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| Tom Rachman |
This is a stunning first novel by Tom Rachman about various employees who worked in an English-language newspaper, based in Rome. The action spans over the course of the sixty years, non-chronologically, of the paper's existence. Each chapter focuses in on a different employee along with one avid reader. The characters are fascinating, sad, lonely yet unsympathetic. There are no heroes to admire, just people with complicated motivations. These people seem familiar because they are our fellow workers, relatives, or us. As each chapter ends, the reader hungers to know more about the fate of the troubled or calamitous character we have just been given a glimpse of. However the novel moves on to the next wretched soul.
The back-story of the novel is a typical newspaper, with the expected power struggles and economic pressures. We know from current media trends that the newspaper’s days are numbered. This black cloud hangs over the enterprise, unacknowledged by the owner, executives, reporters, copywriters and readers alike. Newspapers may be disappearing but hopefully Tom Rachman will continue to write many more delicious novels.
