The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

For some reason, I found the opening sentence of this book one of the most uninspired pieces of prose ever: “Lloyd shoves off the bedcovers and hurries to the front door in white underwear and blacks socks.” Perhaps I don’t like men named Lloyd (Lloyd Bysouth, you’ve scarred me, you primary school pervert). This is a book written by a journalist, which is always dubious; just because you smash out eight 250 word stories a day does mean you can write an awesome novel. And for a stretch, it’s set in the newsroom of an international newsroom in Rome…and what a surprise, the author worked as a correspondent in Rome! Where does this man get his ideas, you wonder in amazement?

The layout is kind of cute, with each new character and their job title introduced by way of a newspaper headline (example: U.S General Optimistic on War – Kathleen Solson, Editor-In-Chief) but the book is let down by what’s in the chapters; namely, some terrible writing. It really would have been better served as a collection of short stories, because with one or two character’s chapters, he really nails them, such as the satisfying set-up and reveal around Abbey Pinnola, the luckless in love chief financial officer, who is burned by an employee she fired – the book really lifts at this point but it’s too close to the end and nothing else is written that well. The men are all portrayed as hardened hacks, and the female chief of staff a total ballbreaker – no breakdown of stereotypes here. Which is a shame, because as a journalist, surely Rachman could have offered a more interesting perspective on his profession than this Year 12 quality offering.