Customer Reviews

50 Reasons to Hate the French: Or Vive la Difference

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I'm a French living in the USA because I am a bit tired of France. I like humor about French things, and I loved "A Year In the Merde", which was really fun. But this book is not fun, it is just nasty. No kidding. There is some interesting things I didn't know, but it does lack of humor. There are simply mean comments about French people taken as a whole. Fortunately, I bought it cheap, but it really isn't worth buying ! I don't think that Americans or British citizens would appreciate if two French authors would write "50 raisons de haïr les anglais" and, actually, it would be forbidden as a call for hatred based upon natonality.

Forget the eyebrow raising title - this is in fact an extremely well researched and well written guide to those aspects of Frenchness that everyone knows but, in fact, doesn't know much about. The book is divided into fifty journalistic articles, each replete with lists, factoids and quotes and covers everything from French pop music to the Napoleon Complex to la Belle France's military record. One fact I didn't know - but I learned from this book - is that the French really did have no word for 'humor' until 1932; reading some of the other reviews of this great, funny book, I'll assume one or two Amazon reviewers might have skipped that chapter...

The authors are two Londeners who here offer up fifty researched vignettes on why the French are so hated, from the Tour de France to their secrets of being stylish and hip, and more. From dogs to fashion, 50 Reasons to Hate the French surveys French culture and oddities and is a top pick for any public lending library strong in French history or culture.

Purchased as a gift and he totally loved it... thought it was very funny! Makes a great gift.