Skip to main content

Building Your Castle and Living Like a King in France by Gerald Doucet: book review

 


Building Your Castle and Living Like a King in France by Gerald Doucet (1995) is a memoir of collective castle-building, set in Paris, France, from 1983 to 1994.

 

‘With a few tips you too can flourish in French society without really crying,’ asserts Frenchman Gerald Doucet. 

 

A collective of eight families – called the Montmartre Eight (M-8) – build and live in a castle, starting with developing the blueprint with an architect to moving in and facing new challenges, such as noise, disputes, growing children, gossip, affairs, and divorce. They, of course, do not actually live in Montmartre – while the situation is real, the castle location and the individual families remain undisclosed.

 

Gerald Doucet begins with the ‘leaders of the pack’ – the individuals who make the majority of the decisions and management of the ‘build.’ Each family lives in apartment spaces ranging from 150-180 square metres (1,600-1,900 square feet) within the castle on an adequate block of land. 

 

By 1988, five years from the start, the castle ‘had life, the smell of good food, the laughter of children, and one very large mud hole that we set about to groom with trees and grass.’ At the time of writing, M-8 have been together for 10 years, going through various stages of cooperation and conflict, but with a ‘surprising cohesion’ between them. 

 

This book is not only about advice on building a castle and dealing with architects, construction workers, and government regulations, but it also includes how to greet each other, whom to kiss and when to shake hands, buying food at the market, how to invite the French to dinner, what to serve, where to school your children, and where to go on vacation.  It is well-written, fast-paced, authentic, and hilariously funny.  









 

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

 

MARTINA NICOLLS

MartinaNicollsWebsite

Rainy Day Healing

Martinasblogs  

Publications

Facebook

Paris Website

Paris blogs

Animal Website

Flower Website

Global Gentlemanliness

SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES 


MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, foreign aid audits and evaluations, and the author  of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce  (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...
1 comment
Read more