French Toast

Rating:
Summary: French Toast: An American in Paris Celebrates the Maddening
Review: Did you know that in Paris it is quite normal to bang the cars in front and back of you as you maneuver in and out of a parking place? Or that you should fold and not cut the lettuce in your salad and that even fruit is eaten with a knife and fork? Fortunately, for those unacquainted with the finer points of French etiquette, Rochefort's book bridges the culture gap admirably. The Iowa-born author is a freelance journalist married to a Frenchman and has lived in France for over 20 years. Drawing on personal experience, she records her observations about Frenchwomen; French attitudes to food, sex, love, marriage, and money; the French educational system; and the dynamics of living in Paris. Some stereotypes are reinforced, but this chatty, informative book is great fun to read and over too soon. Recommended for public libraries

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but it should have been longer
Review: French Toast is a memoir rather than a sociological study, so it only looks at the Paris that the author has experienced. For anyone who has read other books about French culture or spent a great deal of time in France, many of the observations will not be new.

If the book had been longer, I think I would have enjoyed it more. I liked her look at French femininity and childrearing and I would have like to have read more about why and how she
decided the stay in Paris, her cross-cultural courtship with her husband, what she loves about Paris, and uniquely French manners.

Personally, unlike several of the other reviewers, I found her discussions of female Parisian behavior interesting. In my 20-something East Coast world, women are often more talkative
and expressive than men, so it was interesting to hear how, in the author's experience French women do not take the lead in discussions. As I am used to a certain solidarity among
American women, it was interesting to read that Parisian women do not share this trait. The author didn't make me think that French women are doormats, merely that their social
behavior differs from than of the American women I know. I didn't find the author to be a militant feminist at all, though perhaps these observations about female behavior are more
interesting to women than men.

I also found that she had nearly as many negative stereotypes about Americans as she did about Parisians. An okay, but not great book about Paris. I would have given it three or
four stars if it had been longer.

Rating:
Summary: awful
Review: I thought this book would give me an glimpse of what to expect when I visit Paris, but as soon as I'd gone through a few chapters, I was mad enough to throw it out the window. Apparently the writer doesn't like ANYTHING about the Parisians, and after reading this book, I'm not so sure I'd put up with them either. According to her, the women in France go through rigorous schooling, learning philosophy, chemistry, history and various languages so that eventually they can become pretty little doormats who never speak up about ANY of these topics. They must always take the back seat to their men in all matters, NEVER discussing their opinions or anything of any importance for fear of boring the men. Don't laugh too hard! Don't serve yourself wine! Avoid direct arguments! Pack your husband's suitcases! Wash his clothes! Clean his house! Don't make friends with other women!

Every chapter contains at least one infuriating anecdote about such unfunny topics as whether or not a woman can be raped without her consent (this subject was launched at the author during a dinner party, and all the women just sat back and let the man go without saying a word in opposition), shopkeepers who who would cheat a child out of his change because he looks like his family is rich enough to take the loss (no kidding - this was the argument the shopkeeper used when the child demanded his change), and husbands who go to great lengths to make sure that their wives never have any money of their own. This doesn't sound like Paris! This sounds like Afghanistan!

The author comes off as the biggest doormat of them all, and the interviews with her husband at the end of each chapter are a little more insightful than intended, each one delivered with a disdainful sneer at Americans in general and his wife in particular. A few gems from the mouth of this "Gentleman":

"Equality of sex in the States means the that women should be as stupid as the men."

"Frenchwomen will leave you alone when they see that you are tired. You, on the other hand, would interview me on my deathbed."

"Only American women marry four times, kill off four husbands, and then go off to Europe to have fun."

"Sex and soap don't match. To excite an American woman, you have her smell a bar of soap."

(On watching her devour a potato, skin and all) "Only hogs eat potato skins."

Her father in law is just as bad. After years of cooking and serving five course meals twice a day for this man, his wife tried to introduce him to the concept of a sandwich. Once he discovered you eat it with your hands, he sniffed "Why don't we all just get down on the floor and throw bones over our shoulders while we're at it?"

Every once in a while the author will throw in a comment such as "It sounds like I don't like the Parisians, but I really do! No, Really!" but she never backs it up with anything. On the other hand, the book is filled with lessons on how inhumanly rude, petty and ignorant the Parisians really are.

No THANKS.

I would give this book no stars if I could. It's that bad. I just wish I'd read a few more reviews and heeded their warnings
before I'd wasted my money on it. Consider yourself warned.

Rating:
Summary: Iowa Corn would be a better title . . .
Review: Instead of an enlightening and humorous look at the French culture, this book presents an extremely narrow perspective of a middle-aged American woman who looks back on how shocking the real world in France was 20 years ago and still may be in her small corner of Paris. Indeed, you can pretty much replace the word "Paris" with "New York City" and the anecdotes wouldn't be different.

Ms. Rochefort admits she grew up in a tiny farm town in the southwest corner of Iowa. From her writing it appears that she still thinks she's there (only she's shocked that there are buildings that look like the Tour Eiffel and the Arc de Triomphe).

