The Imperfectionists has received nothing but rave reviews at work; in fact, "we" loved it so much that we sent out an email to our customers offering a discount on it, just in an attempt to share it with as many people as possible. So as you can imagine, I was REALLY anxious to get my hands on it! Well, it took a while; the galley was in high demand amongst the staff. But I was patient, and waited in line, and eventually I was rewarded when my turn came up.

I greatly enjoyed it, but I did not love it with the same fervor and intensity as my colleagues. (As a side note, once I admitted this fact, there were several others who agreed that they felt a bit let down after the storewide buzz about it.) That is not to say it isn't a wonderful book. It's beautifully written; it has great, fully developed characters who are both quirky and entertaining; it offers a multifaceted and engaging window into the world of newspaper publishing, both in the 1950s (when the paper is founded) and now, as newspapers are a kind of endangered news form. In fact, in my opinion it has all the necessary ingredients of a great novel. The Imperfectionists is actually a collection of short stories, woven around the common thread of the newspaper. Each main character has a chapter, but also makes cameos in other chapters, a technique that adds dimension and offers the reader a multiple perspectives. Despite the fact that it is a connected collection of stories, it does read more like a novel.

So what is my complaint? What was missing for me? I'm not really sure, to be honest. Maybe nothing. I read the whole thing, I enjoyed it from start to finish, it held my interest and kept me entertained. But I was not in love with it. I recommend you pick up a copy and see for yourself! ( )

Funny at times, poignant at others, tale of the rise and fall of an English-language paper in Rome. (The author worked at the International Herald Tribune.) Each chapter relates a different character's story linked together by the author's tone and their work at the paper. Wonderfully quotable descriptions throughout, plus chapter titles. ( )

I thought this was good. It's not much like what I normally read, in that it's very aggressively "literary" and has lots of "deep" and "meaningful" undertones, but I still found the book to be engaging and well written. The different perspectives on the newspaper combine nicely, and the book has a good pacing that makes it enjoyable to read even when certain sections are really quite depressing.

The book really does lay bare some of the sadder aspects of the human condition, so if you are not a fan of books that lead you to some self reflection, stay away. ( )

Follows the life of small newspaper in Rome and the imperfect lives of those who work there. OK read.

Hmmm. This was a really hard book to wrap my head around. It started very slowly and I didn't really understand the structure with the inset sections about the founding of the paper.

Once I got a handle on things I decided I didn't like it much -- depressing stories. But then, something shifted and I really started to enjoy what was happening. The connections started to make sense and the stories were still sad but not quite as awful and bleak as the earlier stories but then we got to the final chapter and that really was a total downer. It made me feel awful and like it was all just a terrible use of my time. ( )