book data
967 ratings, 3.43 average rating, 245 reviews
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published
April 1st 2004
binding
Paperback, 252 pages
isbn
2952163812
(isbn13: 9782952163811)
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avg 3.43
Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
misogynists who also hate France
This started off so promisingly with snarky but charming British banter about France's little annoying idiosyncrasies that anyone who has spent any time in France can appreciate. The main character, a British twenty-something, chronicles his year living in France while working for a corrupt corporate sleaze bag who wants help marketing tea rooms in Paris. It turns out that the main character is also a sleaze bag AND a "whinge cow" as he so aptly dubs whiners. By the month of Februar...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
francophones
I couldn't help myself; this book absolutely cracked me up. That may be because the author's descriptions of countless strikes by trash collectors, public transportation workers, police officers, and journalists brought back fond memories of my own stay in France--during which I also stepped in a fair amount of merde. The audiobook was particularly good, with the dramatist's illustraions of the countless miscommunications between francophones and anglophones. The story line is about Paul West...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
francophiles, francophobes and everything inbetween.
I picked this up in the train station at Charles de Gaulle airport a few minutes before my flight was cancelled and I was forced to spend another day in Paris, almost a year ago. Tough life, right?
I never read it, though.
Don't know why, but last week I felt an urge to pick it up. Read it in about 26 hours, couldn't put it down.
If you have no knowledge of the French, France, or French it might not be terribly interesting. If, however, you've spent a significant portion of your life...more
I never read it, though.
Don't know why, but last week I felt an urge to pick it up. Read it in about 26 hours, couldn't put it down.
If you have no knowledge of the French, France, or French it might not be terribly interesting. If, however, you've spent a significant portion of your life...more
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Read in January, 2001
recommends it for:
francophobics
Never been to France? Never plan to go?
If you want a truly insulting, xenophobic experience of "French Culture" then read this book. Otherwise, you could run into the middle of the Champs Elysées and scream in your most loud, incomprehensible, slang English, "I THINK THIS COUNTRY SUCKS BUT I'D PREFER TO BE HERE INSULTING THE MOST STEREOTYPICAL CLICHES AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS RATHER THAN BACK AT HOME WHERE EVERYTHING IS ORDINARY AND BORING."
If you like it better at hom
If you want a truly insulting, xenophobic experience of "French Culture" then read this book. Otherwise, you could run into the middle of the Champs Elysées and scream in your most loud, incomprehensible, slang English, "I THINK THIS COUNTRY SUCKS BUT I'D PREFER TO BE HERE INSULTING THE MOST STEREOTYPICAL CLICHES AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS RATHER THAN BACK AT HOME WHERE EVERYTHING IS ORDINARY AND BORING."
If you like it better at hom
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This book is one of the best friends I have met recently. One of those friends you need because only they really understand you.
It is really funny and an very accurate portrait of French goofiness. I don't know how funny it would be to most people, but being an expat living in Paris, it is tear inducing funny. Just when you think you are alone floating in the french sea, something like this comes along and makes you realize you aren't alone. I can't wait to read his other books.
It is really funny and an very accurate portrait of French goofiness. I don't know how funny it would be to most people, but being an expat living in Paris, it is tear inducing funny. Just when you think you are alone floating in the french sea, something like this comes along and makes you realize you aren't alone. I can't wait to read his other books.
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Read in November, 2008
Это полезная книга для тех, кто был/хочет побывать во Франции. Читаю её и прямо кожей ощущаю все его напасти как иностранца в стране бескомпромиссных французов. Трезвый и ироничный взгляд на самые обывательские вещи делают книгу чрезвычайно интересной и полезной. А язык - п...more
Read in September, 2007
Moderately amusing, although quite crass. Humorous commentaries on the French that are applicable to other Europeans as well. Why do we have such a love/hate relationship with everything French?
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Read in October, 2008
A funny take on a young Englishman's year in France. The main character tries to date various locals and works for a slimy boss. It's fairly astute and entertaining.
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
people (especially Brits) who've visited/lived/worked in France, especially Paris.
The novel starts off with a Lucky Jim-esque narrative based around riffs on the differences between Anglo-Franco relations in the office and bed, before getting sidetracked into the purchase of a farmhouse, and concluding with a return to Paris and straying into whodunit territory. Or should that be terroir?
It's not bad, but it's not great. You'll find it amusing if you read lads' mags or like Jeremy Clarkson (I did and do), or if you have first-hand/premier-main (?) knowledge of the French ...more
It's not bad, but it's not great. You'll find it amusing if you read lads' mags or like Jeremy Clarkson (I did and do), or if you have first-hand/premier-main (?) knowledge of the French ...more
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Read in April, 2008
This book is highly readable, the kind of thing that one could read from start to finish if one just had a few hours with nothing to do. However, this is the most positive thing I can say about this book. It's supposed be one of those screwball accounts of someone living in a foreign culture and the wacky mishaps he experiences, but mostly it's about a relatively uninteresting Englishman who tries much too hard at being funny, and who simply didn't bother to find out anything at all about how Fr...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
would-be expatriates, BBC america subscribers and those in love with Paris.
maybe it's the bitter british wit that had me cracking up. or the utterly unmistakable french idioms and cultural habits that clarke speaks of. this is as much a love story to the difficult and unique little slice of the world called france as it is a travelogue of a misguided anglo in the heart of the franco republic. anyone who has been to paris for more than a few days will understand the strange, if snobby, attitude paul faces. anyone who's ever been to a country where they didn't speak ...more
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Read in October, 2008
recommends it for:
No one
UPDATE: This book was one of the worse ones I've read recently. Not much humor and the attempts at it are pathetic. To be fair, I did quit halfway through, but the misogyny just got to be too much. I did get some good tips on ordering at a French cafe, however.
