Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico | Patron-Only Early Access / Ad-Free
A quiet portrait of melancholy European millennials that turned out to be (perhaps unintentionally) far darker than I anticipated.
Comments (6)
An article in The Baffler put me onto Perfection and it's "ketamine realism" as part of an article about modern Berlin, the expat experience, and a contrast between Weimar-era novels and the modern ones about the city. https://thebaffler.com/salvos/breaking-glass-cocotas I hadn't gotten around to Perfection as yet but your review seals it as my next read.
Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for your kind words and for the link, "ketamine realism" is a great descriptor haha
Cliff did you make anything of the discussion of the expat crew in Berlin and their “version” of English? I know Anna and Tom viewed this as a connection with their Berlin adopted family, but I wonder if latronico was trying to make a point about translation watering down expression? He obviously wrote the novel in Italian and has worked as a translator for other non-Italian authors.
Perhaps - that's an interesting idea to consider. For me, it just seemed like yet another element in the general theme of homogenization - everyone falls back to English.
This was an excellent rundown. I can honestly say that if I read the book, I will have gotten so much out of it specifically because of your analysis.
Thank you very much Stephen, glad to hear it!