Perfection

Perfection that is not perfection at all.

A young couple from Italy living in Berlin. At first, their life seems perfect. They have perfect jobs, work from home, and party with friends. In other words, they do what they want and are happy. Throughout the novel, we realize their life is not perfect at all.  

Goodreads

Quote

Reality didn’t always live up to the pictures.

 

Excerpt from the Book:

Sunlight floods the room from the bay window, reflects off the wide, honey-colored floorboards, and casts an emerald glow over the perforate leaves of a monstera shaped like a cloud. Its stems brush the back of a Scandinavian armchair, an open magazine left face down on the seat. The red of that magazine cover, the plant’s brilliant green, the petrol blue of the upholstery, and the pale ochre floor stand out against the white walls, their chalky tone picked up again in the pale rug that just creeps into the frame.

The next picture is of the building’s exterior, an Art Nouveau apartment block with acanthus leaf and citrus fruit cornices. The white render is all but invisible under layers of fluorescent graffiti, tattered posters, and peeling paint. On the first floor, you can scarcely make out the stucco tympanums beneath the grime. The combination of turn-of-the-century luxury and raw modern grittiness lends a feeling of freedom and decadence, with a hint of eroticism. Some of the windows are boarded up with faded chipboard, but in others there are plants and string lights. An ivy cascades from a balcony onto the street below.

Details:

• author: Vincenzo Latronico
• full title: Perfection
• genre: literary fiction
  
• format/type: bookfiction
• country: Italy
• topics: #digitalnomads, #millenials
  
• publisher: Fitzcarraldo Editions
  
• publish date: February 13, 2025
• pages: 112 pages

Literary Awards:

• International Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2025)

My Rating of the Book:

• content: 💙💙💙💙

About the Author:  

Vincenzo Latronico was born in Rome and currently lives in Milan. He is an art critic and has translated many books into Italian, by authors such as George Orwell, Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hanif Kureishi. His writing has appeared in Frieze, Corriere della Sera and La Stampa and he is a regular contributor to Internazionale. Perfection is his fourth novel, his first to be translated into English, and was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.