Customer Reviews

France On the Brink: A Great Civilization Faces a New Century

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Fenby clearly loves France (don't we all?) and appreciates the way it combines the wonderful with the maddening, the rational with the irrational, the generous with the selfish. Whether he or the publishers are right to suggest that France is "on the brink" of some serious crisis is, however, another matter. Living in Germany and traveling frequently to France, I get the impression France is increasingly in better shape than its neighbor. Many French have a problem with globalization (Americanization?), but in lots of ways the country is much more modern and sprightly than its European neighbors. So the book rather overstates its central argument. Its strongest points are its detailed accounts of the political, financial and business scandals of the Mitterrand years - quite staggering, when you come to think of them. The book's weakness is that it drifts too much into a blow-by-blow account of recent high politics in Paris, most of which won't be of any lasting concern even to the French themselves. Earlier reviewers who accuse Fenby of having anti-this and anti-that axes to grind are being unfair - overall, he gets the balance right.

As an American who speaks French and who has friends all around that wonderful country, I found this book to be perceptive and important. While it is true that one can easily catalog problems in any country, I think that the importance of France on the world stage demanded that this book be written.

Critical to Fenby's thinking is his idea that the leadership in France is more and more inbred and separated from the people. The system allows for immense concentrations of power without effective checks and balances. The resulting lack of "tranparence" in fiscal and political matters should really be quite appalling to the French population.

Unlike the previous reviewer, I find a sense of malaise in many of my friends and acquaintances there and a special sense of unhappiness among the unemployed and underemployed, especially among the young.

I do see France as being "on the brink" in the sense that it has fundamental decisions to make about how it will govern itself (increasing accountability versus perpetuation of "une classe politique"), how it will manage its economic system (creation of real jobs versus quaint solutions such as the 35 hour work week), and how it will truly integrate the large number of people who are on the outside looking in.

I would recommend this book to people who are interested in some of the problems and promises of contemporary France.

Jonathan Fenby's "France on the Brink" is the best overview in English of modern-day France, surpassing even Richard Bernstein's "Fragile Glory" (1990), which also is excellent. As a confirmed Francophile, I found that the book skimps a little on some of the qualities that make the country a great place to visit -- such as its food and wine, its efficient public transportation, its superb museums and historic preservation, the warmth of its people (outside Paris at least!), and the beauty and sheer diversity of its landscapes. On the other hand, the book provides a wealth of detail on some of the country's major ills, above all its increasing xenophobia, uncompetitive industries and corrupt, shoddy politics.

It is in the political arena that Fenby is really in his element, and he has hardly a kind word for any of the men and women who have run France since de Gaulle, most of whom he seems to have met face-to-face as a reporter. In Fenby's portrait, payoffs, favoritism, cronyism, sexual intrigue and even violence seem to be business as usual among France's political class, most of whom seem to be interested more in status and luxurious living than in making the country a better place. Fenby's key point is that it is the politicians rather than their usual scapegoats -- immigrants, foreign influences, or the uniting of Europe -- who deserve most of the blame for pushing the country to "the brink"; yet Fenby is hopeful that France will survive and continue to be both a cultural beacon and a significant player in world affairs.

ohndaly@x-stream.co.uk from London, UK , 6 June, 1999 , 5 out of 5 stars Absolutely superb Authoritative, highly readable, well informed and packed with thought provoking facts and statistics. An impressive and dispassionate account as any I have read on France, particularly so for a non native. A must for anyone wishing to settle in France, or have a greater understanding of the country and its recent history.

First of all, this is book to be read for its cogency of thought rather than entertainment of exposition. Secondly, the central thesis is important: that France is politically on the verge of ideological bankruptcy; and the recent events of the French political scene can be understood by the corrupt and cynical dealings of a handful of political celebreties. Thirdly, the centerl thesis is laid out with frequent hisorical, anthropological, and other cultual digressions. These digressions are probably necessary to provide context for the uninitiated, and are frequently told with considerable relish. The trouble in reading the book, however, is that some of the digressions are told with repetition and, to this reviewer anyway, with occasionally undue relish.

This is an absorbing and often fascinating look at contemporary France. Confirmed Francophiles like myself, whether jilted lovers or fawning admirers, will find themselves nodding in agreement or mildly surprised by some of the facts and incidents portrayed here. For most of the first half I found it near impossible to put the book down. The second half was certainly interesting and informative but dragged somwhat,, telling me a little more than I wanted to know about all the machinations of the political personalities of the last 30 years. Nonetheless, the point was well made: The same French political personalies keep popping up through the decades like one of those children's pop-up toys where you press one of half dozen buttons for a different character. France needs some new blood, with new ideas without destroying the essential character of France. My dog-eared volume was marked for some passages I found worth saving or remembering for various reasons. On p. 96, a quote from Francois Mauriac: "France has an unchanging landscape where I can still believe I am an adolescent." On p. 109, a tell-tale fact to illustrate another facet: " The Creuse departement has lost one half its population since 1902, 40% since l960." Or page 215: " there is a plaque at the Gare Austerlitz, the only memorial to the 11,000 jews deported from that Station." Further, on the same page, a reminder that Le Pen uses the old right wing code word "cosmopolitains" to refer to the jews in France. My favorite is a quote from Anthony Lane on P. 262. "The English fondness for France is normally sort of a neutron love: take away the people and leave the buildings standing." Having lived in Marseilles a couple of years I enjoyed reading a section about that great old city. There was an intriguing reference to Varian Fry, the "American Scarlet Pimpernel" in Marseille at the beginning of WWII. ( A book or screenplay should be written about this forgotten hero, a la Schindler's List.) Fenby is at home writing about many of the foolish political/economic policies of France; his chapters on business and labor are compelling and depressing. To get a flavor, buy the book and read a paragraph on p. 432 imagining Bill Gates in France.

