In the Merde [Anglais] [Broché]

Take a self-assured Brit with an eye for the ladies, drop him in the middle of Paris with a tenuous grasp of the language and you have Clarke's alter ego, Paul West, who combines the gaffes of Bridget Jones with the boldness of James Bond. Hired to oversee the creation of a French chain of British tearooms, Clarke, aka West, spends nine months—the equivalent of a French business year—stumbling his way through office politics à la française. Clarke's sharp eye for detail and relentless wit make even the most quotidian task seem surreal, from ordering a cup of coffee to picking up a loaf of bread at the boulangerie. Luck is by West's side as he moves into a stunning apartment (with his boss's attractive daughter), but he has to be careful where he steps, as he finds he "began to branch out from literal to metaphorical encounters of the turd kind." Between conspiring colleagues, numerous sexual escapades (he deems French porn "unsexy" since "Being French, they had to talk endlessly before they got down to action") and simply trying to order a normal-sized glass of beer, West quickly learns essential tricks to help him keep his head above the Seine. Originally self-published in Paris, Clarke's first book in a soon-to-be-series is funny and well-written enough to appeal to an audience beyond just Francophiles. Agent, Susanna Lea at Susanna Lea Associates. (May) --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

This surprise international bestseller is a sharp-tongued, funny account of a corporate-climbing Brit thrust deep into the MERDE of daily Parisian life. Gerard Doyle neatly embodies protagonist Paul West as the cocky, headstrong success-and-skirt-chasing young exec who must adjust to an annoyingly eccentric Gallic lifestyle. You'll laugh as West explains his blundering attempts to solve the puzzle of French society, finally succumbing to its charms in his take-no-prisoners entrepreneurial style. Though MERDE is not as funny as, say, Monty Python, it makes a pleasant fondue of humor and folly for the ear. D.J.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --Ce texte fait référence à l'édition CD .

Brit Paul West escapes his homeland to take a job in Paris marketing English tearooms to the French. Over a year's cycle he discovers that the French way of doing business thrives on maneuvering nimbly through a minefield of unique, demanding personalities. An inveterate womanizer, he finds plenty of skirts to chase and conquer. After a comic search for an apartment, he settles in the city's trendy Marais district. Urban stress in general, combined with a need to escape the upstairs family whose every move reverberates to distraction, forces West to escape to a Norman getaway featuring all the bucolic charms and a cast of neighbors and townspeople to rival Peter Mayle's Provencal rustics. West disdains French food for its love of organ meats and its fascination with revoltingly smelly cheeses. Francophobes will find much here to reinforce their prejudices; more balanced observers will find Clarke's caricatures of the French simply very funny reading.

Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

A Year in the Merde is the almost-true account of a year in the life of Paul West, 27, who was hired by a French food company to open a chain of "typically English" tea rooms in Paris.
A Year in the Merde shows the French as they really are.
They’re not "cheese-eating surrender monkeys", but they do eat a lot of cheese, some of which smells like pigs’ droppings.
Going on strike really is the second most popular participation sport after pétanque.
They actually admire Brits and Americans (though they won’t admit it too loudly).
And they really do use suppositories.

Paul West 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, this book will tell you how to get the best of the grumpiest Parisian waiter, how to make perfect vinaigrette every time, and how not to buy a house in the French countryside.
A few of the chapter headings …
God save the cuisine
Liberté, égalité, get out of my way
Make amour, not war --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

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 pétanque. And, yes, they do use suppositories.
In his first novel, 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 perfect vinaigrette every time; how to make amour – not war; and how not to buy a house in the French countryside. --Ce texte fait référence à lédition Broché .