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Talk to the Snail: Ten Commandments for Understanding the French
Have you ever walked into a half-empty Parisian restaurant, only to be told that it's "complet"? Attempted to say "merci beaucoup" and accidentally complimented someone's physique? Been overlooked at the boulangerie due to your adherence to the bizarre foreign custom of waiting in line? Well, you're not alone. The internationally bestselling author of A Year in the Merde and In the Merde for Love has been there too, and he is here to help. In Talk to the Snail, Stephen Clarke distills the fruits of years spent in the French trenches into a truly handy (and hilarious) book of advice. Read this book, and find out how to get good service from the grumpiest waiter; be exquisitely polite and brutally rude at the same time; and employ the language of l'amour and le sexe. Everything you need is here in this funny, informative, and seriously useful guide to getting what you really want from the French.
Stephen Clarke is a British journalist and the internationally bestselling author of A Year in the Merde and In the Merde for Love , which describe the misadventures of Paul West in France. He himself has lived in France for twelve years.
Praise for A Year on the "Clarke renders the flavor of life in Paris the endless strikes, the sadistic receptionists, the crooked schemes by which the wealthy and well-connected land low-rent apartments...Clarke's eye for detail is terrific."- Washington Post "Call him the anti-Mayle. Stephen Clarke is acerbic, insulting, un-PC and mostly hilarious."- San Francisco Chronicle "Combines the gaffes of Bridget Jones with the boldness of James Bond...Clarke's sharp eye for detail and relentless wit make even the most quotidian task seem surreal."- Publishers Weekly
Stephen Clarke is a British journalist and the internationally bestselling author of A Year in the Merde and In the Merde for Love , which describe the misadventures of Paul West in France. He himself has lived in France for twelve years.
Praise for A Year on the "Clarke renders the flavor of life in Paris the endless strikes, the sadistic receptionists, the crooked schemes by which the wealthy and well-connected land low-rent apartments...Clarke's eye for detail is terrific."- Washington Post "Call him the anti-Mayle. Stephen Clarke is acerbic, insulting, un-PC and mostly hilarious."- San Francisco Chronicle "Combines the gaffes of Bridget Jones with the boldness of James Bond...Clarke's sharp eye for detail and relentless wit make even the most quotidian task seem surreal."- Publishers Weekly
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
66 people are currently reading
1440 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Clarke
31 books411 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Stephen Clarke is the bestselling author of seven books of fiction and nonfiction that satirize the peculiarities of French culture. In 2004, he self-published A Year in the Merde, a comic novel skewering contemporary French society. The novel was an instant success and has led to numerous follow-ups, including Dial M for Merde (2008), 1,000 Years of Annoying the French (2010), and Paris Revealed (2011). After working as a journalist for a French press group for ten years, Paris-based Clarke now has a regular spot on French cable TV, poking fun at French culture.
Stephen Clarke is the bestselling author of seven books of fiction and nonfiction that satirize the peculiarities of French culture. In 2004, he self-published A Year in the Merde, a comic novel skewering contemporary French society. The novel was an instant success and has led to numerous follow-ups, including Dial M for Merde (2008), 1,000 Years of Annoying the French (2010), and Paris Revealed (2011). After working as a journalist for a French press group for ten years, Paris-based Clarke now has a regular spot on French cable TV, poking fun at French culture.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 211 reviews
December 17, 2007
I bought this book because:
1) I have French friends and have no idea what the hell they're thinking
2)I have an infatuation with French men and have no idea what the hell they're thinking
3)I am slowly being seduced by all things French and have no idea what the hell I'm thinking
The French mentality is so fascinating to me because I don't understand it beyond what seems like a mix of class, snobbery, and something alluring.
This book is a funny, quick read, but the author forgets one crucial fact: for everything he bitches about sucking in France, one must remember that in Italy, things are a hundred times worse. Someone should write a book about that.
1) I have French friends and have no idea what the hell they're thinking
2)I have an infatuation with French men and have no idea what the hell they're thinking
3)I am slowly being seduced by all things French and have no idea what the hell I'm thinking
The French mentality is so fascinating to me because I don't understand it beyond what seems like a mix of class, snobbery, and something alluring.
This book is a funny, quick read, but the author forgets one crucial fact: for everything he bitches about sucking in France, one must remember that in Italy, things are a hundred times worse. Someone should write a book about that.