While some of her anecdoates are the slight bit amusing, most of them meander without a point and tend to be more complaints than observations. Her personal opinions obscure a truly objective view of the French. She claims to balance her perspective by "interviewing" her French husband Phillippe. I can only guess that he is not a typical Frenchman to have married this woman (indeed, it is interesting that she never discusses how they met or what events led up to them deciding to get married).

She reveals such shockers that French women like shoes, shopping (but not for groceries), and cook several course meals for their families. WOW! REALLY? That is so different from women in Peoria, Illinois. She also discloses that the French are not as prudish as we Americans, that they have a passion for food and politics, and that there are etiquette rules in society. I'M FLABBERGASTED!

She spends an inordinate amount of time ridiculing the French because the women are glared at if they shout or guffaw loudly in public (shame on them!), that French women are paid less than French men (this is news?), and that French women intentionally stay out of political discussions at the dinner table. Has Ms. Rochefort visited any other country in the last 30 years? I'd hate to think what she would write about the cultures in most Eastern European or Asian countries.

I am disappointed by this book (and that is putting it mildly) because I expected a more objective, universal view of the French. Not a personal vendetta because the author would rather be sitting in a Starbucks back in Iowa than learning about a country with more than 450 cheeses and wine and history more than 1000 years old. Frankly, I don't care what her mother-in-law does, especially if it is not characteristic of the Provencals, the people of Burgundy, or even of Parisians.

Peter Mayle has much more insightful accounts of the French than Ms. Rochefort. For that matter, so does Bill Bryson. This book is better suited to narrow-minded Americans who never plan on visiting France.

Rating:
Summary: Surviving culture shock
Review: This book is a practical guide to understanding cultural differences between the French, especially Parisians, and Americans, intended for Americans taking up long-term residence in France. The author herself has lived in France for 20 years, married to a French man, and has found herself a long way from her small town Iowan origins. The book deals with a range of topics, from food, to family, to sex and education.

The blurb on the cover states that the book is "wise and devastatingly funny". I would agree with the "wise" assessment, but I'm not sure where "devastatingly funny" comes from. The book certainly doesn't come across as "pompously didactic", and there are indeed moments that are humorous, but the book includes a very substantial amount of informed analysis and practical advice. This is not a humor book where readers are brought in as third-hand observers to relive Rochefort's most embarrassing cultural gaffes. Instead, Rochefort examines her experiences as a foreigner who marries into the culture. She states in the very beginning of the book that she has found cultural differences becoming more and more noticeable the longer she lives in France. It makes sense in a way- -the longer you live in a country, the more you think you should understand it. When a cultural difference that has gone unnoticed for years finally raises its head, it can be even more unnerving that if one had met with it right at the very beginning. Rochefort's description of differing expectations experienced in cross-cultural French-American relationships is particularly strong, and anyone in or contemplating starting such a relationship would be well advised to read it. But even those who are not living in France can learn much about French culture in this book. Her last chapter, for example, covering the French educational system starts with nursery school, and progresses through the university and Grande Ecoles (which I thought were glorified high schools until Rochefort straightened me out).

Rating:
Summary: Surviving culture shock
Review: This book is a practical guide to understanding cultural differences between the French, especially Parisians, and Americans, intended for Americans taking up long-term residence in France. The author herself has lived in France for 20 years, married to a French man, and has found herself a long way from her small town Iowan origins. The book deals with a range of topics, from food, to family, to sex and education.

The blurb on the cover states that the book is "wise and devastatingly funny". I would agree with the "wise" assessment, but I'm not sure where "devastatingly funny" comes from. The book certainly doesn't come across as "pompously didactic", and there are indeed moments that are humorous, but the book includes a very substantial amount of informed analysis and practical advice. This is not a humor book where readers are brought in as third-hand observers to relive Rochefort's most embarrassing cultural gaffes. Instead, Rochefort examines her experiences as a foreigner who marries into the culture. She states in the very beginning of the book that she has found cultural differences becoming more and more noticeable the longer she lives in France. It makes sense in a way- -the longer you live in a country, the more you think you should understand it. When a cultural difference that has gone unnoticed for years finally raises its head, it can be even more unnerving that if one had met with it right at the very beginning. Rochefort's description of differing expectations experienced in cross-cultural French-American relationships is particularly strong, and anyone in or contemplating starting such a relationship would be well advised to read it. But even those who are not living in France can learn much about French culture in this book. Her last chapter, for example, covering the French educational system starts with nursery school, and progresses through the university and Grande Ecoles (which I thought were glorified high schools until Rochefort straightened me out).

Rating:
Summary: good book
Review: This book was funny and entertaining to read. I have to say i didn't like French before and this book did nothing to change my mind.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and On Target
Review: This is a book I wish I had written. As a long-time Paris denizen -- now a dual-national with US and French citizenship -- I can attest that French Toast is on the mark when it comes to understanding a certain French world (there are as many, perhaps more, worlds here as there are in America). It's also funny and a delight to read. Harriet's humor and insight bubble up in every sentence, and I love the tidbits provided by her husband, Philippe. On sexiness: Give a French woman perfume, an American woman a bar of soap. This is classic stuff. I look forward to reading her next book on France! Encore, encore!...