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.

Look in the back of the book for a conversation between Tom Rachman and Malcolm Gladwellįifty years and many changes have ensued since the paper was founded by an enigmatic millionaire, and now, amid the stained carpeting and dingy office furniture, the staff’s personal dramas seem far more important than the daily headlines.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Published by The Dial Press, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.From the author of The Italian Teacher, this acclaimed debut novel set in Rome follows the topsy-turvy lives of the denizens of an English language newspaper. Nevertheless, I found the book uplifting because of the sympathetic manner in which each character, no matter how unpleasant, was portrayed.

All the characters are imperfect, self-delusional in varying degrees, and quite realistic with the exception of one truly batty reader and one obnoxiously exploitive “stringer,” who seem to be included for their humorous value.Įvaluation: The overall tone of the book is sad, with the paper itself moribund, becoming obsolete as it is replaced by modern technology. Rachman has an ability to limn the essence of his characters in a few pages of dialog, much like John Updike. Although each chapter covers only a short time, it so typifies the featured character that we know his or her life story by the end. Rachman tells us that the name of the owner-publisher (Ott) appears in the masthead of the paper, but he never gives the paper itself a name.Įach chapter is a vignette that follows an individual owner, employee, or reader of the newspaper. The unifying entity of the book is a fictional international English-language newspaper, published in Rome, Italy. Tom Rachman’s The Imperfectionists is a mixed genre work, having the characteristics of both a novel and a collection of short stories.

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman