Book Review: The Imperfectionists.

Mood: ?
Listening to: 'Eenie Meenie' by Sean Kingston ft. Justin Bieber
Hungry for: apple pieee...
Bella says: 'zzz...'

I've been meaning to write this for ages...

Okay, so, at the same Writer's Festival that I bought Jasper Jones, I bought another book called the Imperfectionists, who is...wait for it, written by a London-born Canadian ex-journalist who lives in Rome. I actually met him, Tom Rachman, and he is very nice.

I started reading The Imperfectionists first, but then I started Jasper Jones soon after - because I generally have no less than six books on my reading list at one time, a mixture of old favourites, bad habit trash, classics and new stuff. But then I got hooked onto Jasper Jones and started reading into the wee hours - not such a good idea, it's really quite spooky - but then I finished The Imperfectionists, and I loved it.

The Imperfectionists is a novel, but it doesn't really follow a traditional novel format. It's instead a collection of interlinking short stories from the different perspectives of interlinking people, all somehow connected to an international newspaper based in Rome. As the blurb rightly says, behind doors at newspaper it's sex, strife and spellcheck, which is basically the main themes that connect the stories. Each short story clearly shows the diverse people and personas who are connected to a somewhat failing newspaper, and are prime examples of Tom Rachman's wit and journalistic experience.

The only shortcoming? The book is simply too long for it's rather complicated format. By the time one character pops up again, twenty stories after his own, you've already clean forgotten him. It's the kind of book you have to read over and over, so you establish a kind of personal connection with each and every character.

But hey, I'm not really complaining.

By the way, Jasper Jones update: Craig Silvey is one of (the Australian) Cleo Magazine's Most Eligible Bachelors.