French Like Moi
A Midwesterner in Paris
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
When Scott Carpenter moves from Minnesota to Paris, little does he suspect the dramas that await: scheming neighbors, police denunciations, surly demonstrators, cooking disasters, medical mishaps—not to mention all those lectures about cheese! It turns out that nothing in the City of Light can be taken for granted, where even trips to the grocery store lead to adventure.
In French Like Moi, Carpenter guides us through the merry labyrinth of the everyday, one hilarious faux pas after another. Through it all, he keeps his eye on the central mystery of what makes the French French (and Midwesterners Midwestern).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this funny memoir, Carpenter (Theory of Remainders), who teaches French literature and creative writing at Minnesota's Carleton College, recounts moving from small-town Northfield, Minn., to Paris during an eye-opening sabbatical with his wife. With dry wit, Carpenter writes of being brought into the local police station within three months of his arrival for not having a proper visa; visiting the Paris catacombs, despite his intense claustrophobia; learning that his neighbors were stealthily annexing bits of the building; visiting French doctors and pharmacies; navigating the language ("For example, un car is pretty obviously a car until it turns out to be a bus"); and observing tourists ("I have never watched locusts swarm a field of wheat, but I bet it looks a lot like Paris when the tourists arrive"). Carpenter has a knack for turning potential catastrophes into comedy, as with his account of dealing with an incompetent bank loan officer while trying to purchase an apartment ("Turned out things weren't going, and weren't ever going to go, precisely because my file had never gone anywhere"). Readers will find plenty to appreciate in Carpenter's sharp take on expat life.
Customer Reviews
French Like Moi
A hilarious antidote to “Paris Syndrome”. Every small misfortune is mined to reveal the cultural essence of parts of Paris that do not make any tourist bucket list.