French Like Moi (A Midwesterner in Paris)

Ah, Paris! Whether you’re talking last tangos, midnights in, red balloons, hunchbacks, French connections, Jean Valjean, Ratatouille, or Amélie Poulain, Paris is the place where it all goes down—and where the it has to be big and heart-stopping, something that never leaves you, that you’ll always have, like the Paris of Casablanca. It’s a layered pastry of romance, adventure, and elegance, coated with a glaze of chic!

But for humorist Scott Dominic Carpenter, it’s mostly a tax dodge. When he moves his family to Paris, he’s cutting corners, and in more ways than one. After setting up shop in the thirteenth arrondissement, the adventures begin. His apartment building proves to be a battleground over both property and propriety; the neighborhood crawls with self-appointed experts; he is mysteriously denounced to the police; the city convulses with violent demonstrations. Through it all, Carpenter keeps his eye on the central mystery of what makes the French French.

Everything is grist for his mill: language, education, politics, immigration, habits, healthcare, friendship, home repairs, and even terrorism. Because Carpenter has spent years (on again off again) in the world’s most glorious capital, he knows French culture intimately. But because he’s from the Midwest, he never quite fits in. The seventeen tales of French Like Moi blend the personal and the Parisian, poking holes in the flimsy stereotypes of French culture. In lieu of pomp and elegance, Carpenter thrives on the hidden and the everyday: neighbors who wish to murder one another, hiccups in transportation, store exchange policies, the operatic drama of the local condo association, healthcare à la française, underground labyrinths, and even terrorism. Thanks to a small cast of recurring characters (friends, neighbors, shopkeepers), and despite an alarming number of cultural misfires and misunderstandings, Carpenter conveys the look and feel of Paris outside the tourist hub.