A Year in the Merde - Stephen Clarke

A Year in the Merde, which translates to A Year in the Shit if anyone was wondering, is in my opinion a fantastic book and one that I will definitely read again. The book written by Stephen Clarke was published in 2004 and is said to be 'an almost-true account of things that may or may not have happened to him in the ten years he lived in France'. The story within is told through the eyes of Paul West a successful businessman who arrives in Paris to help set up a chain of English tea shops. His French isn't the best in the world though improving and then team he is tasked to work with speak little English and that they do speak is barely ...  Read the complete review

I was working away from home and popped into the charity shop to pick up some reading material- one of the books I picked up was A Year in The Merde by Stephen Clarke. I had never heard of the book or the author before, but as The Times critique on the back cover said "Edgier than Bryson, hits harder than Mayle"- that was all the incentive I needed to make my purchase. Stephen Clarke was a journalist working in Paris for ten years, so much of the content is drawn from his own experiences, albeit that it is not autobiographical. The main character takes up a job in Paris and we get a month by month description of his life from Septembre to ...  Read the complete review

Having moved to France, I picked up this book and fell in perfectly to the trials and tribulations of this fellow Brit who must handle blending in to all the sublte quirks of a different culture. This is quick fiction with some fun, and a bit of info too. Not really a survival guide tho! You could pick up his other book: Ten Commandments, which is more helpful. I enjoyed this quick, light read with its intelligent, witty style and occasionally great sentences defining some amusing traits between England and France. Im not a great fan of these stereotype-enforcing cash-ins, for example with English characters that are at times laddish and idiotic, but this one ...  Read the complete review