a pretty depressing view of the world, people and their motives.
Rating: 4This was an interesting balance of a book. On the positive side, the characters had interesting similarities to analyze. Everyone worked together but barely knew each other, and the ways they viewed each other and the insecurities they had in themselves were fascinating to compare. The writing was also beautiful. On the negative side, each of the chapters acted as vignettes that offered a brief glimpse into the life of one character - and once it got interesting, it ended. I also had a difficult time liking most of the characters and wanted to go back and hear more about others instead. I like the way the book was framed, but it was an uneven experience overall.
Rating: 3not spectacular or fabulous. Unhappy people becoming more unhappy because of their job, mostly.
Rating: 3A collection of overlapping vignettes focused on a failing newspaper.Each chapter is from a different character’s point of view, and inserted between chapters is the italicized history of the paper. The book reads much more like a collection of stories than a novel. Though the characters appear rather different at first glance, they’re all alienated, cliches, and a bit dysfunctional. All the women characters are irredeemable with some form of neurosis, self-esteem issues, and/or a need for men. The prose itself wasn’t that great, and worsens as the novel continues. There are some amusing moments and lovely scenery, but the chapter titles/headlines tended to oversell the chapters.The book is focused on people struggling with themselves, rather than the paper struggling to exist in an internet age. The brief bits of the paper’s history were rather dull.Nibble: “This wins a ringing endorsement and a fast-dying chuckle- they don’t like to laugh at each other’s jokes.”I would recommend this to someone as a quick and light read.
Rating: 2The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman is the story of an English language newspaper in Rome. Its existence is the result of a love affair between a successful international businessman, Cyrus Ott, and woman he hires with her husband to run the paper. Both Eileen and her husband had established good reputations in Europe in the newspaper business, and Cyrus and Eileen had met in that context in the past. The small circulation, imperfect newspaper employs a number of reporters, editors, stringers, and copy staff, locals and expatriates from around the world. All of the characters are devoted to the paper, some more than others. Their personal and professional imperfections are revealed in chapters that read like newspaper feature stories. A common theme is that, in spite of all their flaws, the newspaper and the characters are survivors. The paper survives decreasing circulation because of Cyrus Ott's continuing financial commitment, the result of his love for Eileen. It even survives after the love affair ends. The various characters survive even though they are surprised by personal losses and destruction of their illusions, the result of their newspaper work. My favorite character is Oliver Ott, the 30 year old grandson of the founder of the paper. He is a reclusive and ineffectual man supported by the Ott family in Atlanta. He is sent to Rome to oversee the operations of the newspaper because it is thought that the news organization can run itself. His incompetence should have no effect. What I liked about Oliver is that though tragedy strikes him, the least perfect of all the characters survives in a heroic fashion. As you read the novel, all of the characters' stories fade like columns of print in old newspapers stored on a shelf in a closet. This is an interesting book even though the character development is somewhat barren and formulaic like newspaper articles. I was always aware of the writer sitting at his word processor cranking out daily copy.
Rating: 4I found this book to be something of a letdown, having been led by effusive reviews to anticipate a higher level of accomplishment than I might ordinarily expect from a debut novel. In my opinion the writing is leaden, the characters one-dimensional and charmless, and despite the cursory mention of street names and landmarks the city of Rome and other far-flung locales never really come alive as a backdrop for the dreary plot. Mr. Rachman's fragmented approach, in which we are introduced to each protagonist in a separate section and at a point late in his or her personal narrative, obscures the relationships and connections that supposedly bind together the various staff members of a soon-to-be defunct international newspaper. The episodes of the rather Gothic tale of the newspaper's founding that are appended to each section only heighten this effect. It's hard to say what exactly Mr. Rachman was aiming for in this novel, but I hope for the sake of his former co-workers at the International Herald Tribune that he was not attempting a roman a clef.
Rating: 3This is a book about disappointment. The Imperfectionists is a series of short vignettes--each featuring a different character--ingeniously tied together with short interludes about their common workplace. It is populated with a diverse variety of characters, each of which has to face disappointment in his or her own way.
I did not like the character the author introduces to us in the first chapter--maybe the weakest in the book--and almost gave up right there, but I'm glad I didn't. The stories are interrelated, of course, and as you move from one chapter (and character) to the next, the relationships begin to emerge, adding weight and interest to the story that unfolds. Ultimately, you begin to see that through these short tales, and through the relationships between the characters, and the work that brings them together, the author is revealing the human condition; both the despair and the resilience that helps us persevere and find meaning in whatever life we have chosen to live.
Tom Rachman has pulled off an amazing feat in ultimately getting us to view these people without judgement; to accept them on their own terms; to root for and care for them in spite of their foibles. You may not like all of the people in these stories, but you will recognize and understand them. Rachman's ability to reveal the truth and humanity of each of these lost souls, turns a book about disappointment into an uplifting experience. The unique structure adds interest as well.
