I’ll Never Be French : Living in a Small Village in Brittany
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- ISBN13: 9781416586951
- Condition: USED – VERY GOOD
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Product Description
Tired of Provence in books, cuisine, and tablecloths? Exhausted from your armchair travels to Paris? Despairing of ever finding a place that speaks to you beyond reason? You are ripe for a journey to Brittany, where leader Mark Greenside reluctantly travels, eats of the crêpes, and finds a second life.
When Mark Greenside — a native New Yorker living in California, doubting (not-as-trusting-as Thomas, downwardly mobile, political lefty, writer, and lifelong skeptic — is dragged by his girlfriend to a tiny Celtic village in Brittany at the westernmost edge of France, in Finistère, “the end of the world,” his life starts to change.
In a playful, hastily style, and with enormous affection for the Bretons, Greenside tells how he makes a life for himself in a country where he doesn’t speak the language or know how things are done. Against his personal inclinations and better judgments, he places his trust in the villagers he encounters — neighbors, workers, acquaintances — and is consistently won over and surprised as he manages and survives day-to-day trials: from opening a bank account and buying a house to removing a beehive from the chimney — in additional words, learning the cultural ropes, living with neighbors, and building new friends.
I’ll Never Be French (no matter what I do) is a beginning and a homecoming for Greenside, as his father’s family tree emigrated from France. It is a memoir about fitting in, not standing out; being part of something larger, not being separate from it; following, not leading. It explores the joys and adventures of living a double life.
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Although I establish the writing to be excellent, I didn’t particularly “like” him and wanted to by the end of the book. Yes, he was a bit too needy for my taste. Yes, he’s a progressive man (he made that clear multiple times); but, a soon to be 50 year ancient buying a home in France with his mother’s money is a bit unbecoming. Certainly he made that clear and I suppose I should salute him for that. Nonetheless, I did not have a lot of respect for him by the end of the book.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
You can’t question for a more perfect summer read. This book is tender, amusing, and kind. If you liked Gopnik’s Paris to the Moon, you’ll like this book.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Loved this book!! Simple read, anectdotal travel guide. Now, I want to buy a house in Brittany. Like the food, people and customs.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
RATS! I seem to be the odd-woman-out on my experience with this book- I didn’t care for it. It was simple for me to laugh at first, but then it ongoing to feel like work reading it- the humor became white bread. I’ve chose to shelve it on page 191- which is rare for me to stop a book before I end it. I’m glad additional’s have loved it!
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
I have to add to the praise already heaped on this marvelous book. I have never laughed out loud so regularly or so heartily. This is a GREAT book. I just finished it and am ready to read it again.
I am a right francophile with a bookcase full of books about France. But this book is now one of my top favorites. Mark Greensides writes perfectly and with such insight. I have never read better descriptions of the struggle (on both sides) to cross cultural and communications barriers.
Having spent months and months traveling in France, I can vouch for the book’s authenticity. When I wasn’t laughing, I establish myself nodding and muttering, “Yes, that’s exactly what the way it is.”
Mark, if you read this, please start effective on a sequel!
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5