I picked up the French translation of this book at the airport in Paris two days ago (titled "God Save La France," for some reason). It's the story of a 20-something Brit, who doesn't speak much French, working in Paris f...more
I picked up the French translation of this book at the airport in Paris two days ago (titled "God Save La France," for some reason). It's the story of a 20-something Brit, who doesn't speak much French, working in Paris f...more
Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Ex pats
My boyfriend bought me this book for Christmas, because I'm a closest Francophile. I'd never heard of it, so I was skeptical at first. But a few pages in, I was hooked. Paul West is a British ex pat living in Paris. Clark paints him as kind of a clueless douchebag, but in a really funny way.
I laughed out loud at some parts, and shook my head at others. This character is a guy I'd probably despise if I actually knew him, but on paper he's very amusing, especially because when you've had enou...more
I laughed out loud at some parts, and shook my head at others. This character is a guy I'd probably despise if I actually knew him, but on paper he's very amusing, especially because when you've had enou...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in July, 2008
This book is a light read with a lot of guy humor.
The phone was still singing at me. I reached down to the floor and managed to tug the noisy lump of plastic out of my jacket pocket.
"Hi, it's Alexa."
I laughed painfully. "Very clever."
"What?"
I looked across at her and stroked the duvet where her head lump was.
"Your alarm call," I said to phone and duvet. "But if you wanted to wake me up, you should have just reached across and tickled me....more
The phone was still singing at me. I reached down to the floor and managed to tug the noisy lump of plastic out of my jacket pocket.
"Hi, it's Alexa."
I laughed painfully. "Very clever."
"What?"
I looked across at her and stroked the duvet where her head lump was.
"Your alarm call," I said to phone and duvet. "But if you wanted to wake me up, you should have just reached across and tickled me....more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
Foreigners who have lived in Paris
Having only lived in Paris for three months, I still find a lot to relate to in books written by ex-pats from Anglo-speaking countries living in Paris (see Almost French, Paris to the Moon, Something to Declare, etc.). This book, did have a fair bit of amusing tidbits to relate to and a somewhat entertaining plot to go with it. Unfortunately, perhaps it's because he's British or because he's male (though, that didn't seem to matter for Julian Barnes), but writing style of this book comes off a...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
francophiles
The first thing to know is that the year runs September to May, a French year in the view of the narrator. Paul West has been hired to open a chain of English tea shops in France, but it's clear from the beginning that this project is not going to end well. There is, of course, the fact that Mr. West doesn't really speak much French, a liability when he tries to work with his team. His misadventures both at work and as he tries to establish a social life illustrate aspects of French daily cul...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
Foreigners who have lived in Europe
The main character comes across as somewhat of an asshole at first, but if you've spent extensive time in a place such as France or Spain, you realize that a lot of the ridiculous instances that the protagonist goes through are everyday occurrences, and sometimes life in Europe can be pretty bizarre.
I laughed out loud at a few parts, especially in a scene toward the beginning where the main character is comparing his current situation to a Dali painting.
At certain times I had difficult...more
I laughed out loud at a few parts, especially in a scene toward the beginning where the main character is comparing his current situation to a Dali painting.
At certain times I had difficult...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone interested in France or French culture
I am planning on moving to France in a month or so, and a friend recommended this book to me. I loved it! It was hilarious and provided an all too telling glimpse into French culture. Anyone who is planning on traveling to France or is simply a Francophile like myself would love this book which tells the story of a fictional British businessman who moves to France for a year in order to open up a series of English tea shops in France. Reading of his adventures (and misadventures) in the City of ...more
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There's sometimes a love hate relationship between the British and the French, a lot of it is down to language. Stephen Clarke has captured this admirably and hilariously at times in the first of his "in the merde" books.
Added to this, if anyone has visited France, some of the situations will seem all the funnier, as he picks up on the idiosincracies of life in France and her people. Britain may only be 22 miles away from France across the English Channel, but they may as well be o...more
Added to this, if anyone has visited France, some of the situations will seem all the funnier, as he picks up on the idiosincracies of life in France and her people. Britain may only be 22 miles away from France across the English Channel, but they may as well be o...more
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Read in July, 2008
A Year in the Merde is largely what you might expect from the cover. It's a funny stab at French stereotypes: the strikes, the dog merde, the indifferent shrugs. It manages to nail all those things in a funny way, even though they've all been lampooned before. It only falters slightly when it comes to the plot linking everything together. The story following the protagonist's efforts to start a chain of tea rooms in Paris sort of drives the book forward, but at times also seemed predictable ...more
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