January 18, 2012
Oh dear....why do people who stereotype and don't know the country write about France....and then think that it is funny/cute to mock the country that they have decided to adopt? I don't get it. France can be criticized...but make sure you know what you are talking about before you insult the place. AND please, your humor? Not funny.
I only read this book because I wanted to find one endearing quality...didn't find one. I found this book to be written by someone who doesn't really know the people...and Brit who moved to France to get a better climate...and better food, and now finds that mocking them will help him make his living. Cringe.
Don't read it---you won't learn much about France....and it isn't funny.
I only read this book because I wanted to find one endearing quality...didn't find one. I found this book to be written by someone who doesn't really know the people...and Brit who moved to France to get a better climate...and better food, and now finds that mocking them will help him make his living. Cringe.
Don't read it---you won't learn much about France....and it isn't funny.
March 11, 2015
If you don't know anything about France, this book is not at all for you. It is not an historical account, it is not a France for Dummies. IF, however, you're like me and love France, have been to France, spent extensive time in France as an expat, and you can take a joke, read this! Funny.
April 23, 2024
Oui, oui, baguette. C'était bien
July 19, 2013
This was a hugely disappointing read for me. I was hoping to learn some new things about French culture and society but ended up feeling angry. I read ‘A Year in the Merde’ some years ago and enjoyed it and so I was hoping for more of the same from this - it was not to be. I did enjoy some parts of it but it's about a star and a half really.
On page 249, a page I had to re-read because the author seemed to contradict himself about 10 times, Clarke says “The conventional wisdom is…” and then goes on to explain mockingly why the conventional wisdom is incorrect (in this case regarding French politician’s sexual habits – I know, yawn). The only trouble is the preceding 248 pages of his book are so crammed with conventional wisdom that it’s hard to work out whether these are his genuine observations or if he is going purely for laughs, as in ‘A Year in the Merde’.
There are some interesting reflections on French life in the early stages of this book but they are so lost beneath the mountain of cliché that follows as to make them pointless. I lost count of the times that I thought “is this accurate or just another attempt to jab an Anglo-Saxon funny bone?” (And thus sell books – after all, as Clarke points out himself, we all love to laugh at the French. Right).
In the end the funniest things in the book are the phonetic examples of French phrases at each chapter’s end. They are not meant to be funny by the way, at least I don’t think they are. If you do pronounce the words as Clarke has them written you will end up sounding like an Englishman abroad, which I guess is what he is, so at least that part is accurate.
Some of the funnier examples include at least three different spellings of the phonetic word for red, the many examples of single words that Clarke splits into two (e.g. ‘pourquoi’ becomes ‘pork wa’, which sounds right, until you notice the pause as you say the words), or of two words that he runs together (e.g. ‘pour qui il se prend’ becomes ‘porky eel s’pro’, which is not only wrong but gives it exactly the opposite problem of the ‘pourquoi’ example above because this time there is no pause. Oh, and “porky” just sounds rude!) But my favorite has to be the times when he has two separate words remaining as two words but then has some mystic letter borrowing thing going on between them, so that ‘une chambre avec’ becomes ‘oon shom bravek’ – the ‘br’ belongs to the ‘shom’ not the ‘avek’ by the way- sheesh! I know you can make a case that he’s being phonetic and so doesn’t need complete accuracy but in each case the pronunciation is affected for the worse, which is hardly helpful.
The real problem I have with this book though is not the criminally clichéd, ever diminishing return that it provides as a read or the fact that I disagreed with the author on so many points (I love French cinema!) It’s really that if you had changed a few words and called it something like ‘Talk to the Spud – 10 commandments to understand the English’ (or German, or American) then many of the examples in here stand. Are the French the world’s worst drivers? I’ve driven in Paris and I can tell you that London, Chicago and even my current hometown of Oak Park are all as equally crammed with dangerously poor drivers. Are French waiters that rude? Two syllables for you Lon-don, two more New-York. Are the French the only people on the planet who think they’re right all the time? Clearly, painfully not. Are the French the only people who protect their own language and refuse to speak others? Well I hate to bang the British drum but it’s where I was born and lived for 35 years and if you want an example of a group of people who simply refuse to get involved in that whole “foreign language thing” then GB is the place to look.
There are many things, I’m sure, that are idiosyncratically French but equally there are cultural and societal mores that apply to anyone, everywhere. To be fair Clarke comes to the same conclusion about this in the brief page and a half epilogue to his book. I just wished he found more of the former and less of the latter while writing the rest of it.
