Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico

A razor-sharp novel from one Italy’s most exciting authors, about a millennial couple’s quest for authenticity in a life designed according to social media trends.

They have everything to make them happy. Expat couple Anna and Tom are living the dream in Berlin, in a bright, plant-filled apartment. Young, cool digital creatives, they enjoy slow cooking, Danish furniture, progressive politics, sexual experimentation and the city’s twenty-four-hour party scene.

It’s exactly the life they had imagined for themselves. But they begin to feel disillusioned, bored. Work becomes repetitive. Friends move away, have children, grow up. An attempt at political activism proves fruitless, since their direct action amounts to taking an Uber only if it is snowing, tipping in cash, never eating tuna.

Trapped in a lifestyle optimised for digital perfection, yearning for authenticity, they find themselves doing something they could never have predicted.

Vincenzo Latronico’s stylistic mastery, wit and wry humour make Perfection a brilliant novel about contemporary life.

PRAISE FOR PERFECTION-

‘A biting and incisive satire of the expat scene.’ New York Times

‘A taut masterpiece.’ Foyles

‘An all too recognisable snapshot of a generation that wants to be original, just like everyone else.’ Observer

‘Engrossing enough to finish in one go’ Better Read Than Dead

‘Sharp and revelatory. Latronico demonstrates that, despite their vanity, his characters Anna and Tom are not so different from others whose lives are conditioned by the consumer economy-they want what others want- a life that is legible to them yet not prescribed. Latronico is a brilliant and fearless writer. I recommend this novel to every reader I meet.’ Ellena Savage, author of Blueberries

Perfection is a jewel of a novel- precisely cut, intricately faceted, prismatically dazzling at its heart. Vincenzo Latronico is the finest of writers.’ Lauren Groff, author of The Vaster Wilds

‘This book gives startling form to the question of how to live a meaningful life; to the illusion that appearance is beauty; to the restlessness of contemporary society. I read it in a breath and I was captivated.’ Ayseg l Savas, author of The Anthropologists

‘Perfection is dense with ideas, feelings, political insights, beautiful turns of phrase, unexpected observations about ordinary occurrences.’ New Yorker

Shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize, this razor-sharp novel from one Italy’s most exciting authors follows a millennial couple’s quest for authenticity in a life designed according to social media trends

About the Author: Vincenzo Latronico was born in Rome in 1984 and lived for a number of years in Berlin. 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. Perfection is his fourth novel, the first to be translated into English. He lives in Milan.

Sophie Hughes has translated Spanish and Latin American authors such as Fernanda Melchor, Alia Trabucco Zeran and Enrique Vila-Matas. She was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2019 and 2020, and in 2021 she was awarded the Queen Sofia Translation Prize. Perfection is her first translation from Italian.

18 Feb 2025
 

Perfection: Shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize by Vincenzo Latronico ISBN 9781922790897