Monday, 13 October 2014

My thoughts on "French Leave" by Liz Ryan

 
source: Facebook

I finally finished Liz Ryan's memoir "French Leave" and I have to say, it was hard to put the book (well, the Kindle) down every night as I always wanted to know what was going to happen!

Liz is just my opposite. She left Ireland around the same time I arrived here. She quit her job, sold her house and happily gave up her daily commute and crazy urban life to settle in the middle of nowhere in Normandy. I left everything in France (which wasn't much to be honest- that's where we differ), and especially my rural life, to build a new life in the city (which thank God, was on the seaside, or I wouldn't have survived).

As I was reading about her daily struggles and how she described her new surroundings, how she discovered the culture, the mentality and the French lifestyle in general, I found myself laughing, smiling and nodding. A lot.

As a French person living in Ireland, I empathized and understood both sides of the fence: The French crazy bureaucracy, the love of wine, the strikes that sometimes paralyse the country, the social etiquette that seems so normal for us French, but can be daunting for foreigners. On the other side, I knew what she was talking about when there were mentions of RTE, Joe Duffy, Galtee sausages or just the description of a country who had gone crazy during the Celtic tiger.

She even talked about Thierry Henry's infamous handball and we ended up in complete opposite situations the following days... Everybody in France apologising to her, all my Irish colleagues slagging me off...

I liked the way she described French TV, politicians, current affairs (riots, strike, protests and so on). I followed all of those events from my couch in Ireland, she was living them, and her accounts were very accurate. 

I found her very honest as well. She talks about France in a very positive way, yet she doesn't romanticise the country. Yes, France is a great place to live, the quality of life is second to none, but if you decide to live there, it's not going to be easy. You'll have to learn the language, make an effort, socialise and basically integrate into French society to be accepted.

Towards the end of the book, she wonders if it's time to go home or if she wants to stay. After all, 10 years is a long time and sometimes homesickness comes knocking at the door... She is actually asking the reader what he would do if he was in the same situation.

"Suddenly, I'm standing at a crossroads, with no maps and no compass. In an ideal world, there'd be some way to keep a foot in both camps, but I can't see how...or that would just be "chicken" anyway, and a shortcut to schizophrenia?"

"What would you do, if you were me?"

I've asked myself the same question. A thousand times. The difference is, I'm married, I have kids and our life is here now. Yet, I still keep the idea at the back of my mind. I can't see myself getting old in Ireland. I'm not really French anymore, but I'm not entirely Irish either. 

And to finish, a quote that I completely agree with:

"France does sensational fireworks, but Ireland does verbal pyrotechnics."

I really enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone who wants to have an honest insight about life in France. It's funny, witty, there's action (mainly with the Police), drink, shopping, not that much romance, but hey, you can't have everything!!


Comments (10)

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Thanks for this review! It sounds really funny. Ah, the old dilemma : going back or not? Right now, I must admit that I feel a bit homesick. I suppose that it is part of being an expat. My heart will always be at two places at the same time. I am deep today!
1 reply · active 559 weeks ago
I think we will always be in that situation, and as the author says, it'd be great to have a foot in both camps, but it's not easy...
Glad you enjoyed it!
1 reply · active 559 weeks ago
Thanks, I really did, especially because it was an Irish author moving to France, I really could understand everything she was talking about!
" I can't see myself getting old in Ireland. I'm not really French anymore, but I'm not entirely Irish either. " How familiar a thought. Though at 30 years down the road, Irish and living in Italy, kids in school or Uni... much as I dream of going home to the craic, to the banter to.... good lord the sausages!!! I can't honestly see it happen. One foot here and one there was never an option after my Dad died and definitely a no no after the third child. So even though I dream of Ireland and a B&B when the youngest is of Uni age, the low down is I've no more family, not enough friendships to shake down dust off and fall back into on a permanent basis, and a whole lot of other things (kids (yeah they don't really seem to want to follow me to the Emerald Isle), friends and aging in-laws) to keep me firmly anchored here. Hope that in some way you manage to dream on!
1 reply · active 559 weeks ago
Thank you so much for sharing your own experience. It gets harder as the years go by to think about returning home because you're right, kids feel more attached to the country they are brought up in and not the country of their parents. I've kept very good friends in France so far, so I know I still have that, but I'm under no illusion that the more time passes by, the harder it will get and I may have to come to the conclusion that my life is in Ireland for ever!
I've always loved France and had thoughts of moving there too! And I remember Liz Ryan as a journalist so I'd say that I'd be interested to read this book. I doubt that I will ever move back to Wales now as it no longer feels like home: it's home only in my memories now x
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3 replies · active 558 weeks ago
It really is a great book. It's amazing the amount of people who would like to live in France, I don't really understand it ( except maybe the weather part, but still...). I love Wales too, I've been there twice and my home town is twinned with a Welsh village (Fishguard)
Reasons why I'd like to live in France might make a good blog post don't you think?
Yeah,definitely , I'd love to read that :-)

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