Running through the book, of course, are the stories of Chisholm’s fellow waiters, and they’re not exactly having a good time either. In fact, many move from restaurant to restaurant, looking for a better position, for promotion to head waiter, or just for slightly improved money or conditions. It’s a febrile world, full of uncertainty, and the living conditions of these waiters are often not much above destitution. Chisholm Edward Chisholm's spellbinding memoir of his time as a Parisian waiter is the perfect summer read. It takes you below the surface of one of the most iconic cities in the world and right into its glorious underbelly. What a talent, what a career, what a life, and what a treat to relive it all with this most down-to-earth of demigods. I loved this book for many reasons. Paris is my absolute favorite city in the world and I always enjoy books that take me there. I worked as a waiter in college, though under much different conditions, so I could relate just a little. This memoir was so riveting it read like fiction. The “cast of characters” was varied, fully fleshed out, and hugely interesting. There were comrades, criminals, friends, villains, and more. All that made for a great reading experience.⁣⁣ Edward Chisholm arrives in Paris with very little money or French language and basically fakes his way into a job at a fancy restaurant in Paris to make ends meet. The start of the book is painful as he doesn’t really understand what the job entails (or, if indeed, he has a job or not, such are his language skills!) and then once he starts working, there is a whole hierarchical system he has to learn along with the job and the language.

You also get lots of details about the horrid bedbug-infested hovels in which the author must live. Prostitutes out front, people sleeping in their cars on the street, shared bathrooms, paper-thin walls.Ah, Paris... gastronomie magnifique and... insane shit going on behind the scenes. A Waiter in Paris charts Edward Chisholm's jaw-dropping experiences while serving tables in the French capital, a demi-monde of sadistic managers, thieves, fighting for tips and drug dealers. Seems like not much has changedsince George Orwell worked the same beat.' - Evening Standard Edward Chisholm’s spellbinding memoir of his time as a Parisian waiter takes you below the surface of one of the most iconic cities in the world and right into its glorious underbelly. There, Chisholm inhabits a world of inhuman hours, snatched sleep, and dive bars. He scrapes by on coffee, bread, and cigarettes, often working under sadistic managers, for a wage so low he’s forced to fight his colleagues for tips. And these colleagues — thieves, narcissists, ex-Legionnaires, paperless immigrants, wannabe actors, and drug dealers — are the closest thing he has to family. Much the way that charity camp out for the homeless are not real approximations of what it’s like to be homeless because the participants are destined a warm bed the night after, Chisholm can’t really capture the struggle of being a waiter because unlike most of the other characters he’s not trapped in that life. Spears’ vulnerability shines through as she describes her painful journey from vulnerable girl to empowered woman. And it never even crossed my mind to work in a Paris restaurant - ever. This (fill in. your own blank) book confirms my decision on that score. I don't think this is a book everyone will read or if they do, will love. Too bad, because Chisholm tells a tale of determination, endurance, fortitude and daring that blew me away. He climbed his own Mt. Everest; no sherpas, no map, no modern equipment. No frills. There were no frills I could find anyway. Words that come to mind are cliched, but they fit; raw, grimy, smelly, vicious, relentless and nowhere do these bon mots: 'liberte, egalite, fraternite' crawl in. Want an adventure? Do you have dream that must be realized? Don't we all? My advice - in case it's working off the books in a glamorous foreign city, READ THIS BOOK.