On page 249, a page I had to re-read because the author seemed to contradict himself about 10 times, Clarke says “The conventional wisdom is…” and then goes on to explain mockingly why the conventional wisdom is incorrect (in this case regarding French politician’s sexual habits – I know, yawn). The only trouble is the preceding 248 pages of his book are so crammed with conventional wisdom that it’s hard to work out whether these are his genuine observations or if he is going purely for laughs, as in ‘A Year in the Merde’.
There are some interesting reflections on French life in the early stages of this book but they are so lost beneath the mountain of cliché that follows as to make them pointless. I lost count of the times that I thought “is this accurate or just another attempt to jab an Anglo-Saxon funny bone?” (And thus sell books – after all, as Clarke points out himself, we all love to laugh at the French. Right).
In the end the funniest things in the book are the phonetic examples of French phrases at each chapter’s end. They are not meant to be funny by the way, at least I don’t think they are. If you do pronounce the words as Clarke has them written you will end up sounding like an Englishman abroad, which I guess is what he is, so at least that part is accurate.
Some of the funnier examples include at least three different spellings of the phonetic word for red, the many examples of single words that Clarke splits into two (e.g. ‘pourquoi’ becomes ‘pork wa’, which sounds right, until you notice the pause as you say the words), or of two words that he runs together (e.g. ‘pour qui il se prend’ becomes ‘porky eel s’pro’, which is not only wrong but gives it exactly the opposite problem of the ‘pourquoi’ example above because this time there is no pause. Oh, and “porky” just sounds rude!) But my favorite has to be the times when he has two separate words remaining as two words but then has some mystic letter borrowing thing going on between them, so that ‘une chambre avec’ becomes ‘oon shom bravek’ – the ‘br’ belongs to the ‘shom’ not the ‘avek’ by the way- sheesh! I know you can make a case that he’s being phonetic and so doesn’t need complete accuracy but in each case the pronunciation is affected for the worse, which is hardly helpful.
The real problem I have with this book though is not the criminally clichéd, ever diminishing return that it provides as a read or the fact that I disagreed with the author on so many points (I love French cinema!) It’s really that if you had changed a few words and called it something like ‘Talk to the Spud – 10 commandments to understand the English’ (or German, or American) then many of the examples in here stand. Are the French the world’s worst drivers? I’ve driven in Paris and I can tell you that London, Chicago and even my current hometown of Oak Park are all as equally crammed with dangerously poor drivers. Are French waiters that rude? Two syllables for you Lon-don, two more New-York. Are the French the only people on the planet who think they’re right all the time? Clearly, painfully not. Are the French the only people who protect their own language and refuse to speak others? Well I hate to bang the British drum but it’s where I was born and lived for 35 years and if you want an example of a group of people who simply refuse to get involved in that whole “foreign language thing” then GB is the place to look.
There are many things, I’m sure, that are idiosyncratically French but equally there are cultural and societal mores that apply to anyone, everywhere. To be fair Clarke comes to the same conclusion about this in the brief page and a half epilogue to his book. I just wished he found more of the former and less of the latter while writing the rest of it.
June 27, 2007
When I read "trash," it is stuff like this (see also my entry for
Bergdorf Blondes
) where I am in a mood to casually peruse the lifestyles of people who in real life I probably could not stand at all. Stephen Clarke has insanely aggressive and pointy muttonchops which are clearly connected to the point he makes about how being an expatriate Briton in Paris makes you feel emasculated. Anyhow, what I learned from this book is some French slang which I have already forgotten. It would have been cool if I learned the word gavage from it but I just learned that from a paper about feeding prions to mice the other day. If I ever go to France again I will pretend I have not read any sort of guidebook, not because this book was terrible but just because I will have more fun that way probably.
April 11, 2022
A cute little guidebook to understanding the French way of life as told by an English expatriate. While Clarke verges on the hyperbolic and stereotypical, there's sure to be some truth gleaned from his observations and anecdotes. A few of the chapters, like those on French music and the French propensity for uncleanliness, were rather banal, but those on speaking French (or attempting to), French food, making small conversation, and the French lifestyle in general were amusing and helpful. He ends each chapter with ridiculous but not altogether far-fetched phrases to keep in mind, those that would not likely be found in a pocket dictionary or on Duolingo. In all, any immersive experience by an awkward outsider is pretty funny, though the droll English humor waned in parts.
