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mtw1tter

mtw1tter

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The Imperfectionists: A Novel

The Imperfectionists - Tom Rachman I was all prepared to hate the book - novels prefaced with pages gushing compliments from various publications/periodicals/literary magazines tend to turn me off.

I speed read through about 1/4 of the book, getting more and more irritated by it before deciding to give it 1/2 a chance and went back to the beginning to read it again.

It works on the same level as "Ghostwritten" by David Mitchell in that what has happened before affects what happens after in the plot and there is a cleverness in the way the book has been structured.

Each chapter is separated by an ongoing tale about the growth/demise of a newspaper and each chapter is wittily titled as if it was a headline (and they do appear within the chapters in various guises) as well as telling/moving the plot forward by highlighting various characters in an imaginary newpaper company.

The book is not quite a straightforward read as the main protagonist in each chapter pop up from time to time in other chapters and I do find myself flipping through previous sections to get a better understanding of them.

But at the end of the novel, strands are resolved in a breathtaking 2 page narrative.

Be warned, a dog does come to an untimely demise in the novel.

If you can get past all the hype printed on the cover, it's quite a good read.