pick3.5/5
Craig Carlson recounts with honesty his experience opening the 1st American diner in Paris in the 2000s.
There is a tendency to focus on what goes wrong, there are some generalizations, but in comparison with other books I've read, it is pretty accurate.
It's always easier to navigate a system you're born into, and unfortunately, everywhere people manage to play the system.
French editor needed to correct the many mistakes in the book...
pickGreat book! Readers who enjoyed this might also enjoy "The Road to Burgundy" by Ray Walker. Walker's book is different in that he opened a winery and not a diner, but it's also about an American moving to France and pursuing his dream.
WHAT??????????????
"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all--in which case, you fail by default."
--J.K. Rowling's commencement speech at Harvard
pickCraig Carlson fell in love with France but missed American breakfasts there. In this memoir, he details how he came to be the owner of Breakfast in America in Paris. Early in the book, he tries a little too hard and it‘s a bit painful, but he settles into it and I enjoyed reading his story. And the labor laws in France are insane!
