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Friends Like These

Author: Danny Wallace
Publisher: Ebury Press
Category: Book

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Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

9 reviews
Sales Rank: 66

Media: Paperback
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.3

ISBN: 0091896762
EAN: 9780091896768
ASIN: 0091896762

Publication Date: July 3, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW ITEM. WE ARE UK SELLERS AND WILL SEND THE ORDER OUT IN A MAXIMUM OF 2 WORKING DAYS.

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Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

So funny, so true. July 15, 2008
Having been a fan of Wallace's writing since reading 'Are You Dave Gorman?' (of which he wrote half) I planned to buy this book before hearing what it was about.
When I found out it was about a man facing up to the inevitability of his 30th birthday it just seemed even more right to buy it - I will face that challenge myself in a few months.
Unlike Wallace's previous (excellent) books this story of looking up old friends is a more relateble tale we can all see ourselves reflected in - anyone who ever went on Facebook etc has done it - Wallace just does it with style!
I wont spell out the specifics of his journey, suffice to say that I laughed out loud several times but was also moved by the more serious heart-felt passages.
And in what I think is the ultimate example of the impact of the books message, when I'd finished it I got on Facebook and started contacting old friends.

5 out of 5 stars

Another great read July 13, 2008
Another great read from Danny Wallace. Amusing and insightful without becoming too soppy. I even laughed out loud a few times.

5 out of 5 stars

a childhood revisited July 13, 2008
Having realised he was becoming a man, Danny had already felt a little lost amongst his new lifestyle. Then he gets a box from his mum, full of old stuff that he kept as a child. Thus opens a new chapter in the Wallace world.

His previous two books (and Are You Dave Gorman? to a lesser extent) showed us that Wallace could have Brilliantly Simple and Simply Brilliant ideas. They were testiment to a positive spirit that knew anything was possible but wasn't too sure what that anything could be. That spirit led him into some very bizarre situations with some really quite odd people, and it led him into a lucrative career on tv. The people he met were in turn very nice, very odd and very funny - and Wallace wrote it in a way only Wallace could: with humour and a deceptively simple seeming wit.

I started FLT with the hope that Wallace hadn't lost his ability to view the world with knowing positivity and childlike blind optimism: After all, it was what made half of Yes Man so funny. But it seemed to start slowly and I wondered whether another of my favourite writers had gone the way of new found fame. One problem seemed that the people he was meeting were quite normal, they lived in normal places and Wallace wasn't travelling cheaply anymore (another delight of early books is that he walked/rode the world we lived in - tubes, buses, etc - he met the weirdos and being Danny, spoke to them blithely).
Next thing was that they seemed to live near him, in english counties..

..But get into it and we find that they're not all in England, not all in IT and thus we start to get the characters and Danny's reactions to them, his naive-seeming observations and comical ways.
This is a little slower than his previous two, but once in it's just as good and easy to see why his friends all had good reactions: there's German Rappers, a Time Traveller, A Fijan Chief, A witch, Ninjas...

..Shane Warne..

At just a few over 400 pages, it seems like a long read but it really isn't, and by the end I found myself wanting to read a daily account of his everyday life with him and his Aussie wife (and Straight talking ex, Hanne). Take it with you on journeys and I think you'll stride into everything with a broad smile and a welcoming hello.

5 out of 5 stars

Most Excellent July 10, 2008
Laugh out loud funny at times (I got some funny looks on my daily train journeys while I was reading this)! At others quite thought provoking. Danny Wallace tries to update his address book. Thoroughly recommended, even if you've never read one of his books before.

5 out of 5 stars

Laugh out Loud July 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I haven't read a Danny Wallace book before. I hadn't even heard of him until I read a couple of extracts from "Friends Like These" in the paper.

To say it is funny doesn't get near to doing it justice. I commute on the train and it is now embarassing reading it as I am unable to control laughing out loud at the book. I am the same age as Danny, so whether some of his memories ring even more true because of this, I don't know. But his observational humour, hilarious stories and descriptive narrative really make you feel like you are on a journey with him.

Just so very, very funny - I don't see how anyone could fail to find it hilarious