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A la Mod: My So-Called Tranquil Family Life in Rural France Paperback – 6 May 2013
| Ian Moore (Author) See search results for this author |
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Comedian, mod and professional grump Ian Moore has had enough. Tired of being unable to park anywhere near his cramped house in a noisy town he doesn’t like, he hatches a plan to move his wife and young son to a remote corner of the Loire Valley in search of serenity and space. Several years later, Ian finds himself up to his neck in bilingual offspring, feral cats, promiscuous horses, dysfunctional spaniels and needy hens; he’s wrestling with electric fences, a foreign language, a mountain of animal waste and a wife who collects livestock like there’s a biblical flood on the horizon, all while trying not to dirty his loafers.
But despite the ups, downs and increasing demands of Ian’s showbiz career, the Moore family persevere in true Brit style to create a unique, colourful and ultimately rewarding life in their new home – à la campagne and à la mod!
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSummersdale
- Publication date6 May 2013
- Dimensions12.7 x 2.54 x 20.32 cm
- ISBN-101849533997
- ISBN-13978-1849533997
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Product description
Review
‘a wonderfully funny tale’
― Connexion Newspaper'I hate mods, I hate France and I hate reading but I still loved this book.'
-- Lee Mack, comedian'À La Mod is everything its author is: immaculately turned out, sharp and consistently hilarious.'
-- Mark Billingham, best-selling author'Charming, witty, a brilliant read.'
-- Sarah Millican, comedian'C'est Mod-nifique.'
-- Marcus Brigstocke, comedian'Has all the angry wit of John Cleese in a too tight suit… a farce to be reckoned with!'
-- Michael Smiley, actor'There are a great many comedians who think that they can also write books, myself included, but very few who can rival Ian Moore's immediate warmth and skill with language. This is a book that will provide laughs of recognition from those with young children of their own and of intrigue from singletons like myself. I finished it feeling part of the family and can't wait to find out what happens to us next!'
-- Jon Richardson, comedian and author'Take one life-long mod and chuck him into rural France, complete with pond-dredging, chutney-making, child-rearing and a horse with VD. The result is funny, revealing and oddly touching. Paul Weller meets A Year in Provence...'
-- Miranda Sawyer, journalist and broadcaster'Ian Moore is a brilliantly funny writer and that's all there is to it.'
-- Annabel Giles, author and broadcaster'A very funny, charming and honest account of a family's journey by one of my favourite comedians.'
-- Shappi Khorsandi, comedian'I've seen Ian Moore on the stage and I'm happy to report that he's just as good on the page. A light-hearted and wry look at life for the Moore family in the Loire Valley, with a passing and amusing nod to Durrell's My Family and Other Animals.'
-- Nick Hewer, broadcaster'Plunges you straight in to Ian Moore's strange, endearingly funny world. Zips along with nippy energy, although there are pages you have to read twice they make you laugh so much.'
-- Annie Caulfield, writer and broadcaster'A warm and witty journey into a foreign land. Like much of the produce in the French village where the Moore family shops, the humour is organic.'
-- Martin Kelner, journalist'If you are looking for stylish laugh, you need look no l further than À La Mod.'
-- Mark Baxter, co-author of An A-Z of Mod'Wonderfully funny; the sharpest, best-dressed most sardonic Englishman to land on French soil and make the absurd hysterical - this book will serve both as a warning and a temptation to anyone pining for a French idyll.'
-- Janey Godley, author and comedian'A hilarious and heart-warming tale exploring the reality of a very English man abroad. Moore's writing is honest, immensely readable and laugh-out-loud funny.'
-- Dr Katy Shaw, author and academic'Witty, insightful and wonderfully written, I couldn't put it down.'
-- Katharine Merry, Olympic Medallist and Broadcaster'Although this is hardly the first account of expats making a new life in France, Moore's comedy timing gives this a lightness of touch that makes it feel entertainingly fresh.'
― The Daily Mail'This comical depiction of life in rural France will raise a few smiles'
― France magazine'a wonderfully funny tale'
― Connexion Newspaper'there is plenty of humour here and he often had me sniggering, giggling and really laughing with his light hearted look at his life.'
― The French Village Diaries'As you might expect from a comedian, it's highly entertaining'
― Destination France'Sit back and enjoy the show'
― French Property News'A la Mod is as much about the difficulties of rural life as is it is being a Mod in France - and is all the better for it.'
― The Independent on SundayAbout the Author
Ian Moore is a stand-up comedian in the UK and a husband, father of three boys, farmhand and chutney-maker in France. He is a mod in both walks of life and most of his time is spent travelling grumpily between the two.
