Perfection - Vincenzo Latronico

Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico is a taut, incisive novel capturing the emotional and ideological landscape of a generation shaped by digital aesthetics, global mobility, and quiet dissatisfaction. Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025, it stands out as one of the most perceptive works of contemporary European fiction.

Anna and Tom are a millennial expat couple living in Berlin, inhabiting a life that appears effortlessly ideal: a bright, affordable apartment filled with plants and design furniture, creative freelance work, progressive values, and nights spent in the city’s endless party scene. Their existence mirrors thousands of others—beautifully curated, endlessly shareable, and seemingly fulfilled.

Yet beneath the surface, repetition, boredom, and disillusionment creep in. Political ideals feel performative, friendships drift away, and work loses meaning. As the gap widens between the life they display and the life they feel, Anna and Tom pursue increasingly extreme attempts to reclaim authenticity and purpose—only to discover how elusive both have become.

Superbly translated by Sophie Hughes, Perfection is a minimalist, sociological novel that dissects modern existence with precision and restraint.

Main Themes

• Millennial identity and digital culture
• Alienation beneath curated lifestyles
• Expat life and urban transience
• Performative politics and moral fatigue
• The search for authenticity and meaning

Why You Should Read This Book by Vincenzo Latronico

• Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025
• A precise and unsparing portrait of contemporary life
• Elegant, minimalist prose with sociological depth
• Perfect for readers of modern European literary fiction
• A novel that captures the mood of a generation

Perfection is a quietly devastating novel that exposes the emptiness lurking behind the aesthetics of modern success. With clarity, irony, and emotional restraint, Vincenzo Latronico delivers a powerful meditation on what it means to live well—and why that ideal so often feels just out of reach. A must-read for anyone interested in the literature of the present moment.