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Friends Like These [Paperback]

Danny Wallace
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Book Description

2 July 2009

Danny Wallace is about to turn thirty and his life has become a cliché. Recently married and living in a smart new area of town, he's swapped pints down the pub for lattes and brunch. For the first time in his life, he's feeling, well ... grown-up.

But something's not right. Something's missing. Until he finds an old address book containing just twelve names. His best mates as a kid. Where are they now? Who are they now? And how are they coping with being grown-up too?

And so begins a journey from A-Z, tracking down and meeting his old gang. He travels from Berlin to Tokyo, from Sydney to LA. He even goes to Loughborough. He meets Fijian chiefs. German rappers. Some ninjas. And a carvery manager who's managed to solve time travel. But how will they respond to a man they haven't seen in twenty years, turning up and asking if they're coming out to play?

Part-comedy, part-travelogue, part-memoir, Friends Like These is the story of what can happen when you track down your past, and of where the friendships you thought you'd outgrown can take you today...


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Friends Like These + Join Me: The True Story of a Man Who Started a Cult by Accident + Yes Man
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Product details

  • Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Ebury Press (2 July 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0091896770
  • ISBN-13: 978-0091896775
  • Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 2.6 x 19.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 48,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

Danny writes in such an enthusiastic, excitable way that you can't help being swept up with the emotion of his quest (Heat )

Book Description

Danny Wallace sets off on a new quest, to find his old best mates and see how they are dealing with growing up...

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Another classic from Mr. Wallace! 21 Jan 2009
Format:Paperback
I have to say that I'm surprised that some people struggled to get through this book as I found it un-put-downable(!) and read it in well under 48 hours. However, I found it did make me produce involuntary sounds akin to that of a squealing Pig at some very inopportune moments (on public transport etc.) and so I strongly advise you enjoy this books' more hilarious moments in a more private space).

As always, Wallace makes the most unbelievable stories seem perfectly normal and his writing style still makes you imagine that he is telling you the story one to one in the Pub. I personally love this style of informal writing and there are obvious similarities in this vein with Bill Bryson and Stuart Maconie. (Indeed, Maconie's 'Pies and Prejudice' is born out of a similar age realisation as Friends like these).

I think it almost certainly helps if you are between the age of 25 - 35, because there will be greater resonance with some of the chronology but if you are outside this age group - still please read it - you will not be disappointed!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Danny Wallace, writer and TV presenter, is heading towards his 30th birthday and having an identity crisis. His friends all seem to be moving on and as he looks around his grown up house at his grown up display cushions, he starts to panic. One day he opens an old box of paraphernalia from his childhood and finds an address book. Realising he's lost touch with all his old childhood friends; he sets about tracking them down...

Friends Like These is a warm, funny, honest, heartwarming book about rekindling lost friendships and making the transition from being a twenty-something to a thirty-something. As someone who is only a year off doing just that, I could really relate to Danny's feelings. We all wonder what old friends are doing, and we now have the likes of Facebook and MySpace to keep us connected...but Wallace takes it a step further. He actually meets up with them all in person. Now he doesn't have your average group of friends to start with. He's godfather to Jamie Oliver's daughters; one of his best friends is the bass guitarist in a rock band and his girlfriend works on Big Brother! However, he came from ordinary beginnings and wonders if he will find that all his old friends have ended up working in IT! He wonders if they too are nervous about the impending milestone, and would like to make the transition easier by sharing it with friends who have had an impact on his life.

Friends Like These is very easy to read. Danny Wallace started his career as a journalist, so the style is punchy and witty, with nice bite-size sub-chapters. His observations on childhood, on growing up and on friendships really made me smile and the ending is quite poignant. This is one of those books that will make you sigh with satisfaction when you've turned the last page, and maybe feel a little warm inside too!
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I liked this book. I did, really. Danny Wallace is an engaging enough writer and his tale of finding his childhood address book and tracking down the 12 people in it (not including the Michael Jackson fan club, though that features too) is often amusing and sometimes touching. But....

The trouble is, after the wonderfully life-affimring 'Yes Man' and the equally well-received 'Join Me', which I haven't read, this whole thing of a faux-naif modern man making the world a better place in his own small way is getting a bit overdone. Wallace knows it too: hence the many pointless digressions and often forced humour of this tale - Japanese English is a bit hilarious, isn't it, eh? The book is also dreadfully repetitive at times.

The other trouble is, it's all a bit too easy at times. Anyone can track a fair proportion of their old mates down these days what with Facebook, the net in general and a BBC expense acccount to fund flights to America, Australia and Japan in the space of a few weeks. Never once does Wallace admit the perfectly obvious truth that he saw this as his next book-writing project from the start. Nor does the premise that he has to do it all before turning 30 and becoming a boring middle-aged man ring true. His wife is clearly far too nice to force that on him.

I'll admit to a bit of jealousy here. I come from a generation where you inevitably lost touch with most of those friends who weren't reliable letter-writers if and when you moved away from your roots. Now that email has made letter-writers of us all and social networking keeps us in touch with everyone, that need not happen any more. Plus Wallace is obviously such an amiable man that he can get in touch with more lost friends than I ever had to lose in the first place. And he's a bit of a jammy dodger too, not just for a job that pays him to go round the world at the drop of a hat - I mean staying friends with your ex, whoever heard of such of thing?

Overall, then, good for a light read but if you can read 'Yes Man' instead. Or just go online and hunt down your old mates intead. And please, Danny, don't mine this exhausted seam any more.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars More thoughtful that other books of this type
I nicked borrowed this book off the boyfriend the other week when nothing on my kindle was inspiring me and I just fancied an easy read. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Lucybird
4.0 out of 5 stars I liked it, but...
Ok so I hate to be the bringer-downerer of this review section because you guys seem to have liked this book, as did I - overall. Read more
Published 29 days ago by Ashleigh
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Book
Another great book from Danny Wallace but as usual never long enough! I would be happy to recommend to all avid readers
Published 2 months ago by Sarah P
2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't finish it
I think I just don't like him. I read painfully through the first half of the book, but I just find him smug and annoying rather than funny. Read more
Published 2 months ago by M. S. Skeldon
5.0 out of 5 stars Another great book by Danny Wallace
I went into this book thinking I wouldn't enjoy it as much as I had 'Are you Dave Gorman?' and 'Join Me', thinking that as the mad cap adventure this time seemed less structured... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Susan Rose
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and touching
A great read it made me smile a lot, and a few times nearly cry. Well worth the money...yes thanks
Published 4 months ago by PS
5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious
This is the 2nd book I have read by Danny Wallace and I loved it. I love his style of writing the ridiculous situations he finds himself in and the almost childlike nature that he... Read more
Published 4 months ago by C Nad
3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite "yes man"
This book was funny and I really like Danny's writing style, but it's nowhere near as good as "yes man," and feels at times like he was just putting in anything too fill in a few... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Rontheone
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good
If you have read any of Wallace's other books, you will know his style, if not but you like a good laugh at inane banter/thoughts then this is a very good read.
Published 10 months ago by DVB67
3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining enough
As usual with Danny Wallace this is an amusing and entertaining read, this time based around his impending thirtieth birthday and his attempts to track down old school friends that... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. R. M. Lathwell
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