Rating: 4I did not like the character the author introduces to us in the first chapter--maybe the weakest in the book--and almost gave up right there, but I'm glad I didn't. The stories are interrelated, of course, and as you move from one chapter (and character) to the next, the relationships begin to emerge, adding weight and interest to the story that unfolds. Ultimately, you begin to see that through these short tales, and through the relationships between the characters, and the work that brings them together, the author is revealing the human condition; both the despair and the resilience that helps us persevere and find meaning in whatever life we have chosen to live.
Tom Rachman has pulled off an amazing feat in ultimately getting us to view these people without judgement; to accept them on their own terms; to root for and care for them in spite of their foibles. You may not like all of the people in these stories, but you will recognize and understand them. Rachman's ability to reveal the truth and humanity of each of these lost souls, turns a book about disappointment into an uplifting experience. The unique structure adds interest as well.
Each chapter concerns a person (an editor, a copywriter, a reader etc) connected with an English language newspaper based in Rome. Some characters overlap a little, but each chapter is more or less self-contained. In addition the last few pages of each chapter tell the story of the paper from its founding through to its decline and eventual folding.it was very well-written and each character came to life briefly, before we moved on to the next. I am not a big fan of short stories and these were not quite linked enough for me to get past that. In addition there was no real joy or positivity in the book. Each character suffered or was sad or disappointed or betrayed. I thought I would like this more than I did.
Rating: 4Surprisingly good read ... but not what I expected. The structure of the book is different, following each character individually and gradually linking them together. The plot line is rather depressing. This is not an uplifting read. Still, it is worth reading.
Rating: 4Having spent some time at English-language news outlets in Europe, I'd say The Imperfectionists gets it right. The cast of characters are a pretty pathetic bunch of expatriates, but they're also pretty entertaining.
I read a review that criticized Rachman's portrayal of women as being emotionally unbalanced and needy. Well, at least Kathleen and Abbey are good at their jobs! Most of the men in the book are fairly incompetent in their professional and personal lives. I was especially fond of the chapter about the hapless stringer in Cairo.
Good fun, although not particularly uplifting about the state of journalism.
Rating: 4I read a review that criticized Rachman's portrayal of women as being emotionally unbalanced and needy. Well, at least Kathleen and Abbey are good at their jobs! Most of the men in the book are fairly incompetent in their professional and personal lives. I was especially fond of the chapter about the hapless stringer in Cairo.
Good fun, although not particularly uplifting about the state of journalism.
Marvelous and horribly depressing. Perfectly captures a spectrum of human foibles and uncomfortable situations, while spinning out an iconic version of the death of newsprint.
Rating: 4If you work for, or worked for, or were an avid reader of, a newspaper and have a tendency to be depressed, well, beware this book.Tom Rachman's series of vignettes about the journalists, publishers and readers of an English-language Rome daily are stunningly composed. What they add up to is both more and less than the sum of these exquisite pieces. [Less finely wrought is the interstitial story of the paper from its founding in the 1950s to the present day.]In the end the book is the story of loves found and lost, of a calling that may not be noble to begin with and that in any case can't survive, of the end of an era. We try to write the perfect story, live the perfect life, be the perfect person. Each day we have a chance to start again with a blank page, each day we may try again. And what of it?Yesterday the news broke -- shattered, exploded -- that the Graham family is selling The Washington Post to Amazon's Jeff Bezos. Truly, the end of an era. Fortunately, I'd already finished "The Imperfectionists" or reading it would have been unbearable.*Spoiler alert: On top of everything, the dog dies in the end.
Rating: 4The death of a newspaper is chronicled amid the lives of its staff. Each character gets his own chapter, short story fashion, and the structure of the book is one of its strengths. Events that occur in one chapter are retold from the point of view of another later on. In between are short interludes reporting on the business of the newspaper itself, its administration and financial health.
I was a little distressed at how mean or how many losers there were in the mix, especially the women, but then, perhaps the author does exercise equal opportunity in giving all of his characters some fatal flaw.
Still, you can't help but be enthralled by how well written the end of an era is in this book, not only the end of this particular newspaper, in Rome, but the end of journalism as we know it.
Rating: 5I was a little distressed at how mean or how many losers there were in the mix, especially the women, but then, perhaps the author does exercise equal opportunity in giving all of his characters some fatal flaw.
Still, you can't help but be enthralled by how well written the end of an era is in this book, not only the end of this particular newspaper, in Rome, but the end of journalism as we know it.
This loosely connected set of short stories follows the lives of various people involved with an international English language paper produced in Rome. The cast of characters is wide and varied, from the lazy Arthur, in charge of obituaries and Puzzle Jumble to the ambitious editor-in-chief, Kathleen, who sacrifices any type of personal life to produce this daily paper. The stories are hilarious, heart wrenching, depressing, and so incredibly filled with human frailty and strength. I was amazed at how well Rachman captured people's wide range of emotions. One caveat - this novel was discussed by my bookclub and many people were lukewarm on this book - but I loved it.
