Book Review: "Perfection" by Vincenzo Latronico

There are probably too many books about the millennial experience, and many that really miss the mark because they are hyper specific to a certain group of middle-class, white, 30-something year old women who's biggest problem is (in a toddler's voice) 'I'm not her friend anymore'. It's tiring. But Vincenzo Latronico seems to have hit the nail on the head with his very satirical book about what it is really like to be a millennial living in the city. Witty, often dark and incredible dystopian, this book sure is an eye-opener to the absolute dismal plain that is life for my generation. I would say if you're going to read a book about millennials then this one is probably as close as you're going to get to what it is actually like.

Anna and Tom are a couple who have moved from southern Europe to live in Berlin. They work remotely as 'digital creatives' - a term that doesn't really mean anything but is likely to keep them busy. As we see into the minutiae of their lives, we notice that though they are living comfortably, they are not really living at all. They are simply existing. For a long time, we don't know their names, they do not have any speech in the book and they often notice that other people look like they are having a lot more fun with their lives and their time. Be that as it may, their apartment is a reflection of millennial middle class wealth. It's in a trendy district and has all the markers of being made for Instagram.

As for the couple themselves, they have pride in their ability to remain progressive and conscious of their choices. This is definitely a reflection of their wealth - they are able to choose causes to support however vapidly they attempt to support them. This includes everything from boycotting Uber to vegan cooking. Massively superficial, many of these gestures come off as performative for social media rather than actually giving a shit about the cause. If this doesn't scream 'disconnected millennial' then I don't know what does. The classic folks who don't understand that the internet is not real life even though it may be a lot of it. In that last sentence, I include myself.

I actually love how the author makes deliberate fun of them. They seem to have this picture-perfect lifestyle and yet all they can do is simply stick around in their apartment, performing various tasks and working from home. They can perform for social media and then it is right back to the real world which is bland and dystopian. The writing in this book is so clever and so important for creating this dichotomy of atmospheres that I loved just pointing out how they are performative based on their social media rubbish.

There's a refugee crisis in the book and yet again, Anna and Tom don't want to miss their moment to perform again. They go out collecting donations and doing other things but without the skills in German (since their job is basically in English) and without the real-life skills, there's really no way they can actually help these people that will make a lasting impact. In these half-arsed attempts at political gestures, we really do smell the bullshit properly. It's not supposed to be funny and I don't think the writer writes it as funny but it is definitely witty in some respects.

There's something about their lifestyle which is, according to other reviews as well, 'disposable', and I think that can be said for the vast majority of my generation. Everything has either been bought for convenience or it has been bought for Instagram. My generation quite literally has no taste whatsoever. On top of this, we cannot actually afford to buy things that are too expensive. It's quite the rut that the writer exposes here.

I absolutely loved this book. Even though it is short and often a little jarring to read at times because there is absolutely no dialogue (I like it, but many don't), it is a great and humorous read. The characters are a definite cliché and the whole book is basically about seeing whether they can discover it before the reader does.