'C'est La Folie'

Review

C'est La Folie

by Michael Wright

2006

I haven't laughed out loud reading a book in a long time. I was so impressed with this piece of travel writing from Michael Wright, I have been telling everyone about, trying to relate the little adventures and funny anecdotes. They always fall short of reading the real thing though. As far as I'm concerned this should be a must-have on the bookshelf.

Michael moves from the UK to rural France to experience some "proper problems" and break away from feeling so "uncomfortably comfortable". If you're stuck in a rut or question your life in any given place, you'll totally understand where he's coming from. I was bursting to do the same!

So he introduces farm animals, run-down renovations to his eccentric new home, interacts with the community and comes head on with French life. He acts as my portal into a world I can only imagine, and his failings/concerns seem so close to my own I was cheering him on at every turn of the page. There are segments of conversation in French, often with no explanation as to what is taking place. In this way, a bit of guess work is necessary and it adds to the overall mystery of communicating in a language other than English, an adventure in itself full of funny mistakes and patchy (and often important!) details.

To laugh out loud on the bus is such a release. I can see this book being made into a movie, perhaps a more realistic (and less romantic) version of Under the Tuscan Sun. There were moments during C'est La Folie when I felt like crying, or felt utterly wretched on behalf of Michael and his predicament. To be that close to the highs and lows of life, not just the elaborate social trappings that we put around ourselves and call life.

Everyone should read this. It gave me a better appreciation for everything around me and reinvigorated my call to head off and see somewhere new.