Nar’s Reviews > Perfection > Status Update

Was not a fan of the writing style, rendering readers to feel like they are watching a wildlife documentary on millennials. Although the book is realistic, it had little substance to the storyline.

Anna & Tom were isolated from the beginning of high-school to the end, and the onus is on them. Their lifestyle isn’t conducive towards personal growth, as they would rather cycle through timelines, cities, and clients.

"The whole apparatus of capitalism and its advertising aims precisely at this: to create artificial needs, to multiply desires, and to keep men in a state of chronic and unsatisfied want, so that they will keep the machines of production going." Merton

Anna & Tom continue to find fulfillment in displacement and finances, but fail to really live. The book instills a sense of existential dread.

Pg 36 states “Anna and Tom had been welcomed with an almost suspicious level of interest and openness, proof of a loneliness everyone was trying to exorcize…There was the odd sudden, unprovoked defection, but never any fully fledged rifts—they weren't close enough to warrant actually hurting each other.”

There is no direction in their lives—they live for the next paycheck, club, and repeat each work week

They have stark social settings between home town friends and expats met in Germany, but both realms of friendship are dependent on validation through social media

They have stark social settings between home town friends and expats met in Germany, but both realms of friendship are dependent on validation through social media

Early on, the book explains that as Anna and Tom did not feel recognized by their peers and further more, didn’t have the opportunity to portray themselves as desire. Pg 24

Their difficulties dwell in lack of meaning ranging from only scraping the surface of Berlin’s streets and history to reducing their teenage passion to just a freelance job. Pg 25