Perfection

Latronico dissects the Berlin expat scene in his biting and insightful English-language debut. In the early 2000s, 20-somethings Anna and Tom leave their unnamed southern European city for Berlin, where they work remotely on freelance graphic design projects. The couple are exhilarated by the city, and easily form friendships with other expats. They spend weekdays working out of their beautiful and affordable apartment and weekends at art openings, restaurants, and parks, convinced that "the city was inexhaustible." As the years pass, however, the couple becomes increasingly disenchanted. Despite good intentions, they can do nothing to help the rising tide of migrants arriving in Berlin, and their friends begin to drift away, either to raise families or move home. As Anna and Tom approach 40, they grow desperate to find meaning. Latronico's portrayal of his rootless and searching characters is frank and clear-eyed, revealing the limits of the idealism of their youth, when "beauty and pleasure seem as inextricable from daily life as particles suspended in a liquid." Fans of The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş ought to check this out. (Mar.)