Englishman Paul West is living the Parisian dream, and doing his best not to annoy the French.
But recently things have been going très wrong.
His apartment is so small that he has to cut his baguette in two to fit it into the kitchen.
His research into authentic French cuisine is about to cause a national strike.
His Parisian business partner is determined to close their English tea-room.
And Paul's French ex-girlfriend seems to be stalking him.
Threatened with eviction, unemployment and bankruptcy, Paul realises that the merde really is about to hit the fan.
...... Outer back cover.
FIRST SENTENCE (Chapter Un): The sun came out, and springtime hit Paris like a tsunami of hormones.
MEMORABLE MOMENT (Page 1): Almost overnight, girls decided that the season for tights was over, and the men in the streets mutated into owls, their necks suddenly capable of 360 degree rotation in search of bare legs.
MY THOUGHTS: The fifth novel in the series and, not having read any of the previous books, my reading of this was slightly marred by the fact that there were some in-jokes that I just wasn't getting.
Billed as a must-have comedy of errors about the trouble you can get into if you are a Brit abroad, The Merde Factor is not nearly as funny as it thinks it is and with so much of the humour reliant on stereotypes I'm afraid that what may at first have been relatively amusing quickly become old and tired, the plot repetitive, the characters nothing short of irritating.
Alas not entirely my cup of tea, I wish I could put a more positive spin on this one as it really did start off with such promise.
DISCLAIMER: Read and reviewed on behalf of Century (A member of the Random House Group) I was merely asked for my honest opinion, no financial compensation was asked for nor given.
11 comments:
Sounds like it wouldn't appeal to me either - however, it probably does appeal to a certain demographic within the population - probably the same demographic that buys "Girls Gone Wild" videos
Thanks for the review my friend. It's a Shane it wasn't a good book. The cover looked so cute and promising. Have a great weekend! :)
Hoo Hoo Ho Whoooooo!
Looking for legs!
J
Probably not my cup of tea, either....
Oh I think humor is hard to write. Too bad it feel short.
Bummer this didn't work for you. It's never fun to have humor that only works on stereotypes.
Hi Tracy
That's the great thing about being an unpaid and hobbyist blogger, you can read a book, not particularly enjoy it and not be afraid to share your concerns and criticisms.
I haven't read any of the books in this series and I am not sure if they are something that I would enjoy, or not. There haven't been that many reviews recorded on the main sites and those that have been, are not brilliant to say the least.
I hope that your next book is better for you and thanks for your honest review.
Yvonne
It does sound promising, too bad it was a letdown. Thanks for the honest review.
Sorry this was not your cup of tea. I don't think it would be mine either. Loved your honesty.
~Jess
I could see why you'd pick it up based on the cover. Too bad it wasn't so good.
Uh, yeah...me thinks I will take the high road and perhaps not check this one out. IF a book is full of itself already, there's much that can be done for it. Perhaps the lead-in books make this personality less annoying?
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