Why not?

Sorry.

This book was fascinating. I learned a bunch about France, what makes the French tick, French history, the social structure, the comparisons between France and the rest of Europe and France and North America, and the list goes on. The problem, though, was that this book, by Jean-Benoit Nadeau (I don’t know how to do the funky accents, sorry) and Julie Barlow, was terribly dense and difficult to get through. I waded through chapter after chapter after chapter about the French government and civil bureaucracy before I finally bailed on the book. I’m sure there were interesting chapters at the end (like, possibly, “The World According to France” or “The Meaning of Europe”) but I could care less. I’m Franced out.

The first section, on the Spirit of the French, is really worth reading, though. As Canadians, Nadeau (who’s a Quebecker) and Barlow went to France with the unique position of being both able to converse with the French on their own terms and having North American perspective. So, it made for some fascinating tales and encounters with people they met. (Like, I had no idea that the French guard their names so closely; they rarely introduce themselves the way we think of as introductions over here, and only tell their names after “getting to know” someone. ) I’m not sure I ever got the answer to “Why we love France but not the French” (the book’s subtitle), though. It’s almost too bad that the authors got so bogged down in the political chapters. This could have been a great book.