About book French Fried: One Man's Move To France With Too Many Animals And An Identity Thief (2000)
This is an engaging account of two Britons who, along with their horse, two cats and a dog, move to rural France where they are beset by a seemingly endless variety of problems, each more unlikely than the last. While some of the problems are par for the course (heating an old farmhouse, French bureaucracy etc.) and some are almost too cliché to deserve inclusion (misbehaving animals, difficult mother-in-law), the author generally makes the most of them. They have some genuinely major obstacles to overcome though, not least of which is the theft of the author's identity and life savings, a story which takes up most of the second half of the book. The events of the book take place in the mid-1990s, significantly a world without Google, mobile phones, GPS or the euro, all of which would have made their lives a little easier. (I'm not sure why it took 15 years to write.)Overall, this was an enjoyable if slightly muddled book. There were several genuinely funny moments and I even laughed out loud once or twice, but occasionally the humour falls a little flat. There's not much character development: all of the cast except the author are either sketches or caricatures. It's also somewhat lacking in narrative structure - I think a little more focus on the identity theft story could have held this book together better. As it is, it arrives a little too late in the story and is a little lacking in mystery to be truly compelling. While it could do with some tighter editing, I found it to be a good read. Ideal for travel reading, it's not too taxing, it's funny and rarely drags. This one kept me chuckling. A tale of "What more could go wrong? Oh, that." Reminded me of Bill Cosby's sage advice: "Never challenge worse."Chris Dolly is a witty writer and while this true-life story is a bit more stressful than his delightful "What Ho! Automaton," there are plenty of smiles to counteract the disasters. I thought I'd dislike reading about the identity theft but in fact I found that part of the story - and Dolly's intrepid detective work - the most enjoyable part of the book. Thumbs up!
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Hysterical. Well written. A joy for anyone who likes British humor.
—jaedenwilson
I can't finish this book. it's too foreign for me.
—Alida
