" A Year in The Merde chronicles Paul West adventure in Paris. It was laughable, the author wrote in such humorous manner on how a British trying to adapt living in French. The first 100 pages had my attention, but then the slapstick humour at certain times, transgressed the boundaries especially with the dry humour on having sex or seeing women as sex objects. If I'm a French citizen, I may be offended by this. But maybe, this is a fiction or a non-fiction mangled in both, which I couldn't even interpret which one is true. Having been in France on vacation for such a short period of time, I may take this true at heart. For certain events occurred in the book, maybe true such as the dog poops, the picket, the relaxed attitude (?) or even the snail dish. A book that contains humour but should not taken into heart. "
— Ummu, 1/30/2014