Rating: 4With all the exuberant blurbs on the cover, this was kind of a letdown. I kept putting it down because it was more a collection of character studies than a novel that propelled the reader toward an ending.
Rating: 3This excellent book covers the life of an English language newspaper based in Italy from its inception in the 1950's to the present. Between chapters, there are several pages about the paper itself and its inevitable rush to decline in this age of 'instant news'. Each chapter takes us into the personal life of one person associated with the paper. They weave together beautifully, but would stand up rather well as separate short stories. Some have described this book as 'humour' - perhaps, but it would definitely be of the dark or bittersweet variety. While a large theme of the book seems to deal with disappointment, it is not depressing.Some of my favourite bits include entries in the paper's style guide such as this one on the use of the word "literally":literally: this word should be deleted. All too often, actions described as "literally" did not happen at all. As in, "He literally jumped out of his skin." No, he did not. [...] Inserting "literally" willy-nilly reinforces the notion that breathless nitwits lurk within this newsroom. Eliminate on sight - the usage, not the nitwits. The nitwits are to be captured and placed in the cages I have set up in the subbasement. See also: Excessive Dashes; Exclamation points; and Nitwits. This is a book that would stand up to re-reading and I intend to do just that.
Rating: 5Years ago, a very rich American decided, for reasons of his own, to start an English-language newspaper in Rome. Rachman's novel is a series of inter-connected vignettes about some of the individuals affiliated with this now-declining paper. Some nice humor and some well-drawn characters made this bittersweet tale a really nice read.
Rating: 4This book was fine. The writing was fine. Most of the characters were well-drawn in some manner or another. I just thought, based on all the advance praise, that there would be something *more* there. Instead, what were separate vignettes of different key components of this international English language newspaper remained so, for me.The overall arch of the paper, which is what we follow throughout the book, isn't terribly compelling. I thought the author was going to go deeper in certain areas or explode the story like a watermelon under Gallagher's steady hand, but it never happened.I gave him a lot of leeway, thanks to the source and volume of recommendations the book carried, but It just fizzled out at the end with a "this person started a beet farm, Joey began a newspaper in Uganda, Phillipa learned how to knit, Geraldo continued working at the paper until his untimely death covering a bull fight in the streets of Philadelphia"-type wrap-up.Which is a shame. The trajectory of the newspaper describes the book, and I suppose we're supposed to care what happens to the employees in the end, but I didn't. And I didn't because he would begin telling a little side story down each employee's life, some of which were interesting and I would have liked to have heard more, but he drops each and every one with an unceremonious thud. It seemed as if he didn't care, particularly, about the character, papering in some salient details with cardboard cutouts (oh yeah, this one has divorced, he lives in London, kids involved, this other one, new job, blah blah blah). In the end, due to the odd treatment of the characters, reading this book felt a little like eating a watermelon (I seem to be obsessed with watermelons today), only someone had burrowed in and sucked out all the meat, so all you're left with is rind and a little tiny bit of pink stuff stuck stubbornly to the edges.
Rating: 2Fascinating news room and foreign culture stories.
Rating: 4Started and did not finish. Disjointed, more short stories/character studies than a coherent novel. Not my cup of tea.
Rating: 3I thoroughly enjoyed this book! A very entertaining, easy read from Tom Rachman. This his debut novel about the newspaper business set in Rome gives us glimpses into the lIves of the reporters and staff of the paper. Each chapter tells the story of a different character while spanning the decades from the 1950's through the turn of the century. Sometimes quirky, sometimes poignant, you will definitely get the vibe that these are "real" people. I appreciate a book where I gain knowledge on a different subject. This time it was an insightful back-door view of the newspaper industry, its struggles, evolvement, and challenges with the dawn of the Internet. I truly wish wish this book was twice as long because it left me wanting more and I guess that's a good thing. As I mentioned, this is the author's debut novel and I cannot wait to read what comes next from him.
Rating: 4I didn't love is book as much as the critics seemed to. It was rather depressing and didn't really seem to have any sort of useful point. The writing was good, however, and the author did an ok job of telling a story in an interesting way. He used the lives of the employees of an international newspaper to tell the story of the paper itself. People seemed to really be taken by this book - I found it wasn't really "my cup of tea".
Rating: 3I really enjoyed this book. The separate chapters devoted to individual characters at an english language paper in Rome were well done. All tied together with some characters showing up tangentially in others' focus chapters. Many interesting folks inhabit this world. It brought to mind those multi-character, multi-arc television series. Smart, personable (and not so personable) people you might meet in real life. Recommended
Rating: 4