Anatoly Gladilin’s book is a look at modern French society through the eyes of a person with a deeply rooted Russian mindset. Having lived in France for more than thirty years, the writer, with irony, writes about the “hard” life of ordinary French people and pokes fun at their petty fears. The author pays tribute to the traditions of French society, but harshly criticizes its weak points: “Imagine that a group of guys from the Moscow region’s Lyubertsy arrives in Paris and starts ‘messing around’ in the streets. Sure, the lads might beat up a dozen frail French policemen—but in the end, they will definitely be rounded up... Another matter is if among the ‘Lyubertsy’ there are Black people and Arabs. Then, if the police try to detain them at the scene of the crime, people will have to scream hysterically and point at the policemen: ‘Racists, racists!’ A motley crowd of Parisians will immediately rush to the police’s aid, and then the police’s job will be to run away as fast as their legs carry them.”