Merde Actually

I am a very lucky girl in the sense that I have a boyfriend that reads. A lot. A closeted bookish boyfriend if you will. (Try not to read too into that last statement, please.) Over the summer he bought a book for himself called A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clark. He loved it so much that he read parts of it to me over the phone and then after he completed the book, mailed it to me so that I could read it. I loved it so much that around Thanksgiving I bought the next book in the “series” (In The Merde For Love) and banned Matt from buying anything book related without checking with me and gave it to him for Christmas. I tried to be super awesome girlfriend and find the UK edition since the author is British himself but was unable show more to find one in good condition. Over the past week, Matt and I have been reading this book together and we both loved it. (I finished it this afternoon, Matt has two chapters left.)
Without trying to include spoilers, AYITM was about Paul West moving from London to France to help create English Style tea rooms in France, while working for a boss with questionable ethics. He has complete culture shock, dates a lot of girls and gets into quite a bit of trouble, all with the self-deprecating humor that the Brits are known for. He picks on the English, the French, vegetarians, and Americans, but in a way that you can’t help but love.
ITMFL picks up where the previous book left off for the most part. Paul is still in France, becoming more acclimated, but still having problems with tea rooms and women. It seems that the guy can never really catch a break. Yet, he seems to realize that a lot of his problems are his own doing. I loved the fact that Paul has really become more French than English in the course of this book, but realizes that he’s somewhere in between the cultures. He’s too English for the French, he’s too French for the English. But you can’t help but dig the guy. Also, his wit is amazing. I dare you to not laugh out loud.
While you wouldn’t need to read A Year In The Merde to follow this book, it probably would help explain some of the characters and why he interacts with them the way that he does. Although, minor explanations are included in a “if you’re just tuning in…” kind of way. Those for the faint of heart or are easily offended may want to read with caution. There are some explicit scenes and scenes that will make you squirm. All the French that is used in the book is translated into the closest English translation as well.
I loved the format of the book as well. The book is divided into somewhat lengthy sections, but each section has smaller chapters. Yet, it’s almost superfluous because the whole narration flows so smoothly. It’s almost like Clarke is handing you a convenient stopping place. I love the British terms for things as well, and all the French. I’m a bit obsessed.
But my favorite part is why he includes Merde in all the titles. Having not been to Paris, I am not sure how accurate this is, but there is the belief that the French, particularly the Parisians do not pick up after their dogs so there is all kinds of dog merde in the streets. The title for the first book, A Year in the Merde is a spoof of the popular A Year in Provence. Get it? But that’s not the best part, the best part is that the book I was reading prior to this one, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, also takes place in Paris. There is a part not too long after Anna lands in Paris that she observes that there isn’t any dog poop on the streets. When I read that I almost fell off my chair and then called Matt. We decided that someone isn’t telling us the whole story. We just may have to go to Paris someday to find out. show less

Funny and quite insightful about life in France

In this second book of a series, we meet Englishman, Paul West, moderately successful advertising executive, who went to France for a job as the liaison for a Paris based, French company trying to break into the English market. He spends a year dodging French office politics, trying to improve English-French relationships with the Parisian femmes, incurring the wrath and hostility of haughty french waiters, and slip, sliding his way through the local dog merde, which is freely deposited on the Paris sidewalks. At the start of this book, Paul is bringing to fruition, his dream of the first English Tea Room Cafe in Paris. This, of course, is interrupted with the nightmare of dealing with pompous French officials, the reality of trying to show more hire help who will not be inattentive, inept or outright rude, and all this while trying to wend his way through the arms of various mademoiselle's, looking for his one true love. This is a lighthearted romp through France, with a quick jump across the Channel to London, which will leave you laughing at a transplanted Englishman's travels in La Belle France. show less

Laugh out loud lines in parts, though reasonably mindless in the majority - a sort of boy-lit adventure into relationships. Very similar to the first "A Year in the Merde" though not quite as sharp.

Not quite as entertaining as [book:A Year in the Merde] but still enjoyable. Both the story and the protagonist move/grow suitably. Humourous light reading.

Easy reading and goog humour, I enjoyed it and being french I found it quite right, thank you...

This "Merde" and the previous "A Year in the Merde" are wonderful - they kept me laughing at stories of what is the typical Englishman confronted by everything French, sometimes winning and sometimes stepping straight in the . . . We want more from Stephen Clarke, please!