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| Talk to the Snail: Ten Commandments for Understanding the French | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen Clarke
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $6.94
You Save: $8.01 (54%)
Buy New/Used from $6.94
Avg. Customer Rating:  (15 reviews)
Sales Rank: 60282
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 1596913096
Dewey Decimal Number: 944.00207
EAN: 9781596913097
ASIN: 1596913096
Publication Date: December 26, 2006
Release Date: December 26, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Have you ever walked into a half-empty Parisian restaurant, only to be told that it?s ?complet?? Attempted to say ?merci beaucoup? and accidentally complimented someone?s physique? Been overlooked at the boulangerie due to your adherence to the bizarre foreign custom of waiting in line? Well, you?re not alone. The internationally bestselling author of A Year in the Merde and In the Merde for Love has been there too, and he is here to help. In Talk to the Snail, Stephen Clarke distills the fruits of years spent in the French trenches into a truly handy (and hilarious) book of advice. Read this book, and find out how to get good service from the grumpiest waiter; be exquisitely polite and brutally rude at the same time; and employ the language of l?amour and le sexe. Everything you need is here in this funny, informative, and seriously useful guide to getting what you really want from the French.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Really true! August 3, 2008
Stephen Clarke puts into words what one feels when one lives or travels in France. It's really great to read so many truths about the French and have a little giggle! The photos are great in this book too.
I wish this book were a Kindle book because lately I'm allergic to the dust in books and can only read electronic ones. Please make this a Kindle book so I can finish it!
Je l'aime! February 12, 2008
I love every one of Stephen Clarke's books. I have never laughed so hard reading. Looking forward to getting his newest. I wish these books would also go to the big screen. Hugh Grant?
Funny but also informative February 3, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is an excellent and funny guide to France and the French. Clarke has constructed his book around a series of commandments that the French supposedly obey: thou shalt eat, thou shalt be right, and thou shalt be ill, among others. "Thou shalt eat" obviously discusses French attitudes to food and drink, and the behavior around those attitudes. "Thou shalt be right" discusses French haughtiness, among other topics. "Thou shalt be ill" looks at how the French enjoy being sick, and enjoy getting suppositories when they are.
The book is fun to read, and I'd recommend it for its humor alone. However, it would also serve the more serious purposes of improving your cultural literacy if you are going to travel, work, or live in France. Clarke would give you a good understanding of why things work they way they do, and he often offers advice on how to get by in the face of frustrations. Many things that frustrate outsiders make sense if you wrap your head around them and understand them in their full cultural context.
Clarke even provides a "useful sentences" guide in each chapter. Some provide generally-useful vocabulary (how to ask a doctor, "Will it be refunded?") while others are just jokes ("What do I do with this suppository?"). These guides, along with the text in the accompanying chapter, would help you in the very serious business of asking pointed questions of a potential landlord or real estate agent, for example.
The book posts relentless fun at the country and its people. It would be tiresome if Clarke hated the French, but it's clear that he loves the country and this fondness makes the whole package work. Though Clarke is British, he has decided to make his home in France. Fortunately, he although enjoys poking fun at the foibles of his adopted country.
Hilariously accurate December 27, 2007
Clarke provides an eerily accurate view into Parisian life. From inattentive waiters to constant strikes, you'll get an amusing take on life in France.
 Definitely through British eyes... December 1, 2007
I enjoyed this book but it's very British. I've lived in France since 1996 and most of his observations are right on the money. I also lived in the U.K. for 6 years and I have to admit that this book if more relevent to his fellow Brits. For example, Americans tend to use the "real" medical terms, which he finds funny with the French. Americans do this too and it drove me batty in England when I couldn't figure what they were complaining about. Call the disorder by its name people!
But the book is entertaining, as long as you keep in mind that it's written by a Brit for his countrymen.
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