Customer Reviews

The Friday Night Club, A Novel

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Okay, so everyone else reviewing THE FRIDAY NIGHT CLUB is reminded of everything from The Hangover or High Fidelity to The Breakfast Club and How I met your Mother. My foray into the pages of Jacob Lurie's semi-autobiographical tome called to mind a plethora of images ranging from Ocean's Eleven (the protagonist Davis has his own personal "rat pack") to I Love You, Man as well as the writings of Albert Camus and Kierkegaard. Now don't say," What, is she nuts? What do Camus and Kierkegaard have to do with some over-grown adolescent standing at the alter ready to wet himself at the thought of actually committing to one woman for the rest of his life?" For that matter, what do they have to do with drunken parties, wild Vegas jaunts and women, women, women you ask? Well both Camus and Kierkegaard were basically existentialists who believed that the individual was solely responsible for giving their own life meaning and living that life passionately in spite of obstacles..........and boy are the characters in this novel into that philosophy.

THE FRIDAY NIGHT CLUB's chief protagonist Davis Robertson and his old college friends have come together in the four days preceding Davis's marriage to Pamela and go into "full court press" mode in their attempt to reminisce about and re-live situations from those good old days of their youth (you can almost hear Willie and Julio singing "To all the girls I've loved before" in the background.")

The discourse is liberally peppered with "F" bombs and the flashbacks into the "buddies" questionable histories and their stories, while amusing in parts, are definitely not for those easily offended by the things that naturally occur when guys are with guys............... like a lot of swearing and overt references to sexual encounters. This is definitely a buddy book, however I feel that young women would probably find it not only amusing but could potentially use it as an instruction manual for understanding and coping with the male psyche.

Davis Robertson stands at the precepice of a great abyss. Before him, the death of his youth. Behind him, the insanity of that youth. And in the middle, the love of his life, soon to be banished for good.
But The Friday Night Club isn't your run-of-the-mill coming-of-age story. Davis is way too self-effacing to be caught up in angst. His defense is profound thought. But it's cloaked in such split-your-sides humor that those insights come to the reader later, once the tears of laughter have subsided.
The Friday Night Club is laugh-out-loud funny, even during the sad, tragic, painful, insightful points. I guarantee you will never forget it. I LOVED this book.

Living in Denver I enjoyed the ability to follow the characters around through the majority of the scenes. But the characters themselves are phenomenal! They're almost too over-the-top sometimes to be true but their flaws turn them into believable people, including Peter. The more I was drawn into their lives the more I could identify and developed a compulsory need to find out what would finally happen in the end. Excellent book!

Although Davis Robertson's getting married in a few days, he finds his mind dwelling on past loves and friendships. As he hangs out with his best friends and groomsmen, Davis relives past experiences with these men, former college mates who formed The Friday Night Club, which was nothing more than a party club. Although Davis loves his fiancée, his thoughts keep turning to the one woman he never really had, a woman he's always held in high regard but never pursued. He fears committing, fears an uncertain future, but tells himself it's time to grow up and move forward. While partying with his friends, Davis vacillates from being certain he wants to marry to doubting his commitment to his fiancée.

This quasi-autobiography isn't your typical bachelor's last fling, although there are the quintessential drunken parties, humorous scenarios, assaults and ultimate arrest. Although couched as a coming-of-age story, The Friday Night Club goes beyond that, delivering poignant, profound insights into the struggling mindset of a young man as he passes into adulthood. Lurie skillfully pulls his reader into Davis's angst, his at-times conflictual relationships with his Friday Night Club partners, his earnest yearning for something he thinks is unattainable. This intriguing book doesn't limit itself to men; women will enjoy the read as much, if not more.

Davis Robertson doesn't seem to take anything in life too seriously, especially his impending marriage, so when some of his closest friends come to town for his bachelor party, it's only natural for all hell to break loose.

