Mes parents font des SMS (My Parent’s Text)

‘Mes parents font des SMS’ by Alexandre Hattab (2013) Could be translated by “My parent’s text”

After the success of Vie de Merde (Shitty Life), the ‘Mes Parents font des SMS’ website was on its way to becoming the new web trend! It’s not as funny, though! “It brings together an anthology of the most unusual messages that parents send their children by text message. When parents don’t understand how to make a text message, or when they don’t really know how to use common expressions, funny conversations can happen, resulting in awkward, zany, crazy or just plain hilarious text messages!”

Yes and no! This Pocket-sized book is fun… and that’s really the word for it. It’s neither essential nor incredible. Very far from being a masterpiece, despite a few little gems, it remains by turns funny or touching. It’s guaranteed to be 100% true, and the exchanges are pretty heated! Quick to read, quick to re-read a few months or years later.

It’s comparable to ‘La femme parfaite est une connasse (The perfect woman is an asshole)!’ by the Girard sisters: Anne-Sophie & Marie-Aldine. You have a good time, you don’t need to think, but these books didn’t revolutionise my life.

A second book came out three years later, in 2016. The Girard sisters released the second book the following year, in 2014. It’s really only for the biggest fans. There’s no doubt that these books allow you to take a breather between two big, more serious reads, and that’s their advantage.

Well, as you’ll have gathered from the start, I didn’t particularly enjoy this book. I found it in a book box and I wouldn’t have wanted to pay for these pages. Sure, some of the conversations can be funny, but definitely not all of them. Luckily it’s divided into six different categories of conversation, so you’re a bit prepared for what’s to come.

To conclude, I’m going to try to be extremely objective:

This is a very short and sometimes very funny book about certain conversations between parents, grandparents and their children. Some of the naughty situations of everyday life that we sometimes find ourselves in. I liked the original presentation, which makes for quick and addictive reading, as all the conversations are presented as if on a mobile phone, with a different colour for the sender and recipient, which makes for pleasant reading. It’s a good, relaxing read, with some of the conversations laugh-out-loud funny. I’d recommend it to people who want to relax, without the headaches. Yes, you know, that category of people who never want to go too deep into conversations 😉