Longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, a New York Times bestseller, The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman was certainly on my radar as a book that I missed reading in 2010. The first I heard of it was actually in a holiday round-up by the Guardian, then it appeared in other round-ups and the next thing I knew, Tom Rachman was doing a reading at my local bookstore, Ardea Book & Art.
So Tom, let’s see what you’ve got.
The Imperfectionists is a series of linked stories that together form a novel. The characters are various staff members of an English-language newspaper in Rome. Each character is imperfect in his or her own way, as is the newspaper they run.
The table of contents is pretty clever:
Quote:
“BUSH SLUMPS TO NEW LOW IN POLLS”
Paris Correspondent, Lloyd Burko
“WORLD’S OLDEST LIAR DIES AT 126”
Obituary Writer, Arthur Gopal
“EUROPEANS ARE LAZY, STUDY SAYS”
Business Reporter, Hardy Benjamin
…
Some of the stories were pretty brilliant. My favourites being the interspersed italicized stories of the paper’s original publisher, Cyrus Ott.
The novel, overall, was memorable, but I felt like Rachman’s writing was trying too hard to be clever. Its jolts of insight are many and often back to back, which at times is like reading a series of Jon Stewart intros.
The NY Times review highlights most of the characters and provides a good sense of the novel. I found it enjoyable, and kind of like a newspaper in that some articles are more intriguing than others.
The Imperfectionists: a novel by Tom Rachman
(Published by Anchor Canada)