The Imperfectionists

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imperfectionistsby Tom Rachman

Oh, I can guarantee that you've never read a novel like this!  The reviews were so good I just had to check it out.  It's funny, perceptive, depressing and totally enjoyable!  It covers 50 years of an international English-language newspaper based in Rome.  The story is told in short vignettes of various employees with titles such as, "World's Oldest Liar Dies At 126 - Obituary Writer - Arthur Gopal" and "Global Warming Good For Ice Creams - Editor-in-Chief - Kathleen Solson."  They stand alone, and are mostly not inter-related, and yet, somehow they tell the whole story of the paper, AND the silently desperate lives of the employees.