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‘Spectacular’ New York Times
‘Sublime writing’ The Times
Funny, poignant, occasionally breathtaking’ Financial Times
The newspaper was founded in Rome in the 1950s, a product of passion and a multi-millionaire’s fancy. Eccentric and beloved, it now faces demise in the new digital era.
Still, the staff barely notice. The editor-in-chief is pondering sleeping with an old flame. The obsessive reader is intent on finishing every old edition, leaving her trapped in the past. And the publisher is less interested in his struggling newspaper than in his magnificent basset hound, Schopenhauer.
The Imperfectionists interweaves the stories of eleven unusual and endearing characters in a novel about endings – the end of life, the end of sexual desire, the end of the era of newspapers – and about what might rise afterwards.
‘Sublime writing’ The Times
Funny, poignant, occasionally breathtaking’ Financial Times
The newspaper was founded in Rome in the 1950s, a product of passion and a multi-millionaire’s fancy. Eccentric and beloved, it now faces demise in the new digital era.
Still, the staff barely notice. The editor-in-chief is pondering sleeping with an old flame. The obsessive reader is intent on finishing every old edition, leaving her trapped in the past. And the publisher is less interested in his struggling newspaper than in his magnificent basset hound, Schopenhauer.
The Imperfectionists interweaves the stories of eleven unusual and endearing characters in a novel about endings – the end of life, the end of sexual desire, the end of the era of newspapers – and about what might rise afterwards.
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Reviews
A precise, playful fiction with a deep but lightly worn intelligence
Rachman is an admirable stylist. Each chapter is so finely wrought that it could stand alone as a memorable short story . . . Funny, poignant, occasionally breathtaking novel
Hilarious and poignant debut . . . Rachman's strength lies in the rendering of the characters - all eleven are believable, flawed and lovable . . . Funny and prescient, but still full of hope
Sketched with lively charm . . . loaded with charm and insight, the novel brings human tenderness to an inky business besieged by budget cuts and online competition
Alternately hilarious and heart-wrenching, and it's assembled like a Rubik's cube . . . a cross between Evelyn Waugh's Scoop and Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing adventure . . . So good I had to read it twice
Rachman has a real gift for capturing a life in a few sentences . . . we realise the book has taken us through the fifty-year life of the newspaper, and brought to life a moving cast of characters. By turns, funny and desperately sad, Rachman's always readable novel is a terrific debut
Anyone who has ever spent time in newspaperland will recognize The Imperfectionists' high degree of authenticity. So will quite a few people beyond.
Light-footed lyricism . . . a series of acutely observed character sketches and a poignant sense of nostalgia
Expertly crafted . . . sublime writing . . . so beautifully written, so compassionate in its observation and understanding of human behaviour, that one cannot tear the eyes from the page. The sheer dexterity of the writing brings a haunting beauty to the many tragedies within the narrative
An addictive read: quirky without being daft, funny without being shallow and the sort of book many a journalist will wish they had written
Vignettes packed with poignant insights and laugh out loud dialogue, the reader is left amazed and delighted by this new author whose prose is reminiscent of Portman and Vonnegut yet wholly and wonderfully his own. Buy this book!