The French Art of Not Trying Too Hard

I struggled with this book. I didn’t finish it, but I tried. I even tried to go back and read it in pieces.

In fact, I kept it on my reading table for a week, picking it up over and over and try and make some sense of it. (The date on this review is simply the date when I gave up…)

Here’s a problem – it was written in French and translated. I feel like something was lost there.

The words are…lyrical? Like, the author was trying very hard to be sort of spiritual and meaningful, rather than just factual or to-the-point. The entire point dances the subject and wanders in and out of weird metaphors.

Honestly, I don’t think there was a single ounce of practical advice in this book. If there was, it went completely over my head.

This is one of those books that someone might read and think it was really profound. But nine other people would be, like…wut?

I’m one of those nine.

Book Info

Here are some notes I took on the acquisition of this book:

I bought this from a tiny little bookstore in Sydney. I wasn’t going to buy anything, but I got into a nice conversation with the owner – she used to be an aviation lawyer for Boeing – and I would have felt dumb leaving without buying anything.