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alundeberg 's review for:
A Year in the Merde
by Stephen Clarke
My hubs and I had a trip to Paris planned this fall, but because a large portion of our population refuses to get vaccinated, we are stuck back in a COVID cycle, and the trip was canceled. It seems that we all must pay for their stupidity and selfishness, but it occurred to me: they don't do anything with their lives. Being an anti-vaxxer and a pseudo-scientist is the only interesting thing that has ever happened to them, and ruining everyone else's plans is just part of their fun. They can make our lives suck as much as theirs. To make myself feel better, I decided to take a vicarious trip to France by reading Stephen Clarke's "laugh out loud hilarious" fictionalized memoir, "A Year in the Merde".
Big mistake.
I don't want to travel in France with him. He stars as Paul West, a young British man and a sad sack, who is hired to work at a company in Paris for a year where he has intrigue with the boss and the boss's daughter. According to him, Paris is full of "merde" (shit). From its streets, to its government, to its people. When not insulting his coworkers, he is out trying to get laid while secretly insulting French women. And in true "foreigner-in-France" fashion, he even has a buying-a-house-in-the-country adventure, but everyone there is stupid, too. This is supposed to be funny and is also billed as "un-PC". People who say they are un-PC always think they are cool, edgy, and straight-talking, but really they are crass, crude, and lack subtlety. Clarke is the same in his humor--often overshooting the mark and landing in with the lowest common denominator. The only part I liked was a brief moment when he visited the Luxembourg Gardens and went to its little cafe with the green benches-- one of my favorite places, but then he insulted that, too.
My summation? Stephen Clarke is full of merde.
But, in his defense, he'd probably get the vaccine.
Big mistake.
I don't want to travel in France with him. He stars as Paul West, a young British man and a sad sack, who is hired to work at a company in Paris for a year where he has intrigue with the boss and the boss's daughter. According to him, Paris is full of "merde" (shit). From its streets, to its government, to its people. When not insulting his coworkers, he is out trying to get laid while secretly insulting French women. And in true "foreigner-in-France" fashion, he even has a buying-a-house-in-the-country adventure, but everyone there is stupid, too. This is supposed to be funny and is also billed as "un-PC". People who say they are un-PC always think they are cool, edgy, and straight-talking, but really they are crass, crude, and lack subtlety. Clarke is the same in his humor--often overshooting the mark and landing in with the lowest common denominator. The only part I liked was a brief moment when he visited the Luxembourg Gardens and went to its little cafe with the green benches-- one of my favorite places, but then he insulted that, too.
My summation? Stephen Clarke is full of merde.
But, in his defense, he'd probably get the vaccine.