Pierre-Yves Sonalet

Any book, be it fiction or non-fiction, not only tells its own story - and this one tells a great deal about its subject - but also something about its author. There is no exception with the hefty volume that British journalist and South China Morning Post editor Jonathan Fenby has written about his beloved home-from-home, France. In On the Brink, in which Fenby expresses his holistic point of view about what he sees as 'the trouble with France', it seems one can distinguish at least four different lines of inspiration or attitudes.

The more amiable one to a French person is that of the epicurean gourmet, the connoisseur who obviously relishes telling us about regional dishes and vintages who, as linguists would say, loves the signified (the thing itself) as much as the signifier (what it is called). For there is a delicate and sensuous poetic ring to boeuf aux herbes de Massiac (beef with herbs from the Massiac region), potee auvergnate (an Auvergne hot-pot) or poularde demi-deuil (literally, a fat hen in half-mourning). Indeed, Fenby successfully made my French mouth water on several occasions.

His culinary acumen is so assured that it provides him with a tool for assessing and differentiating characters - French President Jacques Chirac, for example, is 'a man who lived for the roar of the crowd and who washed down his favourite dish of calf's head with Mexican beer', while the more refined Edouard Balladur ate 'steamed sole'. Or again: 'This was a battle between two strands of politics, between straight-on, no-nonsense populism and genteel conservatism - calf's head versus caviar'.

More markedly in the opening chapters, Fenby compiles a lengthy catalogue of France's woes and shortcomings. He says he loves France but worries about the state it has reached. Higgledy-piggledy among other ailments, France suffers from lack of political coherence, a superiority complex, cowardice, high anxiety, disenchantment with the ruling elite, lack of Cartesian logic, careless driving, contempt for its own cultural heritage, conservatism, incompetence, linguistic delusions, neo-imperialism, male chauvinism, old age, technological backwardness, laziness, immorality, shortsightedness, and even smelly feet.

I had more mixed feelings about this particular line of inspiration. Of course, some are true but some are sheer prejudice: and couldn't a similar list be very easily drawn to describe any modern democracy? I assume the enumeration serves some kind of cathartic purpose - healthy in any love-hate relationship - and as it is written with gusto and humour and gave me quite a few laughs I feel no qualms about taking it in good spirit.

It is when Fenby becomes a storyteller a la John le Carre that I enjoy his style the most. Considering true business matters, he focuses on some of the notorious scandals which have caused great public uproar during these past few years in France. The Bernard Tapie saga or that of Roger-Patrice Pelat, former president Francois Mitterrand's wartime friend, or Rene Bousquet, the collaborationist, provide us with gems of character description and even with thrilling elements of suspense. Undeniably, Fenby has a lot of potential as a novelist.

The last of the four narrative styles is more obvious in the final chapters: that of the political commentator, the journalist used to hobnobbing with politicians and public figures, occasionally sharing a meal with them - he seems to like poularde demi-deuil a lot - and extremely well-versed in their French brand of wheelings and dealings. Fenby is quite open about his likes and dislikes, and his interpretation of the events that shaped the political landscape of contemporary France are thought-provoking.

But I do not share the pessimistic view that France is on the brink of a 'precipice'. In a democracy - which by definition can never achieve perfection - problems will eventually be solved. Unemployment, the presence of undemocratic political forces, the widening gap that Fenby claims separates the ruled from their rulers, all these questions and more are debated daily in the French media. The rate of participation in French elections is not as low as in other Western democracies, such as the US, and the public are clearly concerned about how their country is run. In other words, there is still potential change and improvement.

I spent July in France and I did not find the mood of my fellow citizens as bleak as it is cracked up to be: the World Cup had been won, foreign hooligans had gone home rather early, French cars and fast trains seemed to be selling well, unemployment was down, there were delicious baguettes and croissants, and I got a beret for my birthday which I intend to wear in Hong Kong come the chilly days . . . not a bad summer, particularly if you look at the rest of the world.

Pierre-Yves Sonalet is general manager of the Alliance Francaise de Hong Kong On the Brink: the Trouble with France by Jonathan Fenby Little, Brown

Anglo Saxons (as the French like to call both Americans and Britons) have long preferred the France of Peter Mayle to the complex society tackled by Fenby in this book. "A Year in Provence" was more revealing about the psychology of a certain kind of Englishman than about France; "France On the Brink" takes on the difficult task of trying to understand France on its own terms, and therein lies its value. Americans in particular, will find the realistic appraisal of of French merits and demerits refreshingly free of the usual cant to which they are treated by propagandists for the American way.

When the book starts with all that's good about France, one gets the uncanny feeling that the rest of the book is going to be extremely critical. And it is true. But the book is very enjoyable, especially for readers interested in contemporary politics. France is indeed a great country with a rich culture and like any other countruy has its own skeletons in its closet. The book indeed provides a deep insight into this. It gives readers a totally new perspective about France. The writer, having lived in France for a long time and having been a political correspondent, writes very autoritatively about France. But one cant help feeling that he is after all an Englisman who is writing about his 'pet-hate'-France, hence the writing would be lop-sided. Well that's what makes it so interesting and spicy. Its a condensed version of france written in a racy tabloid style with real facts. Highly recommended.

Anecdotal review of life in France. For anyone who has been there, it is very relevant and quite amusing.