Customer Reviews

Friends Like These: My Worldwide Quest to Find My Best Childhood Friends, Knock on Their Doors, and Ask Them to Come Out and Play

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This book is hilarious! The author pokes fun of his job...he's a quiz show host. He pokes a lot of fun at himself all throughout the book. When he's nearly 30, he has a midlife crisis. He has only been married for about a year and his very patient wife gives him permission to scout out his old friends from his childhood. For her permission though he must earn some man points by doing things around the house, like fixing faucets, staining furniture, etc. The author is so naive that he doesn't realize he has now been hooked into working to earn these man points the rest of his married life!

His 2 best friends at the moment are out of London, one on a world tour as a musician and the other has moved to a town too far for them to pub around together all summer. His wife has taken a job on a reality show that takes all her time. Hence he is alone a lot and thinking of the old days when he had at least 12 friends in his address book that he would like to look up now. Some he finds fairly easily, some are harder and far away but he persists (since it is more fun that staying home alone and thinking about growing up and not being able to sit on the display cushions).

Every sentence seems to make you laugh out loud. He has a great sense of humor and you just want the book to go on forever. The reason I even started reading it was because I had a childhood friend look me up recently. We hadn't seen each other in 30 years. We had a lot of fun and decided we would definitely attend our next school reunion because we were still looking pretty good compared to some of our old classmates. First we were still alive, 2nd we still had our hair (albeit dyed hair), 3rd we still have our teeth, and 4th we married younger men (versus most of our classmates marrying men they went to school with and whom now look pretty old compared to our men). So, of course, I was wondering if the author's experiences were good or bad.

Read the book...you'll love it!

Daniel Wallace writes an entertaining tale about how he discovered his old grade school address book in a box of old memories that his mum sends him and goes to work looking up all of his old friends. It's a simple enough story about tracking all 12 of them down and reconnecting but Daniel's writing style had me laughing to myself as I read through some of his sometimes outrageous adventures as he goes around the world finding every last one of them. (Well almost everyone.) It's all in the details and his writing style was very humorous and appealing.

I thought that I was the only one who could lollygag away a whole afternoon doing things other than the tasks I had set out to do in the morning, but Wallace seems to have refined it to a fine art. His excuses and rationalizations were even better than mine. Needless to say, I found this very enjoyable to read, realizing there are others out there who procrastinate as well as I do.

If you like down-to-earth good humor, I think you'll enjoy this book. It's a story I think most of us can relate to. I'm going to go look up his other books based on having read this one.

I wasn't sure what I would expect when I picked up Danny Wallace's "Friends Like These" but I was pleasantly surprised. I also wasn't sure if I could relate since Danny was about to turn 30 when he had this desire to find long lost childhood friends. I'm a 40-something and that gap is larger. Turning 30 and getting a box delivered from his mom with stuff from his childhood (how cool is that?) and finding an old address book starts him on his quest to locate and update that book. He travels to various countries, calls all over the place and has a wife that he should be quite thankful for. Many of us have wondered what happened to that kid you used to play with in kindergarten or the guy you hung out with in high school, but Danny made it his goal to find out. Wallace's writing is humorous and sentimental and made this a fine book to read.

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!

I can relate to Danny Wallace. How often have we wondered about the kids we knew in elementary school, the kid who moved away in fourth grade, the friendships that came and went as we changed and grew up? I love the concept of this book, and I especially appreciate the author's engaging, friendly style. He brings you along on his wacky journey and keeps you laughing every step (or mile) of the way. Yes, it would be weird to have a classmate from fifth grade show up at your door 20+ years after the fact, but it would be pretty cool too. I give two thumbs up for Danny and Friends Like These.

...well, not really, but he could be. I decided to read this book as a result of absolutely adoring the movie Yes Man (Two-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy) , based off the book written by Mr. Wallace. I wasn't quite sure what I would think of the Friends Like These, but it took me back to some of the happiest times of my life.

Friends Like These is about Danny Wallace growing up. Not necessarily the process of growing up, but the frightening moment when you realize that you have grown up. Danny is about to be thirty and -with hilarity in abundance- he describes all the feelings that come along with this, including all the memories of the friends that made a childhood worth living. The combination of his fear of growing up along with nostalgic reminiscences of friends he used to keep leads him on a journey to find the people he swore would be his "friends forever."

