Are we all living the same Instagrammable life?

Millennial hipsters, look away now

I just read a new book that made me want to throw up a bit. It’s about a couple living in Berlin and in precise, deadpan style it describes what their home looks like, what they eat and read and listen to, what they do for fun, how they work. I might live in London but I found myself reading about what my home looks like, what I eat and read and listen to, what I do for fun, how I work. If you live in a major city and work in a creative field, you, too, might find the book so on the nose that you’ll want to reach for a Kleenex. While it is specifically a ridicule of 2010s hipsterdom, it remains eerily relevant today.

Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, translated from Italian by Sophie Hughes, is a brilliant satire about a generation whose search for rarified taste and individuality has, because of the internet, wound up with them all living the same kind of life with the same kind of belongings. It is a critique of the way we present flawless, curated versions of ourselves and our surroundings online, and how material possessions and personal branding have replaced actual personalities.