Cette couverture m'a value le passage de ma p'tite gueugueule sur les écrans géants de Jazz à Vienne cette année, lorsque que les caméraman s'installent avant le concert et s'amusent à voler des images insolites ou rigolotes dans le public. Moi j'étais en train de bouquiner tranquillement.
"MERDE Happens" est le 3° volet de la trilogie de Stephen Clarke. Il raconte les aventures ou les mésaventures d'un anglais expatrié à Paris qui cherche un boulot dans la communication (A Year in The MERDE), d'un anglais montant finalement son business et se rendant compte qu'il n'est plus tout à fait anglais lorsqu'il revient en Angleterre (MERDE Actually). Dans le dernier livre, il est embarqué aux Etats-unis avec sa petite copine à bord d'une mini aux couleurs de l'Angleterre pour un périple promotionnel.
J'ai adoré le premier volet, le deuxième moyennement (j'ai eu du mal à le finir), et le troisième est vraiment pas mal (je le commence tout juste).
Je vous conseille de les lire en anglais car il y a plein d'allusions à notre accent lorsque l'on parle anglais. C'est assez fendant.
A Year In The Merde: "Paul West, a young Englishman, arrives in Paris to start a new job - and finds out what the French are really like.
They do eat a lot of cheese, some of which smells like pigs' droppings. They don't wash their armpits with garlic soap. Going on strike really is the second national participation sport after pétanque. And, yes, they do use suppositories.
In his first novel, Stephen Clarke gives a laugh-out-loud account of the pleasures and perils of being a Brit in France. Less quaint than A Year in Provence , less chocolatey than Chocolat , A Year in the Merde will tell you how to get served by the grumpiest Parisian waiter; how to make perfect vinaigrette every time; how to make amour - not war; and how not to buy a house in the French countryside"
Merde Actually: "A year after arriving in France, Englishman Paul West is still struggling with some fundamental questions:
What is the best way to scare a gendarme? Why are there no health warnings on French nudist beaches? And is it really polite to sleep with your boss’s mistress?
Paul opens his English tea room, and mutates (temporarily) into a Parisian waiter; samples the pleasures of typically French hotel-room afternoons; and, on a return visit to the UK, sees the full horror of a British office party through Parisian eyes.
Meanwhile, he continues his search for the perfect French mademoiselle. But will Paul find l’amour éternel, or will it all end in merde?
In his second comedy of errors, Paul West continues to sabotage the entente cordiale.
Author’s apology: ‘I’d just like to say sorry to all the suppository fans out there, because in this book there are no suppositories. There are, however, lots of courgettes, and I see this as progress. Suppositories to courgettes – I think it proves that I’m developing as a writer.’ Stephen Clarke."
Merde Happens: "Paul West is in deep financial merde.
His only way out of debt is to accept a decidedly dodgy job that involves him touring America in a Mini, while pretending to be typically British.
Also in the car is Paul's French girlfriend, Alexa, and his American poet friend, Jake, whose main aim in life is to sleep with a woman from every country in the world. Preferably in the back of Paul's Mini.
But as the little car battles from New York to Miami, and then heads west, leg-room turns out to be the least of Paul's troubles. His work is being sabotaged, his tour plans are in tatters, and his love life becomes a Franco-American war zone.
And as Paul knows better than anyone, when you mix love and war - merde happens..."
