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And God Created the French
Hailed by reviewers as a brilliantly insightful look at Parisians and France, this best-seller on two continents (80,000+ copies in print) by Montreal daily newspaper La Presse's Paris correspondent gives the reader a detailed view of how French society really works, with its hidden codes, unspoken rules, tribal loyalties and attachment to the past. French society's strange love-hate relationship with money, for example, which must be spent to excess but never, never discussed in public is revealed here, as is France's obsessive attraction to all things American, along with its simultaneous demonizing of all things...American. This a treasure trove of biting, satirical and bang-on pieces on anything and everything French from King Louis XIV to Charles de Gaulle, from EuroDisneyland to the French schizoid view of money, love and country, from Catherine Deneuve to François Mitterand describes a country of excesses and opposites, where the wine and olive oil culture from the South competes with the beer and butter culture from the North, where a monarchist movement is strong in the country that beheaded its last king, where classical music is adored but dreadfully composed, and where the art of brilliant conversation is taken to dizzying heights. France is a country, in sum, which might in fact be another planet, distant and obscure but absolutely mesmerizing. Few foreigners know France as well as Robitaille, who arrived in 1965 to become a novelist, and stayed as a reporter. He knows EVERYONE of importance in Paris and has interviewed hundreds of writers, actors, politicians and cafe owners in the course of his career. His interviews with Isabelle Adjani, Celine Dion, Mavis Gallant and many more make for page after page of fascinating reading. A new section on Americans in Paris has been added specially for this translation and the preface by Nouvel Observateur columnist Jean-François Kahn puts it all in perspective. The France-Inter radio network said, about this terrific page-turner of a read, it is clairvoyant, penetrating writing by a real journalist.
Paperback
First published October 22, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 21, 2018
A Canadian in Paris
A mixed collection essays and articles by Canadian journalist Louis-Bernard Robitaille that yields a gestalt of French and more particularly Parisian culture and attitudes - which, since I was planning a two week vacation in France was more or less what I was looking for. Though slightly dated since it's English translation in 1997 (as a result I dropped it one *) it's a pleasant read and still contains worthwhile hilites such as the interviews with the late film maker Louis Malle, musician Michel Legrand, pioneering feminist journalist/politician Françoise Giroud who established both Elle and L'Express, and novellist Mavis Gallant standing in for the expatriate writing community. The interview with Catherine Deneuve was bland and rather forgettable. In contrast the meeting with de Gaulle along with the author's take on the general's politics was quite intriguing.
Key to understanding France is the centrality of Paris, and the relationship of the capital to the periphery and vica versa. No other city in France is as much as 1/10th the size which is unlike Germany, the US or Brittain. Like New York, no-one can really afford to live in Paris itself, but there is rent control and family owned property and ways and means to go about doing it. Another important aspect is language and culture, which Robitaille sees as in decline due to the globalization of Americana, about with the French, at least the older generation, are actively concerned. The article "In Mickey's Shadow" about EuroDisney was an excellent example, both the the business acumen of Disney's executives and with the structural problems with the deal which left French investors including the French government largely on the hook should the park fail, which was a distinct possibility at the beginning and periodically the issue resurfaces. I also did a 1 day pass on my trip, and the IMHO problem is that the park isn't large enough for more than a 2 day visit, which Robitaille suggests would lead to basing oneself in Paris rather than in the hotels. Still too is pendulum between mannered society and republicanism, reflecting both the Revolution and then the subsequent Restoration, then back again.
It's worth picking up as a browse from the local library or a dollar or two from a book sale. The prose in translation flowed well. Alternatively, if you read French, in 2011 Robitaille wrote an updated revisit to the same theme, entitledCes Impossibles Francais.
A mixed collection essays and articles by Canadian journalist Louis-Bernard Robitaille that yields a gestalt of French and more particularly Parisian culture and attitudes - which, since I was planning a two week vacation in France was more or less what I was looking for. Though slightly dated since it's English translation in 1997 (as a result I dropped it one *) it's a pleasant read and still contains worthwhile hilites such as the interviews with the late film maker Louis Malle, musician Michel Legrand, pioneering feminist journalist/politician Françoise Giroud who established both Elle and L'Express, and novellist Mavis Gallant standing in for the expatriate writing community. The interview with Catherine Deneuve was bland and rather forgettable. In contrast the meeting with de Gaulle along with the author's take on the general's politics was quite intriguing.
Key to understanding France is the centrality of Paris, and the relationship of the capital to the periphery and vica versa. No other city in France is as much as 1/10th the size which is unlike Germany, the US or Brittain. Like New York, no-one can really afford to live in Paris itself, but there is rent control and family owned property and ways and means to go about doing it. Another important aspect is language and culture, which Robitaille sees as in decline due to the globalization of Americana, about with the French, at least the older generation, are actively concerned. The article "In Mickey's Shadow" about EuroDisney was an excellent example, both the the business acumen of Disney's executives and with the structural problems with the deal which left French investors including the French government largely on the hook should the park fail, which was a distinct possibility at the beginning and periodically the issue resurfaces. I also did a 1 day pass on my trip, and the IMHO problem is that the park isn't large enough for more than a 2 day visit, which Robitaille suggests would lead to basing oneself in Paris rather than in the hotels. Still too is pendulum between mannered society and republicanism, reflecting both the Revolution and then the subsequent Restoration, then back again.
It's worth picking up as a browse from the local library or a dollar or two from a book sale. The prose in translation flowed well. Alternatively, if you read French, in 2011 Robitaille wrote an updated revisit to the same theme, entitledCes Impossibles Francais.
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February 5, 2024DNF. Similar to something I already read: Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong
November 18, 2019
Had a lot of fun reading this. Discovered funny things about myself and my French friends, allowing me to understand them better. A treasure trove for my classes about French culture.
April 16, 2011
of interest only to extreme Francophiles like myself, though the chapter in the back about why the French consider Nixon to be a great president was very good. This book was the rantings of an obselete old man when it was written, twenty years ago, and it has aged poorly. Still, I think I understand how the old guard in France felt a little better now, and I have some interesting trivia about EuroDisney.
November 9, 2007
Trashy, mud-slingling, and terribly outdated. It reads like a rag mag. I read this before I went to live in France. Obviously, this book is extremely exaggerated and satirical, but I found it to be antonymous with what I experienced. The writer probably never dug past the superficial crust of tourism in France. The life and people there are much different.
July 10, 2008
Written with all the verve one expects of a Quebecois writing about the French. (Or rather, the Parisians). Formidable!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews