When you work in publishing, as I do, you have access to all kinds of books. A bunch end up on first-come, first-served shelves. Maybe they were sent for review to the wrong address. Maybe they two copies came for publicity purposes when only one would suffice. Some just arrive looking for a home.

I grabbed Mark Greenside’s book “I’ll Never be French (no matter what I do)” from a pile of very uninteresting books because it stood out. The bright red cover and witty title led me to discover a genre I fall in and out of love with – the expatriate memoir.

Greenside, a writer from California, moved to France with his girlfriend in the 1990s. The stay was intended to be brief. In the end, the romance fizzled not too long after they arrived, but Greenside started a new relationship, this time with Brittany. Despite not speaking French and having very little capital, he ended up buying a house and making the region of western France his summer retreat.

I enjoyed the book a lot more than I expected, mainly because I did not have high hopes for something I found on a “Free Books” shelf. Greenside did a wonderful job showing how different life can be and how preconceived notions can take a beating. He expected the France we make fun of and found a complicated, welcoming town that has me a bit envious.

My only real quibble with the book is how he used passages in French so often without giving translation. I have a feeling he did this as a literary device because he has very rudimentary French skills and wanted to demonstrate the frustration when you don’t know what people are saying. however, when you’re reading a book and you don’t know what people are saying, that’s even more frustrating.

Regardless, he did a nice job mixing stories of the absurd and his own foibles as well as giving a glimpse into a unique part of France. He didn’t belabor too many points and tied up things pretty quickly. The video below is a small promotional piece for the book and really made me appreciate it more after I saw it.