This is more a memoir of the author as a young man -- twenty something, an aspiring journalist with no gritty life experience to reveal. His months as a Parisian waiter (actually, mostly as a "runner", aspiring to be a waiter) provide the robust, colourful and often treacherously difficult writer's fodder. Indeed, if you are looking for the glamour, sweetness and beauty routinely associated with this European city, this bio is not going to provide it. However, if you are looking for an authentic experience as well as some beautiful character creation (with a side of personal growth ), you will absolutely enjoy this. An evocative portrait of the underbelly of contemporary Paris as seen through the eyes of a young waiter scraping out a living in the City of Light. Waiting tables is physically demanding work, frequently humiliating, and incredibly competitive. But it doesn’t matter because you’re in Paris, the centre of the universe, and there’s nowhere else you’d rather be in the world. He inhabits a world of inhuman hours, snatched sleep and dive bars; scraping by on coffee, bread and cigarettes, often under sadistic managers, with a wage so low you're fighting your colleagues for tips. Colleagues - including thieves, narcissists, ex-Legionnaires, paperless immigrants, wannabe actors and drug dealers - who are the closest thing to family that you've got. He inhabits a world of inhuman hours, snatched sleep and dive bars; scraping by on coffee, bread and cigarettes, often under sadistic managers, with a wage so low you're fighting your colleagues for tips. Your colleagues—including thieves, narcissists, ex-soldiers, immigrants, wannabe actors, and drug dealers—are the closest thing to family that you've got.I'm a real nut for anything - fact or fiction - about Paris. This book was completely different from anything on the City of Lights I've ever read: as the subtitle hints, "adventure in the dark heart of the City," and author Edward Chisholm definitely delivers. The waiter inhabits a world of inhuman hours, snatched sleep and dive bars; scraping by on coffee, bread and cigarettes, often under sadistic managers, with a wage so low you’re fighting your colleagues for tips. A waiter’s job is to deceive you. They want you to believe in a luxurious calm because on the other side of that door … is hell. by Edward Chisholm for the win! This memoir may be the very best I’ve read this year. In it, Chisholm recounts his first year of working his way into the elite, yet lowly world of Paris waiters. This was made even more difficult by the fact that he’s English and spoke almost no French. ⁣⁣ It’s 2012, and after graduating from university, the young Chisholm moves to Paris with his girlfriend, Alice. They’re living on a shoestring, with Chisholm determined to try to make it as a writer. However, he’s hampered by a number of things, not least his inability to speak French; and when the relationship falls apart, he’s left with little alternative but to try to get a job in a restaurant. It’s here he finds out that the Parisian waiter is a breed apart, and it becomes clear that he may not have what it takes to make the grade. But winter is cold, he needs a job to pay for somewhere to

Edward Chisholm’s spellbinding memoir of his time as a Parisian waiter takes you below the surface of one of the most iconic cities in the world and right into its glorious underbelly. This astonishing book describes a cruel, feral existence and is worthy of standing on the shelf next to George Orwell’s Down And Out In Paris And London (1933) as another classic about human exploitation.’– Daily Mail He inhabits a world of inhuman hours, snatched sleep, and dive bars; scraping by on coffee, bread, and cigarettes, often under sadistic managers, with a wage so low you're fighting your colleagues for tips. Your colleagues—including thieves, narcissists, ex-soldiers, immigrants, wannabe actors, and drug dealers—are the closest thing to family that you've got. Chisholm is a wonderful observer of people, of poverty, and of the French." - Simon Kuper, author of The Barcelona Complex and Spies, Lies, and ExileA waiter's job is to deceive you. They want you to believe in a luxurious calm because on the other side of that door...is hell. An English waiter's riveting account of working in Paris restaurants (...) a searing account of what life is really like 'at the bottom of the food chain', Chisholm's prose positively delights in describing the graffiti, sodden cardboard boxes and litter-strewn pavements. (...) This astonishing book describes a cruel, feral existence and is worthy of standing on the shelf next to George Orwell's Down And Out In Paris And London (1933) as another classic about human exploitation. -- Roger Lewis * Daily Mail * This is part of my Summer Reads series where I’ll be sharing book recommendations – a series of “not just cookbooks”. Edward Chisholm's book is vividly written and merciless in its detail. Paris and its pleasures always leave one wondering about the seamier side beneath the surface, and here it is. I'd advise readers to enjoy it somewhere warm and comfortable, and on no account to try it before a gastronomic weekend. -- Edward Stourton