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Perfection
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
13 posts | 9 read | 11 to read
Millennial expat couple Anna and Tom are living the dream in Berlin, in a bright, plant-filled apartment in Neuklln. They are young digital creatives, freelancers without too many constraints. They have a passion for food, progressive politics, sexual experimentation and Berlin's twenty-four-hour party scene. Their ideal existence is also that of an entire generation, lived out on Instagram, but outside the images they create for themselves, dissatisfaction and ennui burgeon. Their work as graphic designers becomes repetitive. Friends move back home, have children, grow up. An attempt at political activism during the refugee crisis proves fruitless. And in that picture-perfect life Anna and Tom feel increasingly trapped, yearning for an authenticity and a sense of purpose that seem perennially just out of their grasp. With the stylistic mastery of Georges Perec and nihilism of Michel Houellebecq, Perfection, translated by Sophie Hughes, is a sociological novel about the emptiness of contemporary existence, beautifully written, brilliantly scathing.
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VRM1975
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
Pickpick

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Graywacke
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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Pickpick

A book looking at social media appearance, how it seems real life should measure up. To hammer home the point, the book focuses on how things look, and treats our characters from a distance.

Not sure I‘m a fan of this cold distant literature. But it reads nicely and is well-executed.

This is my 11th from the International #Booker longlist. #IB2025

BookishTrish I thought it was so well executed and was disappointed it didn‘t win 5d
Graywacke @BookishTrish looks like you were moved by it! 5d
sarahbarnes Still waiting on this one from the library. 4d
46 likes4 comments
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RaeLovesToRead
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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#two4tuesday @TheSpineView

1) No, absolutely not. There is simply too much variety and diversity. It's impossible to encapsulate all the rich perspectives and experiences out there.

That doesn't mean we can't try!

2) The tagged is very Millennial and interestingly is based on a book that set about to encapsulate the 60s through a study of objects and a couple. I've not read it, but I'd be interested to know how much this one reflects it.

RaeLovesToRead @The_Penniless_Author What do you think, DeVallance? 2w
TheSpineView Thanks for playing! 2w
RaeLovesToRead @TheSpineView Great questions! 2w
See All 6 Comments
The_Penniless_Author @RaeLovesToRead I think I disagree with you and will expound in short order. 😄 2w
RaeLovesToRead @The_Penniless_Author I think maybe I'm taking this question more literally than everyone else. My relatives were mostly working down the mines in the 1920s, and to them The Great Gatsby would be about as alien as you can get. So I think literature can capture a particular time and place. But I don't think one book could capture all the voices of a particular decade or generation. 2w
RaeLovesToRead (Copied from your two4tuesday comments!) 2w
34 likes6 comments
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sisilia
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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Panpan

1⭐️ It was a mistake to read this after reading Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont. This pretty book bored me to death 😭 and it reads like a short paper about modern life.

Leftcoastzen It is a beautiful cover , Claremont is so good . 4w
RaeLovesToRead Hahaha. I thought it was good but this made me laugh 🤣 It does read a bit like that! 4w
sisilia @RaeLovesToRead Right?! 😅 4w
sisilia @Leftcoastzen I need another good quality writing. Maybe it‘s time to reread Moon Tiger 4w
Graywacke I‘ve just started. Thanks for the warning 🙂 4w
45 likes5 comments
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Graywacke
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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Bought and started yesterday. This is one of three books i left to complete the International Booker longlist.

#booker #IB2025

42 likes1 stack add
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Gleefulreader
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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Pickpick

I absolutely adore Fitzcarraldo Editions and this was no exception. A couple moves to Berlin from the southern Mediterranean as part of the new creative/design class and then follows them as they become disillusioned with the effects on community and place that they and their generation created. It is a scathing critique on the gentrification and generic sameness that grew out of the last twenty years and the blindness of those that created it.

sarahbarnes I‘m anxiously awaiting this one from the library - I‘m really looking forward to it! I love those editions, too. 1mo
15 likes1 comment
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RaeLovesToRead
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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Pickpick

This tale of millennial angst & dissatisfaction is based on the debut novel (Things) by Georges Perec.

Anna & Tom have all the trappings of a good life, but struggle to find contentment in a world of social media and expectation.

Sometimes a little overexplained, this short novel manages to pack in a great deal of social commentary and uses the couple as a single protagonist to discuss the modern condition.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Video review up at 7pm GMT

64 likes1 comment
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sisilia
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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Bought this because of the cover. My next read 🏖️

BarbaraBB Such a great edition. And it‘s a good read! 1mo
sarahbarnes Agreed on the cover. I‘m impatiently waiting on this from the library. 1mo
45 likes2 comments
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Gleefulreader
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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Just your average weekend, judging Eastern Canadian Trampoline Gymnastics Championships with some good books in between flights of athletes. Fun watching all these kids who have worked so hard, representing their province.

TheBookHippie Fun! 1mo
Suet624 What a fun thing to be a part of. 1mo
BarbaraBB I loved your two blue books and want to read The Colony! 1mo
18 likes3 comments
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AnneCecilie
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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Mehso-so

I don‘t think this book was for me, I didn‘t love it as much as everyone else.

Couple is living the dream life in Berlin having gotten in before the rent increases. Actually this couple annoyed me, not realizing how lucky they are and not working more than they need.

I also felt that this book only told what happened, and there were no dialogue. Which apparently I didn‘t enjoy here.

BarbaraBB I see what you mean about the lack of dialogue. I enjoyed it nevertheless 2mo
Leniverse I'm not feeling drawn to this one at all 2mo
49 likes2 comments
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BookishTrish
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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Pickpick

Absolutely lives up to its name #ManBookerInternational

BarbaraBB I enjoyed this one too! 2mo
46 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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BarbaraBB
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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Pickpick

Tom and Anna are Italian graphic designers, who moved to Berlin because it‘s the place to be. They live a life that confronts me with living in Amsterdam: all the trends, the hip & happening, the urban nomads, the gentrification, the coffee everywhere, the underground raves, the emptiness of it all. A mirror for me of who I used to be not that long ago. A great start of the #InternationalBooker longlist!

#FictionalTraveler #BigCity

Kitta Ooo stacked! 4mo
squirrelbrain Great review! ❤️ 4mo
sarahbarnes Great review! So glad to see this one is a pick for you - I have a hold on it at the library and it‘s one I‘m really looking forward to! 😀 4mo
See All 13 Comments
Cathythoughts Great review Barbara ❤️ 4mo
CarolynM Great review. Stacked🙂 4mo
youneverarrived Sounds great. Love your review. 4mo
julieclair Excellent review! Stacked. 4mo
BarbaraBB @CarolynM @youneverarrived @julieclair Thanks! I hope you‘ll like it if you get to it. 4mo
Suet624 Who you were and who you are now ….. 💕 3mo
GatheringBooks Wow! 7th book already! Awesome. This sounds like a depressing read. 💕 3mo
82 likes7 stack adds13 comments
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charl08
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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Love a Pulp reference.

#CommonPeople

Billypar 🎶 'Especially one who thinks it's all such a laugh' 🎵 4mo
48 likes1 comment