Paris ( CNN ) -- France 's ex-First Lady , Valérie Trierweiler , is back with a vengeance . A few hours after her memoirs of her relationship with President François Hollande , called `` Merci pour ce moment '' ( Thanks for the moment ) hit the bookstands in France , a new poll showed that the President 's approval ratings were in free fall , reaching the historical low of 13 % . Some extracts had been leaked to the press the day before and Paris Match , Trierweiler 's employer , had exclusively revealed the `` best pages , '' or rather the most damning pages about the President . On Thursday evening , her publisher revealed that in just a few hours of sales , her essay was doing three times better than Fifty Shades of Grey when it was launched . On Amazon , her book was selling like hot brioches , with one copy sold every five seconds . However , French political commentators , and for that matter the entire political class -- allies and foes alike -- dragged again to invade the privacy of the president , are clearly showing signs of farce fatigue and do n't relish his ex-girlfriend 's exercise in character assassination . They may have been amused back in January 2014 to learn of their President 's gallivanting in the streets of Paris , on a scooter driven by a bodyguard , en route to his belle , actress Julie Gayet , but today , they are not impressed . The truth is that nobody comes out unscathed . Literature is perhaps the first casualty in this never-ending scandal , and on two levels . September is traditionally the literary season in France during which hundreds of new novels appear ( 600 this year ) and vie for some space in the media . No doubt Valérie Trierweiler 's book , by generating so much comment and covering so much space , will have ruined the prospect of many worthy first novels . Secondly , `` Merci pour ce moment '' reads like a cheap romance and is an embarrassment for a former Paris Match literary critic . A few examples : `` one day , a violent love blazed through my life like fire . '' On their first kiss , in the middle of a cross-road in Limoges : `` It was indescribable , just like a scene out of a movie . '' And the book 's epitaph : `` I was not protected nor was I betrothed . I only hope I was loved as much as I loved . '' Trierweiler is no Flaubert . On the revelation of the President 's affair , Trierweiler keeps talking about `` betrayal , '' a word she also strangely uses to talk about Ségolène Royal , the mother of the President 's four children whom Hollande left for her . In fact , Trierweiler was hoping for `` a scenario à la Clinton '' with Hollande `` apologizing in public and committing to never see Julie Gayet again . '' Except we are in France and a French President does n't apologize publicly for having had a fling . She was ready to forgive him , she says . When Hollande decides on the contrary to break up , he suggests to her to write a joint communiqué , but she refuses ; he also asks her not to write a book about it all . What is very dubious about Trierweiler 's exercise is that she claims her life at the Elysées Palace was like being on a reporting assignment and that is how she says she wrote her book . Only problem is , a reporter can not be the main actor of the events he or she is supposed to be describing . Also , this is one version of events . We all know that a break-up has many sides ; and that truth is the most elusive of concepts in love . Trierweiler herself comes out very badly : by dishing the dirt in public , she appears as she is , a scorned woman who ca n't get over it , full of revenge and full of herself . Did she ever think of France when she wrote her book ? Did she think of the country 's institutions ? Could n't she have waited until her former lover left the Elysées Palace ? For a former First Lady , she shows little sympathy for her compatriots and her country . The greatest casualty however in this affair , is President Hollande and his image , which is now damaged beyond repair . In her 320-page bitter attack , she presents him as a liar , cold and cynic . She also writes that he mocked her modest origins , calling people like her family `` the toothless '' . Not quite what you might expect from a socialist President .
Former French First Lady publishes book about her affair with Francois Hollande . Nobody comes out of the scandal unscathed , writes commentator Agnes Poirier . Poirier : She herself comes out very badly by dishing the truth in public . Greatest casualty is President Hollande and his image , she adds .