Stephen Clarke had not only use the taboo word on the front page of his book, he actually made it the title, of course he
cleverly camouflaged it in French so that only !% of English people who knows the language feel offended, while the other 99% of the reader who took the trouble to pick up a French-English dictionary would be delighted, like me. Its not that bad actually, and kudos to Bantan Press for taking on the challenge, not knowing how the English-speaking people would take to the intriguing title.
As the plot goes, its nothing as spectacular as the title suggests, except that the mind boggles when knowing that a Englishman, Paul West is putting up an English tea room in the shadow of Eiffel Tower (when its evening and the shadow is long), how madcap can you be. I mean French would rather eat Korean kimchi or Zairean steak than anything from across the English Channel, and here we have Monsieur West testing Gallic patience with scones and Earl Grey Tea from Darjeeling. A certainly unwise business proposal if you ask me.
However our hero''s commendable bravery in the face of all odds was not without circumspection as he has a partner in the person of Florence, a native Parisian who was willing ot throw her lot into the venture. While still waiting for the work to commence on their little eatery, the couple went on a short sojourne to Florence''s village. And this was where the little nuances and cultural shocks played out mirthfully between the swashbuckler and Florence''s mother, the villagers and the likes.
Back to the cities, when work started on the tea room, Paul''s old flame Nathalie popped up to give some entanglement amidst the cacophony of the jackhammers and the gang of Eastern European workers'' wolves'' whistle. Eventually, as expect, our hero was dumped before the bistro was even opened.
Will monsieur West succeed in his foolhardy venture? Equally pertinent question, will he finally find his real l''amour? Francophile will love this book as it is peppered with a generous dose of French to give what I perceive to be an attempt by the writer either to impose a false sense of sophistication or whipping up some insipid interest in learning the language. Come to think of it, a little knowlege of French may be a good thing, but I would not think Clarke achieve a coup in getting to the top of the Book Club ranking, but it did teach me a few tricks on satirical piece like this.