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French Toast: An American in Paris Celebrates the Maddening Mysteries of the French
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Average customer review:
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Product Description
In French Toast, she shares her hard-earned wisdom and does as much as one woman can to demystify the French. She makes sense of their ever-so-French thoughts on food, money, sex, love, marriage, manners, schools, style, and much more. She investigates such delicate matters as how to eat asparagus, how to approach Parisian women, how to speak to merchants, how to drive, and, most important, how to make a seven-course meal in a silk blouse without an apron! Harriet's first-person account offers both a helpful reality check and a lot of very funny moments.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #949439 in Books
- Published on: 1998-11-15
- Original language: English
- Binding: Hardcover
- 128 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
During the 1970s, Rochefort moved from Shenandoah, Iowa, to Paris, where she met and married her husband, Philippe. Here, she offers her reflections on what it's like to be the wife of a Frenchman and the mother of two French-American children. Although presented with a confidence that comes with long experience, the observations shared (Rochefort's but also those of French and fellow expatriate friends) are hardly illuminating. Rochefort relies on her experiences with French in-laws and friends to conclude that the French, unlike their American counterparts, would rather talk about sex than money, are quarrelsome and require their children to work hard in school. She finds that French wives are wonderful cooks who allow their husbands to dominate the conversation at parties and are always responsible for packing their husbands' suitcases. French husbands, according to Rochefort, really do shower less than American men but are infinitely more relaxed and adept at flirtation and seduction. (She comments that a single woman can live safely in France because French men aren't as oppressively aggressive as American men). In sum, her memoir, though competently written, trades in what appear to be old stereotypes?which, even if true, bring nothing new to our understanding of the French. Agent, Regula Noetzli.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Did you know that in Paris it is quite normal to bang the cars in front and back of you as you maneuver in and out of a parking place? Or that you should fold and not cut the lettuce in your salad and that even fruit is eaten with a knife and fork? Fortunately, for those unacquainted with the finer points of French etiquette, Rochefort's book bridges the culture gap admirably. The Iowa-born author is a freelance journalist married to a Frenchman and has lived in France for over 20 years. Drawing on personal experience, she records her observations about Frenchwomen; French attitudes to food, sex, love, marriage, and money; the French educational system; and the dynamics of living in Paris. Some stereotypes are reinforced, but this chatty, informative book is great fun to read and over too soon. Recommended for public libraries.?Ravi Shenoy, Hinsdale P.L., IL
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"French Toast includes the most delightful barbs at France's subtle but deep-rooted codes of behavior...I read the book on the EuroStar between Paris and London and wished the train had not reached its tip speed of 300 kph!" --Leslie Caron, star of An American in Paris, Gigi, and Lili
"When someone calls you mon cher ami, does in literally mean 'dear friend', or, as is often the case, 'drop dead'?...Do you eat a round Camembert cheese the same way as a rectangular slab of Gruyere?...Should you shower before making love?...Rochefort offers answers by the score. Even longtime foreign residents of France have become grateful readers." --The Los Angeles Times
"[Rochefort] has been able to zero in on the joys, annoyances, frustrations, and the wonderful things about living in France and the French mentality that I've never been able to verbalize or put into perspective." --Marilyn August, Associated Press correspondent, Paris Bureau
"French Toast is not only extremely perceptive but also a delightful read and great fun." --Karl Horwitz, International President, The New York Times Syndicate
"Rochefort has clearly drawn from her Midwestern roots to come up with the consummate tall tale, which through color, imagination, and humor...paints a wacky and accurate picture of her life in Paris." --Sarah Colton, American Wives of Europeans Newsletter
