Merde at the Paris Olympics: Going for Pétanque Gold
£8.99
“This novel is hysterical!” Rebecca Leffler, writer and Creative Consultant on the Netflix TV series Emily in Paris,.
By the author of A Year in the Merde and 1000 Years of Annoying the French.
Englishman Paul West is living in Paris (where he arrived long before Emily, by the way) and he’s gearing up for the 2024 Olympics.
Paul accepts a job with a French group who are campaigning to get pétanque adopted as an official Olympic event. In Paul’s opinion, lobbing lumps of lead around while drinking pastis is barely a sport – it’s more an excuse for Provençal men to avoid cooking dinner. But he needs the cash.
Meanwhile Paul falls in love with a French tech genius – who thinks he’s an idiot – and tangles with his treacherous ex, Elodie.
Paul also applies for French nationality and has to embark on a war of attrition with France’s Napoleonic bureaucrats.
In the background, Paul’s friend Jake the grunge poet decides that the Olympics and Paralympics discriminate against the lazy, and invents the “Nolympics”.
Let the fun and games begin.
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Additional information
| Publisher | pAf (5 Nov. 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 1407 KB |
| Simultaneous device usage | Unlimited |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 271 pages |
by Book Lover
I love this series. They always make me laugh out loud. The latest, centred around the preparations for the Paris Olympics keeps up the same high standard. I particularly enjoy the dialogue between Paul West and his protagonists. Highly recommended.
by @book_a_holic_17
This was a hugely entertaining read that had me laughing out loud throughout.
Apparently this is the 7th book in the Merde series – but my first venture into Paul’s world as well as my first read by this author.
Paul has been living in France for a while now and these books diarise his experiences and adventures whilst he learns of the French ways.
This book read well as a standalone – but I’m pretty sure that there were quite a few times that referenced past events – especially the ex, Elodie and Paul’s attempts at gaining French nationality.
In this book, Paul accepts a job with a group who are trying to get pétanque officially accepted by the Olympic committee – even though he doesn’t necessarily agree.
This was such a fun and easy read. Packed with humour and hilarious one liners.
I loved seeing the differences in french culture from our own and seeing it from the viewpoint of and Englishman who is now living there made for some amusing, as well as sometimes uncomfortable moments.
I’ve always viewed the French lifestyle as totally chilled and laid back – and reading this just enhanced that view – if you don’t know pétanque – it’s viewed as the mens sport to be enjoyed whilst drinking pastis and waiting for the women to cook the evening meal – the idea that it would be accepted into the Olympics seems ludicrous.
Moreover, Jake decides that there would be no Olympics at all as the whole thing discriminates against the lazy people!
I mean if this doesn’t give you a taste of what this book is about…..
Brilliantly written and a joy to read – I really need to go back to the start and see where this all began!!