The Imperfectionists

The Imperfectionists (2010), the first novel from Canadian author Tom Rachman, chronicles the lives of the journalists, editors, and publishers who work at an international newspaper written in English but headquartered in Rome. Drawing on Rachman’s own experiences living an expatriate lifestyle as an AP correspondent in Rome and as an editor at the International Herald Tribune in Paris, the book revolves around the mundane monotony of office work, the quirks of the newspaper world, and the ways in which a variety of individuals work within or outside of this system. Although The Imperfectionists is ostensibly one long prose piece, it is composed of smaller stories about each of the employees – their personal and professional lives, their difficulties and successes, and the sometimes-shocking events that disrupt their routines.

Each chapter ends with a piece of the never-named newspaper’s fifty-year history. Although it was once prestigious, the paper is now on the verge of bankruptcy since it loses money each year. Its circulation is falling, and because it has no web presence, it isn’t attracting new subscribers.

Lloyd Burko, a journalist in his seventies, is the paper’s Paris correspondent. Lately, his work has been dropping in quality, and his articles are no longer published daily. Lloyd decides to ask his son Jerome for a story about French involvement in the situation in Gaza – Jerome works for the foreign ministry in France and so could be a useful source. Jerome tells his father some government secrets, asking Lloyd not to write about them. Lloyd writes the story anyway, but fact-checking reveals that Jerome has not only made the whole thing up, but he hasn’t even worked in the foreign ministry for a while. Lloyd tells Jerome what’s happened, and then moves in with him because he can no longer afford his own place.



Arthur Gopal is the paper’s obituaries editor. Although he is the son of a well-known writer, Arthur is content to do as little as humanly possible. One day, his daughter dies in a horrible accident, destroying Arthur’s equanimity and shaking his sense of self. Finding himself suddenly passionate about writing once more, Arthur begins a manipulative and ambitious campaign inside the newspaper. His newfound energy and amorality eventually get him promoted to culture editor.

Hardy Benjamin, a very bright business journalist, has been successful in her career despite her young age, with a series of incisive articles about corporate finance. Nevertheless, she struggles in her personal life, desperate to find a romantic partner. Meeting an Irish man who seems to be somewhat interested in her, Hardy immediately latches on to him despite the obvious red flags that everything he does sends up. Even after he and his friends burgle her apartment, Hardy clings to the relationship with willful self-delusion.

The newspaper’s corrections editor is Herman Cohen, whose love of grammar drives the reporters crazy. He has created a giant style guide for the paper, which mostly consists of words no one should use. For most of his life, Herman has been friends with a man whose writing talent seemed to point to eventual greatness. However, as becomes clear, by now it is only Herman who believes that his friend is anything out of the ordinary. When this friend comes to Rome for a visit, Herman finally sees that the man will never really amount to the kind of prize-winning author Herman had built him up to be in his head. Crushed by the realization, Herman ends the lifelong friendship.



Kathleen Solson is the paper’s tough, truth-seeking editor. Her husband has recently admitted to having an affair, and she is considering doing the same out of revenge. However, when she meets up with the ex-boyfriend whom she imagines as her affair partner, she realizes that she has stopped being the kind of person who would find this man attractive. Whatever his flaws, her husband is the much better partner, and she ends up forgiving him.

The chief financial officer of the paper is Abbey Pinnola – who is so disregarded around the office that her nickname is Accounts Payable, and whose job during the paper’s precipitous decline is to fire people. Traveling to Atlanta, she runs into a copyeditor whom she had fired. They flirt on the plane and have a quick relationship after the flight. Then, the man demands to know why he was fired; the confrontation leaves Abbey feeling humiliated.

When Winston Cheung, a newcomer to the paper, is appointed the Cairo stringer, he quickly realizes he doesn’t have the courage or stomach for the kind of reporting he is supposed to be doing. He is quickly outsmarted by Snyder, a competitor who knows the ropes.



The paranoid and bitter copyeditor Ruby Zaga lives her life expecting to be fired at any moment. This idea makes her daydream about the freedom she will have away from the job, but in reality, she needs the job too much to quit. Missing the closeness of human connection, Ruby rubs up against strangers in public and stalks a man who had kissed her in a drunken moment of pity on a terrible first date many months earlier.

Craig Menzies does most of the work that gets the paper produced because he is the second in command. He is very happy in a relationship with Annika, a much younger woman – but she is a free spirit who has an affair and tells him about it, expecting him to forgive her. When Craig turns angry, Annika explains that she wanted to sleep with someone else because she tried to apply for a patent in his name for an invention he was proud of, but the patent was rejected. A short while later, Craig tries to apologize, but Annika is already with another man.

Oliver Ott, the paper’s publisher, reluctantly stewards the enterprise – created by his grandfather and run by his father, he inherited the paper by default. Generally, Oliver doesn’t pay attention to the goings-on at the paper, instead, lavishing his attention on his dog. When one day he finally has to announce that the paper is closing for financial reasons, someone on the staff viciously murders his dog in retaliation.