I started this book feeling for sure that I was in for a ride much like that in "The Hangover" or "Very Bad Things." While certain elements were the same, this book had a lot more emotional depth. Though the timeline is rather jumbled, tying events together, rather than running a chronological thread, it's fairly easy to follow the exploits of Davis and his buddies from their college days up to the day of his wedding. Though Davis earns a degree and becomes a teacher, it's hard to picture him taking any part of his life seriously, as he focuses mostly on memories of parties and affairs past, and creating new memories of the same for the future. One of his friends is a regular guy with a wife and family that he values, but another is a womanizing movie star. Davis himself gives his famous friend a run for his money when it comes to a lack of morals or restraint, however. In the end, after a very wild bachelor party, Davis sobers up and reaches an epiphany, and has a very tough decision to make regarding his future, and we're left with the impression that he might finally have begun to grow up.

While I appreciate the author's unflinching honesty about male behavior, I couldn't help but feel a great deal of distaste toward Davis. Quite bluntly, he's a self-serving user with no regard for the impact his actions will have on others, particularly if they're women. I didn't care much for his rigid fiancée, Pamela, either, and simply could not understand what kept this couple together. Davis spent most of his time reflecting on other women from his past and present, as he cheats on Pamela constantly, and Pamela felt like more of an obligation than someone he really wanted to be with.

By the end, I found myself harboring an intense dislike for Davis. Why did he bother to propose to Pamela if he wasn't ready to settle down with her? The minute they got engaged, he seemed to suffer a prolonged panic attack, referred to most of her half of their conversations as yammering, and apparently looked upon a future with her as one of imprisonment. The fact that he reached an epiphany about his selfish behavior in the eleventh hour did not impress me, as I believe he should not have bothered proposing to someone until such an event occurred. If this is the way men are, I can do without them, thank you very much. Gender does not preclude an individual from decency.

My personal feelings about Davis aside, this was quite an amusing adventure, filled with colorful characters. The jumbled timeline is not my favorite plot device, but it works here. This book was many things, not the least of which is somewhat of a romance novel told very much from a man's perspective, and is worth the read simply for the insights.

(Originally published at Basil & Spice)

Is this book humor disguised as soft-core porn, or vice versa? I won't answer the question for you. But I can guarantee that Jacob Nelson Lurie's The Friday Night Club must be one or the other and the difference is purely coincidental. What also emerges is perhaps the opposite of chick-lit: a book that allows the ladies to take a good look inside the heads of men and--hopefully--accept a more light-hearted appreciation of the Venus or Mars debate.

Oh yeah, Lurie tries to toss in some universal meaning as well. I boiled the message down to the line on page 305 of the paperback version: "There is hope for a self-observant fool." Maybe some day I'll find that in a fortune cookie. But the book is at its best when Lurie retains his most irreverent voice instead of meandering off with attempted epiphanies.

Still, there is enough irreverence here to satisfy an old curmudgeon like me, who sincerely believes that both my marriages were successes. I'm usually more enthralled by stories with a body count, a dangerous femme fatale or a wisecracking detective, but this made for a nice change of pace.

Because the story's primary action springs from the hero's bachelor party, it has drawn comparisons with movies like The Hangover (R-Rated Single-Disc Edition) or I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell and those seem on the mark. Lurie's title springs from remembrances of the main characters' college days, when they gathered each Friday night to blow off steam. Lurie mixes those memories effectively with the primary plot of the hero's bachelor party a decade later and his perfectly normal apprehensions about finally tying the knot. Will he make it to the altar, or bolt for the liberation of his days as a co-founder of The Friday Night Club?

The answer might well be a cliché, if it weren't for the response of his intended when he finally tries to confess his sins as well as his doubts. With "Here Comes the Bride" about to play, Pamela waves away his monumental macho quandary as an issue for discussion on a later day. Once you are that close to "I do," of course, how can the groom be more important than the wedding?

