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Perfection

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Perfection

By: Vincenzo Latronico, Sophie Hughes -translator
Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
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Summary

A 2025 International Booker Prize Shortlist Nominee

A scathing, provocative novel about contemporary existence by a rising star in Italian literature.

Anna and Tom, an expat couple, have fashioned a dream life for themselves in Berlin. They are young digital "creatives" exploring the excitements of the city, freelancers without too many constraints, who spend their free time cultivating house plants and their images online. At first, they reasonably deduce that they've turned their passion for aesthetics into a viable, even enviable career, but the years go by, and Anna and Tom grow bored. As their friends move back home or move on, so their own work and sex life—and the life of Berlin itself—begin to lose their luster. An attempt to put their politics into action fizzles in embarrassed self-doubt. Edging closer to forty, they try living as digital nomads only to discover that, wherever they go, "the brand of oat milk in their flat whites was the same."

Perfection is a scathing novel about contemporary existence, a tale of two people gradually waking up to find themselves in various traps, wondering how it all came to be. Was it a lack of foresight, or were they just born too late?

©2022 Vincenzo Latronico; Translation copyright 2025 by Sophie Hughes (P)2025 Tantor Media City Life Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire Urban World Literature
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A boring and negative commentary of a unfulfilling lives that depends on drugs and constant change to satisfy them

Why bother?

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Listening to this audiobook felt like being swept along by a narrator determined to outrun their own lungs. The delivery is impressively energetic—so much so that I occasionally wondered if breathing had been edited out.

The challenge emerges in the denser passages. Lists of objects and food, ingredients for example, arrive so quickly that the bigger picture slips out of view. At times, I found myself unable to see the forest for trees.

There’s a certain charm in the enthusiasm. Maybe the author wanted it this way. But a little more space—just a few well-placed pauses—would help the listener keep their footing and actually take in the scene, rather than sprint through it.

Title: Lost Somewhere Between the Forest and the Trees

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Like listening to someone read a LinkedIn account and describing an Instagram feed. The delivery was as flat as the characters.

Strategic boredom

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A beautiful reflection on modern life and endlessly relatable. Critiques parts of modern society without ever being judgemental. Feels like you're listening to a description of a painting rather than a book. Loved it.

Truly a piece of art in writing!

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.