February 18, 2025
Not as good as other big oks disappointing
March 4, 2020
Written by and for Francophile, humor is #1, which may be at the expense of updates needed, universal human nature overlooked.
February 5, 2017
A survival guide.
How to survive in a very complicated country.
How to survive in a very complicated country.
June 5, 2007
As much as I love "A Year in the Merde" and its sequel, this book blows them both away. I loved this book. I REALLY, REALLY loved this book. Everything is true, and it's hysterically funny, and it's just fantastic. And there IS some practical advice, as well. I need to own it.
These days, the most important ingredient in French culture is the navel... There is even a word for this in French -- nombrilisme. 'Navelism' is so entrenched that it is an 'ism.'
And their excuse is: OK, it may be merde, but at least it's French merde. This too is in the dictionary. It's called l'exception française. Culture has to be good except if it's French. Zola, Matisse and co. must be turning in their graves. Voltaire would just giggle.
French court lawyers all look like abstract sculptors who have been practising on their own hair. They are often interviewed on TV about a case as their client enters or emerges from the courtroom, and they all look like the last person you would want to defend you in a court of law. Unshaven, vaguely psychopathic, totally untrustworthy.
And a personal favorite of mine: In France, the big handheld microphone is much more than a phallic symbol -- it is a badge that tells the viewer, 'I'm on TV and you're not, peasant.'
These days, the most important ingredient in French culture is the navel... There is even a word for this in French -- nombrilisme. 'Navelism' is so entrenched that it is an 'ism.'
And their excuse is: OK, it may be merde, but at least it's French merde. This too is in the dictionary. It's called l'exception française. Culture has to be good except if it's French. Zola, Matisse and co. must be turning in their graves. Voltaire would just giggle.
French court lawyers all look like abstract sculptors who have been practising on their own hair. They are often interviewed on TV about a case as their client enters or emerges from the courtroom, and they all look like the last person you would want to defend you in a court of law. Unshaven, vaguely psychopathic, totally untrustworthy.
And a personal favorite of mine: In France, the big handheld microphone is much more than a phallic symbol -- it is a badge that tells the viewer, 'I'm on TV and you're not, peasant.'
November 14, 2009
A friend, who is french, loaned this book to me since she knew I've enjoyed several trips to France. This book was a funny, light read about why the French are the way they are, like an older Dave Barry or Erma Bombeck book. It was enjoyable and I did actually laugh out loud in a few places. It's one of those books that you can easily pick up, read 2 pages, and put down again. And each chapter ends with a list of phrases in French that could come in handy. I honestly am thinking I should photocopy those pages for my next trip, particularly so I can swear with the best of them!
December 22, 2014
Amusante.
If his phonetic pronunciations are correct, I now know why my feeble attempts to speak French are met with kindness and the switch to English by the person to whom I am attempting to communicate.
If his phonetic pronunciations are correct, I now know why my feeble attempts to speak French are met with kindness and the switch to English by the person to whom I am attempting to communicate.
February 12, 2020
This took me 16 months to read because it was so put downable. I loved A Year in the Merde but not this, plus the quality of the paperback was so poor it was physically difficult to read because of the lack of contrast between the ink and the brown pages.
December 21, 2009
Tongue in cheek advice for understanding the French by a Brit. Some parts are funny, the rest tedious.
October 19, 2010
So true, and funny......a little synical and outdated at times, but a pretty spot on British view of Frenchies, particularly Parisians!
May 18, 2010
Ugh. Supposed to be funny. NOT.
December 4, 2011
Read this in a couple of hours because it was laying around the Loire Valley chateau we were staying in. Not funny and ironic that such judgements were coming from a Brit.
October 30, 2022
From 2006...pre-Macron!...Stephen Clarke humorously but acutely (but not gravely!) captures the French 'philosophical' spirit & revolutionary social mentality....which so confuses us 'ros-bifs' on this side of the eternal, cordial channel. What is it that the French nation camouflage up its 'manche'?...
I am almost always fascinated & intrigued with the gallic eccentricities...expensive perfumes, dreadful cigarettes, rampant garlic, metallic boules!...& chic, alluring women in dark-blue berets & odd combinations of off-the-shoulder charm & callous, mwaaa! disregard of an Englishman with some wit & bavardage!
(I have known some very enigmatic 'madames'...one who radiated pure 'francaise' while actually laughing at one of my satiric jokes about Napoleon's rather modest baton when compared with...well...it was satiric!).