As a self-published novel, The Friday Night Club won't be attracting attention in mainstream circles. But Lurie is an eloquent wordsmith, and his tale of The Friday Night Club emerges as an amusing discovery for those readers who like to stray from the beaten path of the bookstores' front windows.

When Davis Robertson begins the final countdown to his wedding day, his mind catapults him backwards and forwards as he contemplates this life-changing moment. There is no doubt that he loves Pamela, the woman he met in college, who is now an attorney. But can he give up on the idea of other women in his life? Can he totally commit to one woman?

Davis has certainly had his on-again, off-again relationships over the years, and some of them have been during his supposedly committed relationship with Pamela.

Over the years, his posse of guy friends, who are the sum total of what makes up The Friday Night Club, A Novel, have been there through everything--the drunken states, the highs, and everything in between--and they're here now to support him. And possibly throw a great bachelor party.

So what will Davis do? As we watch him through the push/pull process leading up to the final moments, it could seemingly go either way. But in the end, he must be true to himself.

It's the journey toward self-discovery that sets The Friday Night Club, A Novel apart from other tales of guys on the make, or guys afraid to commit. As a reader, I could empathize with Davis's struggles, even when I wanted to knock him upside the head. These characters are realistic and remind me of people (okay, make that guys!) that I've known.

Jacob Nelson Lurie takes the reader on one of the funniest thrill rides through the past, present, and future of Davis Robertson. A young man who is supposed to be preparing for the biggest step in his life, before walking down the aisle to make a lifetime commitment is haunted by the memories of his past. He battles with his desire of a beautiful dream-come-true with all the sentiments of peace and love that flow from Heaven to the outrageous actions and adventures he spent with Hell's Angels, better known as his close friends. As the author opens up the door to a ride you will never forget, the reader becomes addicted immediately to unique characters, laugh-out-loud fun, and touching moments. Each character will remind you of someone you once knew as they come to life,with a personality we will always remember. These characters were created through brutal truth as the author paints each one with flaws in the no-perfection department, while the reader has the advantage to form an opinion, and to be able to compare them to friends they have. What crucial decision does Davis make, and does his lifestyle change, for better or worse? What happened in Vegas, and do the drunken parties end? Is Davis facing the same torment that many go through in modern day relationships? I highly recommend this novel to all contemporary fiction lovers, who enjoy creativity, entertainment, and humor. Jacob Nelson Lurie penned a compelling story that's appealing to all readers, with brilliant dialogue in a fast moving, witty journey. The fearless author tells-it-like-it-is, through a refreshing writing style, providing colorful insight through the antics of his close friends. Does the wild side of college life continue, along with the parties and alcohol, or do the hangovers become history? How long will Davis worry about promiscuity and unfaithfulness, before walking down the altar? Do many men also go through a living hell, while searching for their true love? How wild was the bachelor party, and who was known for pranks, and fights? The pages are covered in action, the story is impressive, and the ending is amazing. The clever author included everything it takes to be a success on the movie screen. "THE FRIDAY NIGHT CLUB, A NOVEL" contains incredible word play as in MY COUSIN VINNY, has as much irresistible fun as MEET THE FOCKERS, and is as funny as FOOLS RUSH IN.

Gotta say Jake pulled off something with this book that kept me reading and reading and reading .. finished the last half of the book last night ... stayed up far later than i normally do just to finish it. His narrative makes you really wonder how much of this isnt true? .(yeah jake .. yer gonna spill the beans one of these days man) Normally not my genre of book to read but as of late with a lack of notable sci fi novels being published i have taken to reading a few more fiction/non-fiction books and this one is going to be in my top 10 books i would recommend should someone ask me for any ideas!

thanks again Jake for the laughs and the colorful insight into what "might" have been your life!

I LOVED the Friday Night Club. It was an excellent read I couldn't put down right from the start. This book was like therapy. Any guy with a close group of friends from college or otherwise who's had a string of girlfriends, including one or more that "may have gotten away" should read this and would love it. Women will benefit from reading to witness the self realization that men go through leading up to finding The One.