What a Bunch of Losers

I finished reading Tom Rachman's debut novel, The Imperfectionists, on Friday, but I needed a few days to think about it before writing my review. It's the story of the end of an era: The last few days in the lives of the ragtag bunch of employees left at an English-language newspaper based in Rome, before it finally folds. The advent of TV news had taken its toll, but the Internet has done the newspaper in for good.

The format of this novel is one of my favorites: Each chapter introduces us to another character, with characters appearing in each other's chapters as well. We meet the hard-headed editor-in-chief who can't decide how she feels about running into an old flame, the aging Paris correspondent who hasn't filed a story in weeks (and has to lie that his computer is broken because he doesn't have one), the sad-sack copy editor who stays in a hotel every New Year's Eve pretending she's an American businesswoman stranded in Europe overnight, and so on. The problem is, it would be hard to pick the most unlikable character—they are all that bad. They are by turns mean, petty, deceitful, neurotic, and self-involved. There were only three main characters I liked at all, and two of them had bad things happen to them. The third was unique for being half of the book's sole healthy, happy marriage.

However, the writing is terrific, and the sound and feel and rhythm of the newsroom come through loud and clear. I loved all the talk about trying to come up with concise headlines, being chastised for committing egregious typos, and writing drafts of obituaries before the celebrity in question is even dead yet. The fact that the novel was set in Rome didn't seem to matter much—Italian neighborhoods and street names are given, but there's no real feel for the city. 

I ended up thinking about these characters after I'd finished the book (always a good sign), but ultimately was glad I didn't have to spend any more time with most of them. So, on the one hand I recommend this book for the fun of reading it; on the other, it was pretty much a downer. If you've read it, let me know what you thought of it!

Comments

[scott]

It's the story of the end of an era: The last few days in the lives of the ragtag bunch of employees left at an English-language newspaper based in Rome, before it finally folds.

That sounds so.. unfascinating. This is my problem with a lot of fiction these days. It's so dreadfully boring.

I read an article not long ago (can't find!) in which it says this is the reason for the popularity of "young adult" fiction among actual adults: they tend to be big on story even if they don't contain impeccable prose.

[Karen]

But Scott, that's because you tend to favor books (and movies) that feature sci-fi, adventure, and so on. This story WAS fascinating to me, and things did indeed happen, but nothing "exciting" in a thriller kind of way. I loves books that are strong on character development and prose style -- not at the expense of a plot, but plot is not the main thing that makes me a consider a book worth reading.

[Buy_Viagra]

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