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    Pardon My French: How a Grumpy American Fell in Love with France
    Pardon My French: How a Grumpy American Fell in Love with France
    Pardon My French: How a Grumpy American Fell in Love with France
    Audiobook8 hours

    Pardon My French: How a Grumpy American Fell in Love with France

    Written by Allen Johnson

    Narrated by David de Vries

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    To make a friend is a joy. To make a friend in another country is a wonderment—a small miracle. Pardon My French follows an American author who has embraced a daunting mission: not to be a spectator in France but an enthusiastic participant—fully engaged, fully alive.

    In France, Johnson is like an alien from another planet. Everything is strange to him. His goal is to speak French without going to prison, drive without being squashed like a bug, dance the tango without losing his marriage, and belt out a tune with a world-class jazz combo without being booed off the stage.

    Repeatedly, the author fearlessly steps into harm’s way. He joins a summer acting troop and witnesses the French version of sexual liberation. He pits his rather staid and conventional driving skills against the French speed demons of Languedoc. He tries to be cool in a painting class while sputtering nervously in front of the nude model with the long legs and silky voice.

    And then, after it all—after the splendor of Christmas on the Mediterranean, the bicycle tours along the French canals, the mountain treks amply supplied with French bread, cheese, and wine—the miracle happens. The often self-deprecating and bungling American meets and falls in love with a beautiful mistress: La belle France. And when he does, an entire village adopts him into a new family—one with a gracious heart and a beautiful French accent.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJun 13, 2017
    ISBN9781543606560

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    Reviews for Pardon My French

    3.5/5

    19 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Good fun, self deprecating and very encouraging for those about to undertake a life change.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Brilliant, funny, real, love his voice (other books/ authors narrators are simply unbearable) was so hoping for another of Allen’s books on his travels!
    • 1/5
      All he thinks about and writes about is sex and the sexy young French women. Boring. I couldn’t get through chapter one, skipped in and out of several further chapters. And I hate narrators who iuse a (in this case) French accent to signify that French people are speaking French. Couldn’t finish.
    • 4/5
      Tremendously enjoyable. I recommend it to all, even if not interested on France or the French people: after all in reading this book, you will become acquainted with most of the ways for all the other Latin based European countries, which have different degrees of more or less friendliness or customer service ?. Of course the description of their culture and peculiarities is priceless and, as such, quite absorbing and hilarious.
    • 5/5
      I very much enjoyed this book. It is a fairly quick read about the author and his wife’s intermittent year long sojourns in the south of France. As someone who is married to a Frenchman and own a home there, I found his insights useful. Allen and his wife Nita learned French when spending time there in the 70s and came back , renting an apartment for a year. He seems a gregarious type, having acted and sung on a semi professional level years before. His tales of friendship and culture there are beautifully written. This is not a travelogue where you glean things and places to see, but merely enjoy the ‘ride’ they are taking.