Danny Wallace has friends. He has a wife and goes to brunch, and his new home has a couch with throw pillows on it. But as he nears thirty, he can’t help wondering about his childhood friends. His first friends. Where are they now-and where, really is he?
When Danny finds an address book in which he’d inscribed the names and numbers of the twelve best friends he had as a kid, he comes to a stunning realization. They were probably all turning thirty, too! Were they also trying to cope with the confusing new fog of adulthood? Did they have a couch with throw pillows on it?
Journeying from London to Berlin, Tokyo, Australia, and California, he risks rejection and ridicule to show up on his old pals’ doorsteps. Memories of his 1980’s childhood – Michael Jackson and Michael J. Fox to “Ghostbusters” and “Goonies” – reappear as he meets former buddies who have blossomed into rappers and ninjas, time-traveling pioneers, chain-restaurant managers, and even Fijian royalty.
Proving that as things change they also remain the same, Danny re-befriends them all, giving remarkable new resonance to the age-old mantra “friends forever!”
Friends Like These: My Worldwide Quest to Find My Best Childhood Friends, Knock on Their Doors, and Ask Them to Come Out and Play by Danny Wallace was just what the doctor ordered! Entertaining, funny and sweet.
The story is simple enough: become worried turning 30 implies becoming an adult, seek to rekindle relationships with those from childhood and find out if they are also feeling a little queasy about the big 3-0. Readers follows Mr. Wallace as he starts his search online posting a profile on Friends United (think Facebook) and searching with last know address, parents name/business and any other discerning characteristic he can remember. He is rewarded and meets with two of the twelve friends being sought and his desire to find the rest becomes an obsession.
It is not the journey that is so entertaining, it is Mr. Wallace’s writing of the journey. I literally laughed to tears during some parts inviting stares while waiting for an appointment. I could not help myself. Mr. Wallace includes memories of his childhood including his time attending an American school while living in Germany.
Like every boy who’d grown up in the 1980s, I knew that America was the most exciting and incredible place know to man. It was a giant McDonald’s-sponsored adventure playground where the kids divided their time between summer camp and Disneyland.
I think my favorite part of the book is a recollection of a long-ago afternoon spent when one of his buddies brings a cassette tape of Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
I wasn’t all that interested. My main interest was recording the theme tunes to my favorite shows by placing a tape recorder next to the telly and hitting Record and Play at precisely the right moment to avoid the announcer’s voice. I had The A-Team, The Littlest Hobo, Grange Hill, Streethawk, Wac-a-day, Airwolf, everything, I had no time for this other, childish stuff.
But then Cameron flipped open the cassette player and pressed Play. And in that moment everything changed. This was the most incredible music I had ever hear! It told a story! There were sound effects! What the hell was it?
I remember doing that with my tape player/recorder. This is why Mr. Wallace’s writing brings such a chuckle. It is easy to place yourself in his shoes though I would not be as amusing. My worries of turning 30 are long gone yet I could completely relate to this story. I recently found a long-lost cousin and friend by complete accident while hanging out online. This has actually had me thinking about who else may be out there?
Danny Wallace is also the author of Yes Man which I have notified my neighborhood second hand bookstore that I want, want, want!
Winners announced!!!
This book sounds fun! Please include me in the giveaway.
alitareads[at]gmail[dot]com
Thanks!
Sounds like a great book!
swdargusch(at)yahoo(dot)com
Stephanie´s last blog ..Teaser Tuesday: Her Fearful Symmetry
Please include me. Thanks! Oh and I already gave food today to the animal site. I click everyday.
saulpaugh.chelsea(at)gmail(dot)com
Sounds like an excellent book. Please enter me: tgoforth1984@yahoo.com
This sounds like a great read.
crystallynn07@hotmail.com
This does sound great. I really want to read it, so thanks for the giveaway.
What a great review. I love a book that makes me laugh. Please enter me in your giveaway.
+2 I clicked, what a cool site that is.
What a neat reply poster. I have never seen one like this before.
Please count me in. I clicked the animal site. Thanks!
That sounds like my kind of book! Please count me in: perian[at]faking-sanity[dot]com.
Aren’t the Click to Give sites excellent? I try to go do it every day, so thanks for the reminder!
perian´s last blog ..Review: Extreme Vinyl Cafe
I’ve been hoping to win a copy of this book. Glad to see it is still floating the blogosphere. I clicked for the animals!
Thanks for the chance!
I am a child of the 80’s and can understand a bit of the journey he takes. Would love to read it!
toe4@hotmail.com
Sounds like a really fun read!
laura(at)laurafabiani(dot)com
+2 for clicking the animal site
Oh please count me in! And I clicked on the animal site, such a great thing
hefollowedme AT gmail DOT com
Thanks!
Mel
huey.amanda@gmail.com