Book review

Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico

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Try not to judge. - Here’s my book review of Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico. I read this in English on an e-reader. This review does not have spoilers.

When The Europeans (podcast) radioed the news of their new book club I felt an instant urge to join. I like books, reading and I feel a constant urge to seek out any cultural product tagged as “European”. I’ve also been curious about communal or shared reading experiences.

Finally I just inherently trust these podcasters to be graced with good judgement. The types who always know instinctively what direction to swipe in one of those face-judging-apps.

So I decided not only to participate (join?) but do so without delay.

Cue: Oh shit.

"We suspect a lot of you will recognise yourselves in the novel’s protagonists Anna and Tom, a couple who move to Berlin in search of a more fulfilling life, but who somehow always find themselves to be still looking for something."

".. described by critics as ‘a short, sly, scathing satire about dissatisfied millennials’ and ‘perhaps what will prove to be *the* Berlin novel of our time’. It’s entertaining, sharply observed .."

Turns out the first book of book club was one I had already tried before. Within two pages I had gotten annoyed at a description of a "scandinavian loungechair", a long list of items mainly defined by their colour or hue, and a description of a type of stereotypical house I've never actually seen beyond other descriptions of stereotypical houses for rich dependent-less immigrants self-identifying as expats.

Maybe the author meant for that to happen but OMG if so, it worked so well that I had closed the book and re-read the Hobbit, another book with descriptions of furniture.

Anyway. The Europeans wanted me to try again. And I’m pretty sure a key rule of book club is that you actually read the fricking book. Even if it irritates you. So I did.

The Book

This is a book about two persons. Anna and Tom. We never learn anything interesting about them and that’s fine. They do not have distinct personalities and could’ve have been one person. This way the author could’ve skipped ten pages of sex stuff. I wish they had.

After some time reading the intro -a third person description in short stubby sentences- I decided to check how many pages the book has. Turns out I was already one third in. Full disclosure: before reading a single letter I had committed to finishing the book. At this point I doubted that commitment. To keep the experience fun I took a break and ended up learning a lot about the history of Scandinavian furniture. It’s super interesting. More about that later.

The third person writing (it never stops) gives the author the opportunity to craft a picture perfect Instagram life where it is up to us to find the lack of depth. Or something. I guess some might say it evokes a certain distance and triggers personal soul-searching in the reader. It just left me wondering why even 1960s science fiction writers made me feel more connected to the characters. And these men generally didn’t know women existed.

The life of Anna and Tom is a dispassionate one and reads as if meant to be an examination (reflection?) on university educated millennials choosing to become expats as a way to delay having to make real choices. Forever tourists.

I’m convinced that if Anna and Tom ever write their own book it will be something like The Year of Living Danishly. Performative. Actively ignorant of the reality others experience.

The protagonists, cosplaying stereotypes

Anna and Tom are the anti Greta Thunberg; disengaged, lacking a clear forward looking morality and with no interest in being part of society. Or maybe that last point is better nuanced to: no interest in being part of society if it requires action on their side.

And it’s taken to the extreme. All that happens to them is accidental, they and their peers are rag-dolls pulled and pushed through life by no action or agency of their own. Even the eventual conclusion is them just going through the motions. A deus ex machina they had expected all along. If this story was a Super Mario game Anna and Tom would be two of those toad-things Mario jumps on.

To me it’s a book about complacency and privilege. Cosplay into a *somewhat* adventurous life as there’s always safety in family wealth, connections and society back home.

I’m sure real life Anna and Tom is a thing. I refuse to believe they’re as big as a group as the book portrays it to be. At least my lived experience in an international community at their age was different: Anna and Tom were the exception to a much larger group of people with genuine outlooks on life. And these people weren’t all Thunbergs, successful or wholesome. But there was depth, passion and agency.

That’s the book. The rest you ought to read yourself (do!). Moving on. I promised to get back to the Scandinavian furniture.

Scandinavian Armchairs

At less than a 150 pages, all written in the third person, the book can be finished in an hour or two. Due to the deliberate lack of depth not a lot of reflection-while-reading takes place as you’re pulled along.

This turned out to be a good thing as between starting the book -just before lunch- and going to bed -just before midnight- I not only read the novel but also spend about three hours learning about Scandinavian furniture.

Reading how the human-centred designs by pioneers like Alvar Aalto, Arne Jacobsen, Grete Jalk, Verner Panton, Nanna Ditzel and Hans Wegner came to dominate our living rooms (as originals and as inspired copies) was genuinely interesting.

The design philosophy of this small group of connected people championed functional democratic design (affordable for teachers, lawyers and bricklayers alike) with an artistic beauty the furniture of the generations before them just didn’t have. And while I knew this in a matter-of-fact way I never before realised how intentional all of this was.

This opened up an entire new avenue of future reading. For this I am grateful to the author.

Stars

The absolutely shittiest bit of fiction I’ve ever read is Lord of the Flies. A story about a bunch of kids who, when faced with hardship, turn into utter inhumane shitheads. When I was first made to read this book I vehemently argued it was unrealistic: a book-with-an-agenda by a religiously conflicted person arguing against the idea of innate human goodness. The teacher at my catholic high-school gave me a zero as “we’re reviewing the story, not the intention or Christianity”. After this disappointment I just handed in reviews I found on the internet.

I’m still glad I once read that book. And will never open it again.

So how about Perfection? By now it might be clear I did not enjoy this book, nor the story. Surprisingly I found myself liking the process of reading and, well.. dunking on the characters and even more the setting. The author did a good job. It’s just..

..It’s a story about a group of people I cannot relate to. Mostly as just like in Lord of the Flies I don’t think these people exist in parody form, let alone are the norm in the real world. Sure there’s dull people, sure there’s pretentious people, and sure there’s city dwelling defined-by-their-work people who have a good life but feel forever unsatisfied. These are adult-kids. They’re of all ages and time.

It’s not a globalist or pan-European thing either. In 1780 Anna and Tom would be Dutch expats (Anna’s dad being a Dutch VOC captain) living a safe middle class adventure as small time nutmeg traders in the Saint-Germain neighbourhood of Paris.

So I just don’t believe the protagonists in this book truly define a city, moment of time or zeitgeist. This is not a “millennial thing”, at best it’s just one persons projection of the human condition.

According to Wikipedia references the demographic group they’re part of never exceeded 10% of the Berlin neighbourhood they occupy, and was probably much less. This is someone’s zeitgeist, and someone’s Berlin. But it’s not most people’s zeitgeist or Berlin. And that bothers me as it feels more like ignorance than a deliberate choice.

I think you should read this book. I don't want to do stars but can say I will never read it again.

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Addendum: book club

The Live, Laugh & Love of sharing culture

OMG do I like being part of a book club. I mainly know reading as an insular activity and barely ever read reviews, let alone engage with others. What I now experienced is that book club is about community, about learning new things and exploring boundaries. And about the social pressure to read a book I had cast-off before.

And yes I am also surprised how much negativity all of this evoked in me.

Please let me stay in Book Club.

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