The novel Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico is one of the books shortlisted for the International Booker Prize this year. Among all the different novels, Perfection stands out as a millennial satire that portrays the life of a couple, Anna and Tom, who move to Berlin in the early 2000s. From immigration to the effects of social media on our daily lives, this novel tackles several trending topics.
Even if Perfection didn’t win the prize, it is still everywhere on social media, and the author, Vincenzo Latronico, is speaking about his book all around the world at different events. I personally attended the one in Bath at Topping & Company in May. It is an interesting experience listening to writers discuss their work. It’s also a way to learn more about the novel, especially the behind the scenes of its creation.
Summary Of The Novel
Perfection is set in Berlin, Germany, and the city described in the novel is full of opportunities and multicultural aspects. The main protagonists, Anna and Tom, move there at the beginning of the 21st century. Though they live in Berlin, they work freelance and remotely, and they spend most of their time at their house working. Occasionally, they go out and explore the city or meet up with their friends. They also attend art gallery openings and stay up to date with new artists. In fact, the novel also explores art and social media.
Anna and Tom love their life in Germany at first; however, they grow to dislike it because everything around them begins to change. Just like Perec in the 1960s witnessed so many changes in his society, Latronico felt the same about his. He opened up about this feeling, saying that “the societies are the same,” even if they are decades apart. For this reason, the story switches from the present to flashbacks (“Imperfect”) and then goes back to the present. Finally, it explores the “future” to record how the society the characters live in changes. In Perfection, the narrator explores this nostalgia for the past in the following passage:
“They would have liked things to go back to how they were before. Either that or they needed a drastic change. It had all become too samey. Something needed to be rethought. But what?”
Perfection’s Main Themes
The main theme of the novel is immigration, particularly in Berlin and at the beginning of the century. For context, Anna and Tom move there in the hope of more opportunities. They decide to take the risk because, in the early 2000s, Berlin was cheap and more affordable than any other city. As a consequence, the couple finds a nice flat they live in for years, which they realize later on would have been too expensive in the present.
Anna and Tom also fit into the stereotypes of millennial expats: moving to another country in the hope of a better life. They witness the multiple changes that the years bring in a fast way. Other expats coming and going, some moving somewhere else, others going back home. On this note, the narrator expands on the subject in the following way:
“And among those people – who never changed, who were content to hang out in the same sets they belonged to at school – Anna and Tom weren’t free to be themselves, or rather, they weren’t free to reinvent themselves.”
@thebookerprizes Watch Jamie Demetriou read from Perfection, the #InternationalBooker2025-shortlisted novel written by Vincenzo Latronico, translated by Sophie Hughes. The story so far: Millennial expat couple Anna and Tom are living the dream in Berlin, in a bright, affordable, plant-filled apartment. Their life as young digital creatives revolves around slow cooking, Danish furniture, sexual experimentation and the city’s 24-hour party scene – an ideal existence shared by an entire generation and tantalizingly lived out on social media. But beyond the images, dissatisfaction and ennui burgeon. Directed by Roxy Rezvany. #BookerPrize #InternationalBookerPrize #JamieDemetriou #Fleabag #Paddington2 #Cruella #BookTok #FilmTok #bookrecommendations @fitzcarraldo_editions ♬ original sound – The Booker Prizes
Other than immigration, Perfection delves into digital life and how Instagram and social media in general have a huge impact on our daily lives. Latronico explained these concepts using the following example: reading about the genocide in Palestine while waiting for food. This also creates a sort of detachment from real life that the novel delves into, as the quote below highlights:
“If they spilled some coffee, their first instinct was to press Command-Z.”
The author also wanted his book to be understood by readers who have no idea of what digital life is. For this reason, he tried to be general about the terms he used, particularly when mentioning social media. His main goal was to capture the way life changed, which also brings the author to use description more than actions.
Why Is It Becoming This Popular?
Perfection is also about the pursuit of happiness, dissatisfaction, and “the emptiness of contemporary existence.” The themes analyzed are trending more than ever because many readers feel trapped into “a perfect life” that doesn’t exist, just like Anna and Tom.
The life the couple leads is familiar to many, even if not in the exact same way. Berlin is the main background of the novel, but Anna and Tom also move to Lisbon for a while. This sense of never really belonging anywhere is also another familiar feeling. About the idea of making the right choice in moving somewhere else, the narrator reveals that:
“Nothing had ever challenged their belief that they had made the right choices, were where they were supposed to be.”
Another distinctive trait of this book is that it describes the lives of general characters who could be defined as stereotypes. The reader, in fact, doesn’t know anything about their country of origin but that they come from the South of Europe. In a way, this allows the reader to step directly into the protagonists’ lives. To explain this concept, Latronico uses the metaphor of cutouts where people put their face in to take pictures. This aspect could increase how readers connect to the protagonists and, in consequence, the popularity of the novel.
More About The Author
Vincenzo Latronico confessed that another story inspired him to write the book which is Georges Perec’s Things: A Story of the Sixties. According to the author, he faithfully rewrote the plot but in a more modern key. The main idea was to explore how people are attached to objects, which is the focus of Perec’s book.
Furthermore, Latronico chose Berlin as the main setting for his novel because he experienced the city in the first person. In fact, he confessed that he lived there for fifteen years before returning to Italy. The way he ended up in Germany is also rather peculiar. He admitted that a Porsche ran him over, and, with the insurance money, he decided to move to Berlin. Just like the protagonists of Perfection, he revealed that he moved abroad to be free.
While discussing his inspiration, he also opened up about his motive behind writing. Latronico said that he writes to inquire into the “What ifs?” of his life. In fact, he also said:
“I write to explore parallel lives.”
Why Perfection, like other translated books, is more popular in English
The translator Sophie Hughes worked alongside Latronico to translate this novel. As the author speaks English, the collaboration between the two was essential for the popularity of the book. Likewise, it is true that the novel is having more success in the translated version than the original one. Latronico himself revealed that readers who have read both versions “prefer the English.” He also admitted that Hughes did a very good job, which is why he thinks Perfection is having a better reception in English.
The author himself confessed that he prefers the English title to the Italian one (Le Perfezioni, “The Perfections”) because it is more effective and works better. He also opened up about how he translated his novel himself but didn’t like his own version. As a translator himself, Latronico said that “you can’t just write what comes to you,” but the result has to be more studied.
The English version also suits the story better because it is set in Berlin in which English is the language of the expats. The reason why it is more popular might also be because the language is spoken in more countries and all around the world which creates a wider audience.
@thebookerprizes A huge thank you to our #InternationalBooker2025 judges: Max Porter, Caleb Femi, Sana Goyal, Anton Hur and Beth Orton. Here's what they had to say about the books on the this year's shortlist. #BookerPrize #TranslatedFiction #ReadingList #BookClub #BookRecommendations #BookTok ♬ original sound – The Booker Prizes
Is Perfection Worth Reading?
The event I attended in Bath was sold out, demonstrating that the audience was very eager to see the author discuss his novel. It’s also one of the books shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, which means that the judges realized that it was an excellent novel worth reading. And if the judges of the prize think that, then why shouldn’t I?
Perfection, just like No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, is a novel worth reading because of the era we live in. This book wakes the reader up from the digital life we are all trapped in, even if in different ways.
Even though I’m not a millennial, I related to many of the feelings the characters experienced throughout their journey abroad. In fact, this novel doesn’t have an age group. Everyone who has the chance to read it should take it because it is definitely worth reading.
