I'll Never Be French [no matter what I do] [Kindle Edition]

Mark Greenside (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1991, Greenside, a teacher and political activist living in Alameda, Calif., found himself at both the end of a relationship and the end of the world. The French world, that is: Finistère, a remote town on the coast of Brittany, where he and his soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend spend 10 weeks. Preternaturally slow to negotiate the ways of life in a small Breton village, he gets help from Madame P., his slow-to-melt landlady and neighbor. At summer's end (as well as the end of his relationship), his attachment to France became more permanent through the quasi-impulsive purchase of an old stone house, which was made possible with the help of Madame P. She figures prominently and entertainingly through the rest of the book, facilitating several of the author's transactions with the sellers and the local servicemen who provide necessities such as heating oil and insurance. At times the author's self-deprecation comes across as disingenuous, but his self-characterization as a helpless, 40-something leftist creates an intriguing subtext about baby boomerism, generational maturity and the relationship of America to France. Greenside tells a charming story about growing wiser, humbler and more human through home owning in a foreign land. (Nov.)
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From Booklist

Writer and academic Greenside reluctantly goes to Brittany with his ladylove in 1991. Few words are spent describing the demise of that relationship, rather the love affair described is the one he has with Brittany itself. This part of France isn’t like anything he has experienced before. The generosity and fairness of the locals and the beauty and history of the place woo him until he finds himself borrowing money from his mother to buy a house. The sellers are honorable and upright as are all the repair and craftspeople it takes to maintain his new possession. But as the title of the book tells the reader up-front, this man does not exactly blend in. His language skills improve somewhat over the years, but his behavior never quite matches. No matter, he is always treated patiently and politely. There are few new insights here, but for those who love the move-to-a-foreign-country-and-survive genre, this is a fine addition to their collections --Danise Hoover

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 507 KB
• Publisher: Free Press (November 4, 2008)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001KQ61QK
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,047 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #36 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Travel > Europe > France

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slouching to Finistere, November 5, 2008

By 

Book Lover (Bethesda, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I'll Never Be French (no matter what I do): Living in a Small Village in Brittany (Hardcover)

Foolishly, I thought I would read a chapter to see what this book was like, only to find myself sliding through the first half dozen chapters unable to stop, laughing aloud, as if caught in a Chaplinesque journey of an Everyman in France, a Twain's Innocent Abroad in Brittany.

To read this book is to become for a few delightful hours one's own Jacques Tati as one bumbles through a personal "Mr Hulot's Holiday" trying to fit in in France. To give this book is to give the gift of an interlude of a few hour's delight marked by laughter.

The writing itself is seamless and transparent; the reading, a pleasure trip; the main flaw, an ending that arrives too soon.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect - hysterically funny, November 24, 2008

By 

Fiona Lowther "book lover" (Detroit, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I'll Never Be French (no matter what I do): Living in a Small Village in Brittany (Hardcover)

This is the funniest book in recent memory. I burst out laughing while reading in a restaurant, and after I got home, I continued reading, and laughed till my sides ached (the chapter about the insurance agent). But people shouldn't go immediately to that chapter; it is necessary (as they say in France) that one reads the earlier chapters first to set the scene and build up to it to get the full effect. I was sorry when the book ended, but it's such a gem that probably going on further would've detracted from the overall effect.

The one point the author overlooked is in considering the people of the village French - don't ever forget that Brittany is CELTIC. I'm kind of curious as to how the author would make out in Paris. . .

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars He'll never really be a small town homeowner, either., August 20, 2009

By 

David K. Chivers "fidchivers" (Wilbraham, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I'll Never Be French (no matter what I do): Living in a Small Village in Brittany (Paperback)

Taking a Bill Bryson approach, Greenside describes his culture shock at buying a house and living in a small town in France. While his lack of speaking French and unfamiliarity with French culture provide some of his disjointedness, much of it seems to come from two more common sources that having nothing to do with France 1) small town life and 2) home ownership. Most of the cultural problems he encounters are due mainly to his lack of speaking the language rather than from true cultural diffrences. The few cultural diffrences he does highlight are the best parts of the book. I wish he had explored these true diffrences more. One further annoyance, in the last few chapters he uses a lot of French dialogue without translation, leaving the reader baffled as to what the point of those converations was. An OK read, but not as culturally enlightening as I thought it might be.