Stephen Clarke loves France; but he still feels the Anglo-Saxon compunction to try, at least, to understand the fragrant (and not so fragrant!) pot pourri that remains mysteriously French.
He has penned some very amusing & informative books about 'nos voisins'...& not just the Parisians with their Eifell Tower emblazoned in red-white & blue lights & their incontinent dogs!
Clarke also includes a crash-course in linguistic social intercourse...so important in making sense of all the nuances of a country steeped (sometimes alcoholically!) in its own glorious uniqueness. Liberty, Equality & Fraternity...but on our terms, monsieur Rosbif! D'accord?!
I am almost always fascinated & intrigued with the gallic eccentricities...expensive perfumes, dreadful cigarettes, rampant garlic, metallic boules!...& chic, alluring women in dark-blue berets & odd combinations of off-the-shoulder charm & callous, mwaaa! disregard of an Englishman with some wit & bavardage!
(I have known some very enigmatic 'madames'...one who radiated pure 'francaise' while actually laughing at one of my satiric jokes about Napoleon's rather modest baton when compared with...well...it was satiric!).
Stephen Clarke loves France; but he still feels the Anglo-Saxon compunction to try, at least, to understand the fragrant (and not so fragrant!) pot pourri that remains mysteriously French.
He has penned some very amusing & informative books about 'nos voisins'...& not just the Parisians with their Eifell Tower emblazoned in red-white & blue lights & their incontinent dogs!
Clarke also includes a crash-course in linguistic social intercourse...so important in making sense of all the nuances of a country steeped (sometimes alcoholically!) in its own glorious uniqueness. Liberty, Equality & Fraternity...but on our terms, monsieur Rosbif! D'accord?!
August 11, 2022
Having been lucky enough to travel to Paris twice in the last six months to stay at a friend’s and live as much as an American can in two- and three-week stretches, I appreciated Stephen Clarke’s experiences, writing style/approach and ‘suggestions’ for what they are: Light-hearted insights (with generalities, of course, any time you try to explain a group of people or cultures) that entertained.
Some of what Stephen shares here is a little outdated now (there’s far less dog poop on public walkways than there used to be, for example), but I found it amusing to see where I had experienced or observed behaviors that Stephen tries to elucidate. The Commandments ring true, which is key to the humanity and humor; there is no meanness or patronizing. Of course, I’m not French, but I think they’d see his explanations of their behavior as ‘but of course.’ (Unfortunately, I wasn’t tipped off to his books until after my trips, as some of his suggested phrases would have added to my abilities to navigate through various situations.)
By the way, Stephen doesn’t just ‘poke fun’ at the French; being British, he definitely needles fellow English speakers (from the UK and America).
There are enough truths here to be funny, and no meanness or patronizing. Of course, I’m not French, but I think they’d see his explanations of their behavior as ‘but of course.’
January 10, 2019
En stundtals väldigt fyndig och träffsäker bok med hög igenkänningsfaktor för den som vistats ett längre tag i La Belle France. Dock sänker sista kapitlet helhetsintrycket av boken något enormt. Detta kapitel dryper av sexistisk, heteronormativ och väldigt ålderdomlig attityd till fransk raggningskultur. Stundtals blir det nästan jobbigt att läsa. Såsom när författaren skriver om franska kvinnor att ”if she’s decided that she wants to kiss a man, she usually wants to do a lot more, too”. Eller ”a favorite among arty parisian men is the old “come to dinner and I can help you get published/get a role etc” trick. French women pretend to fall for this, but usually go in with their eyes wide open. If the man is cute, they think, why not sleep with him? If he is NOT cute but can really get them a job with a TV channel, why not sleep with him? Les françaises knows what they want and they know how to get it”.
Och det där är långt ifrån alla exempel. Tycker inte boken är ursäktad för att den kom ut 2006. En uppdaterad version där hela det sista kapitlet är slopat hade nog varit på sin plats.
Och det där är långt ifrån alla exempel. Tycker inte boken är ursäktad för att den kom ut 2006. En uppdaterad version där hela det sista kapitlet är slopat hade nog varit på sin plats.
November 22, 2020
I loved Stephen Clarke's first two books about the French, but I couldn't even finish this one (still made it half way which gave me heart palpitations at times).
A few ideas are somewhat accurate (you'll find them in the chapter about food). However most of the book shares its structure with conspiracy theories: opinions presented as facts, unrelated facts put together to make you believe one caused the other, actual facts mixed with random stereotypes or fiction etc.
