A Year in the Merde: Bookray title
4 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by LeafOfHumanTree from Sydney CBD, New South Wales Australia on Wednesday, January 19, 2005
A Year in the Merde: "There are lots of French people who are not at all hypocritical, inefficient, treacherous, intolerant, adulterous or incredibly sexy ... They just didn't make it into my book."
From the back cover blurb: Paul West, a young Englishman, arrives in Paris to start a new job - and finds out what the French are really like.
They do eat a lot of cheese, some of which smells like pigs' droppings. They don't wash their armpits with garlic soap. Going on strike really is the second national participation sport after petanque. And, yes, they do use suppositories.
Stephen Clarke gives a laugh-out-loud account of the pleasures and perils of being a Brit in France. Less quaint than A Year in Provence, less chocolatey than Chocolat, A Year in the Merde will tell you how to get served by the grumpiest Parisian waiter; how to make amour - not war; how NOT to buy a house in the French countryside; and the perils of slippery dog poo (650 Parisians hospitalised per year.)"
"A word-of-mouth must-have for le tout Paris." The Guardian
PS As you may have seen from recent news articles, this travel memoir is based on fact, but the writer changed his age and other details, so this might be best described as 'factional', not non-fiction.
This is a very funny 'factional' travel memoir of a sex-obsessed Francophobe Englishman working in Paris. I don't think I'd like the author if he's anything like his skirt-chasing, 'she-made-me-shag-her', xenophobic narrator, but A Year in the Merde is a funny, fish-out-of-water comedy routine. It made me giggle on the bus, although I found the narrator's sexual success (just how good looking is this guy???) and some of the stereotyping implausible (as the blurb says, the author favoured stereotypical characters for their comic value).
From the back cover blurb: Paul West, a young Englishman, arrives in Paris to start a new job - and finds out what the French are really like.
They do eat a lot of cheese, some of which smells like pigs' droppings. They don't wash their armpits with garlic soap. Going on strike really is the second national participation sport after petanque. And, yes, they do use suppositories.
Stephen Clarke gives a laugh-out-loud account of the pleasures and perils of being a Brit in France. Less quaint than A Year in Provence, less chocolatey than Chocolat, A Year in the Merde will tell you how to get served by the grumpiest Parisian waiter; how to make amour - not war; how NOT to buy a house in the French countryside; and the perils of slippery dog poo (650 Parisians hospitalised per year.)"
"A word-of-mouth must-have for le tout Paris." The Guardian
PS As you may have seen from recent news articles, this travel memoir is based on fact, but the writer changed his age and other details, so this might be best described as 'factional', not non-fiction.
This is a very funny 'factional' travel memoir of a sex-obsessed Francophobe Englishman working in Paris. I don't think I'd like the author if he's anything like his skirt-chasing, 'she-made-me-shag-her', xenophobic narrator, but A Year in the Merde is a funny, fish-out-of-water comedy routine. It made me giggle on the bus, although I found the narrator's sexual success (just how good looking is this guy???) and some of the stereotyping implausible (as the blurb says, the author favoured stereotypical characters for their comic value).
Book has arrived in Perth. Straight onto my bedside table. I have started reading this now.
Journal Entry 3 by celestewa from Perth City, Western Australia Australia on Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Sorry, I just cant get into this book. I am about half way through it and the pompous English git with his preoccupation with bonking has pushed me over the edge.
Posted to cats alive on Sat 4th June 2005
Posted to cats alive on Sat 4th June 2005
Received today, thanks celestewa.
I enjoyed this, it was a bit of a laugh & an easy read. I whizzed through it in no time. Thanks, Leaf.
I love uncorrected books, and even tho I have this book, I shall keep this in the Mt TBR and pass on the published copies
