Journalist Simon Kuper has written 'Impossible City: Paris in the 21st century.'
Far from just covering well-trodden tourist topics, Kuper takes us into his confidence regarding current realities for actual residents of every stripe: raising a family there; dealing with class differences; unwritten social codes; the elite and how they got there.
A fascinating book, one where the reader learns a lot.

I am done. the croissant

That description makes it sound like a manual to allow the elite to remain in power.

Not really. It's sort of another diatribe by an expat Brit (from South Africa), who decamped London to buy up property in Paris cheaper, etc., rather than he had ever been that interested in French or France before. Partly Paris for Dummies where he has to describe all the weird social mores and quirks, etc of French people, how many of these books have we seen by Brits (who always have trouble speaking French) who think they are superior to others. He's made a career of writing books about class struggles in England (he's anti elite), he writes for the Financial Times. But he also gets into differences in Paris communities and about the Grand Paris project, the Olympiques investments in the banlieues, etc. It generally has gotten good reviews, although Guardian review said he's got a bit simplistic take on class/race differences in Paris. ANd of course, he has to live in a BOBO quarter himself, the Marais. I thought this quote was funny by the Guardian in their review of this book --- Kuper can seem a little too pleased with himself and there are moments when, as he yet again cycles down a lovely cobbled street to another designer coffee shop, you wish he’d get a puncture.


If you read LeMonde, they did a short series of interviews with him a couple years ago that was this sort of stuff he turned into a book.

Certainly didn’t have much nice to say about the énarques.

That's because it's sort of our own version of the House of Lords.

Zebec, I read it in a couple days. VERY well written and interesting -- good insights on the why-fors and where-fors of my favorite city. Recommended for all Francophiles.

In other similar titles that I've read over the decades, one re-occurring theme that stuck was the attitude of the educational system towards young students.
Apparently, the French/Parisian system does not for a second coddle children and the severe, unforgiving criticism that they receive throughout their time in the classroom might shock North American parents.
Kerouac, it was also in one of those previous books written by a born-in-Paris resident that I got the notion that there was no such word in French for 'entrepreneur.'
The author made the claim, one that surprised me given just how 'French' that word is constructed.
You rightly questioned that claim in our TR.

I am done. the pages