While I'm sure it wasn't the author's intention (otherwise he wouldn't have lived in France for so long) I felt deeply offended by the content of this book which I read as downright ethnophobic.
I didn't find any of it cute or funny, but that could be just me. Or that could be because French people can't take a 250pages long joke about how (insert whatever stereotype you can think of) they are. Or maybe it's because stereotyping a whole nation is not that funny in 2020.
The literary equivalent to Eurotrip.
A few ideas are somewhat accurate (you'll find them in the chapter about food). However most of the book shares its structure with conspiracy theories: opinions presented as facts, unrelated facts put together to make you believe one caused the other, actual facts mixed with random stereotypes or fiction etc.
While I'm sure it wasn't the author's intention (otherwise he wouldn't have lived in France for so long) I felt deeply offended by the content of this book which I read as downright ethnophobic.
I didn't find any of it cute or funny, but that could be just me. Or that could be because French people can't take a 250pages long joke about how (insert whatever stereotype you can think of) they are. Or maybe it's because stereotyping a whole nation is not that funny in 2020.
The literary equivalent to Eurotrip.
September 17, 2021
I thought A Year In The Merde was pretty funny but this one left me a little cold. I've vacationed in France a couple of times for fairly extended periods and many of the things he has fun with in this book seemed either rather trivially stereotypical or else just plain false. My experience in France just didn't connect with his examples and illustrations, except in the not very interesting sense of "yes, I'm sure there are French people like that, just as there are Spaniards who are like that, and Italians who are like that, and Irish..." you get the idea. I appreciated the sprinkling of French phrases with an easy pronunciation guide at the end of each chapter, but in the end found it a bit blasé.
March 14, 2021
Reinforces a few stereotypes but funny and interesting all the same.
My favorite insight was along the lines of - don't think that the French are rude just because you are foreign, they can be just as rude to each other.
My favorite comment was in the Epilogue... "They are arrogant, but we wish we had that much self-confidence. They're old-fashioned, be we'd love to be that stylish. They are hypocritical, but we envy their ability to get away with it every time." :D
My favorite insight was along the lines of - don't think that the French are rude just because you are foreign, they can be just as rude to each other.
My favorite comment was in the Epilogue... "They are arrogant, but we wish we had that much self-confidence. They're old-fashioned, be we'd love to be that stylish. They are hypocritical, but we envy their ability to get away with it every time." :D
June 30, 2021
A must-read for anyone traveling to France or trying to understand your French friend who gets under your non-French skin. A short tome by a British ex-pat living in Paris--you could easily finish it on a translantic flight--will prepare you for waiters who won't wait on you, people blowing smoke into your exquisite French meal and a death-defying trip to the French seashore, among other adventures.
March 27, 2024
I was ready to put 5 stars until I got to the eleventh commandment. It has not aged well. At all. In 2024 the “no means yes” idea is just not acceptable.
That said. The rest of the book is hilarious. It is of course a caricature of the French and I feel it is written for expats and immigrants (“Anglo-saxons” or not) that know the French very well in order to get a good laugh. Of course, it is exaggerated, but as with any caricature, it is based in some truth.
That said. The rest of the book is hilarious. It is of course a caricature of the French and I feel it is written for expats and immigrants (“Anglo-saxons” or not) that know the French very well in order to get a good laugh. Of course, it is exaggerated, but as with any caricature, it is based in some truth.
August 28, 2019
When I moved in with him, my French husband (then fianceé) gave me this book as a way of shedding light in any cultural barriers that might exist between us. This book is fun, informative, and I had a kick of observing in real live many of the things that Clark describes on it, while I lived in France.
January 29, 2017
A very amusing thumbnail sketch of the French, particularly on manners, service, waiters, food, culture, sex. Dip in, but don't read it start to finish - in fact, my advice is to read the last half first! Bonne chance!
January 29, 2021
A laugh-out-loud I-cannot-believe-he-just-wrote-that kind of book. I had so much fun reading it, whether it was about the French idiosyncrasies, or the attempt to make the French language more phonetic to the Anglo-Saxon. Hilarious.
February 27, 2021
Funny, lighthearted look at the quirks (to a Brit/American) of the French. I found the book in my late aunt's belongings (she was a French teacher in her day) and it would have be lovely to have discussed these observations with her.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 211 reviews