Mark Greenside drops you into life in Brittany as an American and takes us for a nice ride. The people he encounters and the stories he tells are quite charming. I did knock a star because it was rather overwhelming at the start of the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review. If I know myself, and I do, I requested this strictly because it had something to do with France...and I like memoirs. While I generally liked this book, I had a hard time reading it sometimes...it bounced all over the place so I had a hard time keeping up and it used SO much French...some paragraphs also had English so the average person would know what was being said but there was a lot in there that didn't have English so I had to hit translate very often...which I don't mind sometimes because some of the words will stick with me...but this was just too much for me. Also some of the English words I had no frikking clue what was being said because it was like listening to a college professor use all of his fancy knowledge...so I STILL had to look things up. One thing I CAN tell you is that after reading this, I have absolutely no desire to ever move to France.

I loved this book so much! I had read all of the Peter Mayle books, and have been so sad that they were finished. This was such a nice, weirdly comforting book in the Mayle style that definitely filled in that gap for me! I really enjoyed this book, and it had me cracking up! Great summer read!

I haven't read anything else by this author; however, I do enjoy reading about how Americans fit in when they move to other countries.

In the beginning, Mark Greenside mentions one person he knows after another. Like I said, I had not read any other books so it was a bit too much for me. If like me, you find this overwhelming, stick with it. The stories you are waiting for are coming.

I give this 4 stars.

I totally enjoyed reading I am Finally, Finally French. It was charming and often funny as Mark stumbled through trying to communicate in his awkward French. As he tried to navigate the simple, at least to his American self, of paying an electric bill. His social network and interactions were interesting even when his communication skills were limited were wonderful. He found ways to make connections. He had serious problems with his house, a bee infestation, a grease trap he wasn't aware of that needed cleaned and each problem required some specialist that taxed his limited abilities and certainly his limited communication skills. Each time though, he was able to reach out through his broad network of social connections that he had slowly developed for help.
I think what the book taught me was the romantic vision of buying/ renting/moving to a rural place in Brittany is just that. A romantic vision. Lovely to dream about, but perhaps better to just have a vacation for a couple of weeks there.

Another enjoyable title by Mark Greenside. He always makes me laugh, but this book is more reflective than his other ones. He's 78 now and spends some time talking about aging. But overall the book is very funny and a great read with heartfelt stories.

Book Review: I Am Finally, Finally French by Mark Greenside
Reviewed from an advance pre-release copy provided by NetGalley

Some books charm you. Others provoke deep thought. A rare few, like I Am Finally, Finally French, do both while keeping you laughing all the way through. Mark Greenside's newest memoir is a warm, witty, and entirely human account of learning to live—and age—with grace and grit in rural Brittany. More than a tale of culture clash, it’s a celebration of embracing the unfamiliar, of finding a sense of home in a place that once felt foreign.

What sets this memoir apart from others in the “American-abroad” genre is Greenside’s refusal to romanticize or rush his transformation. Unlike tales that paint France in glossy strokes of croissants and châteaux, this one earns its affection the hard way—through humility, humor, and the long, often clumsy dance of adaptation. Thirty years after buying a dilapidated farmhouse in a village of 500, Greenside doesn’t claim mastery over his adopted home, but instead marvels at how the people and culture have shaped him—into someone he never expected to become.

Greenside, a self-proclaimed pessimist and former outsider in every sense, documents life’s little absurdities with disarming honesty. Whether struggling with the nuances of French social etiquette or trying to decipher the inscrutable rules of local bureaucracy, his adventures are both hilarious and heartening. You don’t need to have lived in France to recognize the universal themes of miscommunication, belonging, and the hard-won beauty of personal growth.

The joy of reading this book lies in the details: a tomato at the market becomes a lesson in social ritual, a dinner party is an exercise in diplomacy, and aging itself is seen through a lens that is neither saccharine nor cynical, but reflective and real. Greenside's storytelling is alive with wit, and his self-awareness is refreshing—never smug, always sincere.

Perhaps the most moving element is the backdrop of time. Unlike typical travel memoirs that focus on arrival, this one is steeped in what comes after: the decades of return trips, of growing older in a place that becomes home not all at once, but inch by inch. It's this long view—of friendship, of change, of quiet acceptance—that makes I Am Finally, Finally French more than just a funny expat tale. It's a book about life, told through the lens of a place that gave it a different hue.

My own experience reading it mirrored the heart of the story: completely engrossing, surprisingly moving, and unexpectedly funny. Time flew. I laughed aloud more than once at Greenside’s antics and reflections, and I often felt I was right there in Plobien, sipping wine with his neighbors or fumbling through a social faux pas at the marché. Having visited France myself, I found his experiences utterly believable—which only deepened the connection I felt to the story. In fact, I've already begun recommending this book to friends, one of whom recently bought her own home in France and is eagerly anticipating the release of this book.

If there’s any critique, it’s that some readers hoping for a more traditional narrative arc may find the episodic style of the memoir a bit loose. But to expect tight plotlines is to miss the point: this isn’t a story of conquest or destination, but of becoming—slowly, awkwardly, and entirely on one’s own terms.

In a literary world full of overcurated lives and Instagram-perfect journeys, I Am Finally, Finally French is a breath of fresh, countryside air. It reminds us that true belonging doesn’t happen in an instant; it’s earned, often hilariously, through years of stumbling, learning, and showing up. Whether you're a seasoned traveler, a Francophile, or simply someone who appreciates stories of reinvention later in life, this book will speak to you.

Greenside doesn’t just tell us he feels “finally, finally French.” He shows us, in every page, how a place can change a person—not by erasing who they were, but by uncovering who they were meant to become.

#IAmFinallyFinallyFrench #MarkGreenside #NetGalley

This is Mark Greenside’s third book about his life in France, I believe (he spends several months per year in an old house in Brittany). Like his other books, in this one he pokes fun at himself and his limited French-speaking skills while discussing the joys and challenges of life as a part-time resident of the country. He is at his most amusing when dealing with technological challenges such as difficulty paying an electric bill through the French system, his travails in setting up working Internet service in his French home, and his puzzlement over a dryer he can’t get to function. Some other chapters, on his more enjoyable experiences with friends in France, are less compelling. The subject of his adjustment to France has perhaps been largely exhausted by this point, now that he has had his home there for so many years. It was a quick read and an amusing one, though I’m not sure I mind that this is likely the last of his works in this vein.