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Product details
- Publisher : Summersdale (6 May 2013)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1849533997
- ISBN-13 : 978-1849533997
- Dimensions : 12.7 x 2.54 x 20.32 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 627,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 156 in Living & Working Abroad
- 1,716 in Travel Pictorials
- 2,344 in History of France
- Customer reviews:
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About the author

Ian Moore is a stand-up comedian in the UK and a husband, father of three boys, farmhand and chutney-maker in France. He is a mod in both walks of life and most of his time is spent travelling grumpily between the two.
Customer reviews
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Briefly it's the story of how a stand-up comic you're not likely to have heard of and his wife and kids follow family connections and cheap property prices to a ramshackle farmhouse in rural France. It's a culture-clash comedy-drama about how they deal with making a living, being foreigners, surviving relationship and family problems, and of course confronting "the French".
The humour rises out of the contrast between the dirt and chaos of the countryside, and author Ian's identity as a smart, slightly OCD Mod. And the contrast between his wife's shabby chic style and her open-door policy to every local stray animal, and his identity as a smart, slightly OCD Mod. And the contrast between his young children's mischievous and chaotic approach to life, and his identity as a smart, slightly OCD Mod. And the contrast between the badly dressed and/or lackadaisical natives, and his identity as a smart, slightly OCD Mod.
You may detect an emerging theme.
The book's other key theme is Ian's struggle to maintain his quality of life and family ties when his day-job in stand-up comedy means he has to commute from France to England and the Rest of the World. This thread tightens like a tourniquet as time lost to travel and separation makes him more and more stressed, and eventually it strangles the comedy. Despite a conscious effort to inject the odd oasis of bucolic charm the last two thirds of the book are very dry and the writing just comes across as tense and angry.
In fairness, if you've moved to and lived in France for any length of time Ian Moore's experiences will resonate. The problem is that they're all the usual suspects for an ex-pat memoir. The slightly mis-matched couple with a gaggle of loveable moppets. She's fluent, the kids become fluent, but he struggles with the language. They struggle to make a living. They struggle with French bureaucracy. They struggle with the French health service. They struggle with local builders.
The diary structure means that, apart from the growing work-related stress there's no real narrative thread, just a series of "and then ..."
I came away thinking, first and foremost, seriously, in the 21st century does anyone either know or care what a "mod" is? This really undercuts the intended hilarity of stories like "how I wore Sta Prest slacks and a paisley shirt to shovel up horse manure", and the sardonic nose-taps about his new neighbours' eye-rolls when he dresses up to go and buy bread.
Author Ian is clearly both proud and attached not just to his anachronistic appearance but also his creative-artistic identity. He just can't hold down a normal job, so when you think about it, stand-up comedy is really the only choice. It's the same logic that looks at the English property market and decides the only possible answer is to move to France. Obviously the onerous weekly international commute is tough, but when it's the only option, what can you do?
Through all Ian's trials and tribulations I couldn't help thinking, just for the sake of argument you understand, that a workforce of literally millions of other hard-working if slightly less self-obsessed native fellow English-people seem to have found another surprisingly workable solution.
Why not just think about ... you know ... living nearer work?
There have been lots and lots of books written about the British relocating to France but this book is different. Ian Moore is a comedian, and a mod. And a mod who is determined not to let the fact that he is living in rural France get in the way of his sense of style. He refuses to wear wellington boots, for example, even when the land is knee deep in mud.
His reasons for moving are ones I can really identify with. Why, in Britain, do we pay huge amounts of money for tiny houses and a square of back garden? Why do we accept that that’s how it must be? Bravely, or stupidly, Ian and his wife buy a house in the Loire on impulse, attracted by the space it will give to their growing family.
But it’s not all idyllic. Moore has to travel back and forth to the UK to work, leaving his wife Natalie alone with their children. Often exhausted when he returns home, he also makes the return journey full of trepidation as to how many new animals his wife and boys will have acquired while he’s been away. These animals, including a horse with an intense dislike of Moore, a dog that continuously makes amorous advances to anything that stays still and a band of feral cats that accept no rules, become the bane of Moore’s life. But his wife continues to add to the collection, even trying to save the mice left half dead by the cats. I have an uneasy feeling that this is how it will be for us, and I will spend my life picking up the endless piles of various animals’ poo which is how Natalie seems to spend most of her days.
Funny, very readable and honest too, this book doesn’t give a glamorous, how wonderful it is, fake picture of life in France. It isn’t all drinking wine in the sunshine. There are relentless winters, gales that blow trampolines through the garden, struggles and misunderstandings due to Moore’s inability to pick up the language, and times when it all seems too much. Yes, it’s light-hearted and fun, but it’s also realistic. Does it put me off going to France? No. Will I be reading the next book - C’est Modnifique? Definitely.





