In the Merde for Love

Clarke, a British journalist working in Paris, offers fans of his international roman a; clef bestseller A Year in the Merde a novel-sequel that mixes adolescent humor with occasionally astute observations about an expatriate's life in France-with happy results. Clarke's alter-ego Paul West, a 27-year-old Englishman and culinary school graduate turned entrepreneur, opens a tearoom in Paris. After ""accidentally screwing someone else,"" Paul must prove himself to Alexa, the woman he loves, and many shenanigans ensue. A chef with the Breton name of Yann Kerbolloc'h and the French seaside resort town of Ars are sources of great mirth, as are bum jokes, see-through nighties, the many names for male genitalia (dongler, todger, zizi, pair of walnuts and a chipolata, and ""what I hoped was an adequate bump in my surfer shorts,"" to name a few). Clarke doesn't gloss over the racial tensions in Paris, and an occasional editorial voice can be heard, as when the protagonist laments ""the dire state"" of Britain's railways. On Nutella, he says, ""Teenagers and jobless graduates turn to it with a spoon in times of stress."" This quick summer read is a rollicking, self-mocking, and brazenly uncouth meal of bonbons coton.