I wish I had not disliked this book as much as I did. The protagonist/narrative voice - which supposedly is some sort of self-insert of the author, or at least of his fantasies of who we would like to be - is absolutely insufferable. Don't get me wrong, this isn't my first book featuring a young, horny male protagonist. However, this man is supposedly in his twenties  and assumed to be a bit of prodigy in his career as he is sent to France to manage a chain of teashops. 

To be completely honest, I'm still unsure why I finished this book. It did take me nearly two years but for some reason something did keep me going and I admit I have a hard time dropping or letting go of books. There was some situational comedy that kept me entertained - after all, I'm German and enjoy a good joke on the expense of the French people just as much as our friends across the channel. 😉 Just kidding - I love the French! And yes, so does our protagonist, who also tells a brief story of strugglingf to adjust to life in England as he goes to visit his family at home. I actually enjoyed that part, as someone who has spent most of their own twenties as an ex-pat there were relatable bits in there. It is hard to overlook the way the protagonist sees every single woman he encounters as a sex object, weirdly enough even women he claims he isn't really attracted to. At the same time he is so vanilla and boring, it's absolutely unbelievable that all these accomplished and attractive Parisian womemn throw themselves at him the way they do! And it doesn't stop there: Even when he claims to be focused on something else, he thinks about women: "I was far too focused on [something] so that I almost didn't notice all the long-legged, well-dressed Parisian beauties strolling by the patio of the little cozy Parisian cafe where I was enjoying my morning coffee."  And the (male) vendor across the street is handling dirty mushrooms? So sensual, almost like a sexual act.
It must be very exhausting to be this dude. 

There is also some (thinly veiled?) homophobia and transphobia in two of the side plots/stories - there isn't any agression towards the queer characters but they are used at the butt of a joke, so be aware of that if you should still want to read this book.