This book especially appealed to me as a person in a similar age group who had also let friends slip away over the years. Through every step of this strange expedition, you not only find yourself laughing along with him, but you almost want to drop everything you're doing and search out those long forgotten memories of your own past. Friends Like These isn't just hearing about a stranger's past, it's about taking a journey through your own and wondering where it would take you if you could just bring parts of that past to your present. I don't think there is anyone who wouldn't be able to relate to this book on some level, and I'm sure there's not a person out there who wouldn't be laughing at Danny's self-realizations and humorous thoughts on life. It's a fun read that you'll be hard pressed to put down. He has a style of writing that, instead of making you feel like an observer, brings you into his life and makes you feel like you're listening to a friend. I don't often enjoy autobiographies, but I didn't really want to put this one down! So, if you're looking for an enjoyable read that will make you laugh, give this book a try, you won't regret it!

Author Danny Wallace was facing a milestone - his 30th birthday and with it, "impending adulthood." Married and with a new home, Danny was facing growing up and not doing a good job of it. When his two best friends move away (one is on a world tour with his band), Danny is cast adrift to face adulthood alone until he finds his old address book with the names of his best childhood friends. He sets off to reconnect with all twelve of the names in the book before he turns 30. Some friends are easy to find and they lead to others. Some are very difficult (his trip to Japan to reconnect with an exchange student) and sobering (learning of the passing of one of the friends listed in the address book). Along the way, we learn a lot about Danny, what has happened to his friends (a German Hip-Hop artist, manager of a restaurant, a couple of architects, and one working in IT), and the fun he has looking up childhood friends and asking them to, "Come out and play."

Danny Wallace is an excellent storyteller which makes this an easy and enjoyable read. There are several running jokes which always bring a smile when they appear. His wife seems like a saint to put up with his antics (but I guess she knows him and what makes him tick). His quest is one with which any of us can relate and causes us to learn something about ourselves and who we would really like to see again. My only major distraction is that I wish he had kept the language PG. (The bad words don't add to the storytelling which make them superfluous.) That being said, I found the book to be very entertaining and recommend it.

As his 30th birthday approaches, Danny Wallace notices "adult things" are creeping into his life. Rather than being footloose and fancy free, he has purchased a house, he works (OK, he's a quiz show host), he has opinions on pillows, his friends have moved on to adventures elsewhere and he actually goes out to brunch. The unexpected discovery of his childhood address book sends him on a search to discover where they are now. He has to "earn" time to spend on this project by doing chores around the house (and discovering he is able to fix and build without hiring outside help). He begins the search for the 12 friends in his book and is relieved to find one very easily. Thus he is encouraged to keep up the search...with varying results. I laughed out loud throughout this book. I could easily envision my attempts to find the people who were my "friends for life" when I was in grade school. I loved this book because it embraced the voice many of us have, that little voice that whispers "Do I have to grow up, I don't want to let go" without ridiculing any of the participants. The ending is a delight. A must read!

Danny Wallace, U.K. television personality and writer, is best known in this country for "Yes Man," the book on which a recent Jim Carey movie was based. Unlike the movie, however, Wallace's book purports to be non-fiction. He claims to have actually said "yes" to every invitation or opportunity put to him over a six-month period and seems to have largely benefitted from the experience. I mention this to emphasize the kind of wacky personality Danny Wallace seems to have and because "Friends Like These" is another of Wallace's off-center memoirs.

Fast approaching thirty years of age in 2006, the calendar-age Danny Wallace considers the start of adulthood, Wallace finds that he has no desire to become an adult. In fact, the very idea of becoming an adult terrifies him. So when an old address book he hasn't seen in years turns up, it seems only natural to him that he should look up his twelve best childhood friends. After all, they, too, are on the verge of turning thirty years old.

Wallace's task is made a bit more difficult than it might have otherwise been by the fact that he spent some of his childhood years in Scotland, some in Germany, and some in England. Nevertheless, blessed with what seems to be a saint of a wife who encourages him to do it, he confidently embarks on a personal quest to "update his address book" before the birthday that will magically turn him into "a man." How, he wonders, are his friends handling their own personal traumas of becoming adults with adult responsibilities?

On the whole, it appears that they are handling their thirtieths a bit more successfully than Danny is handling his. Despite having been warned that he would find all his old friends working in IT, Danny actually finds them filling a variety of roles. Among his personal Top 12, are a research doctor, a hip-hop rapper, a restaurant manager, a newspaperman, and one old friend who actually does work in the IT department of a major bank. Danny's search, equal amounts adventure and misadventure, will ultimately take him across the world and require stops in the United States, Australia and Japan. Best of all for Danny, is that, for the first time in his life, he will come away from a project with the sense that he has finished something he started - a goal he never achieved as a kid.

Danny Wallace is a funny man, and a clever writer, and he fills Friends Like These with numerous incidents that will make the reader wonder how such a hapless adventurer could possibly accomplish so much. After all, a man who manages to wedge himself so tightly into a tiny Japanese toilet stall (Danny is a big man and he was wearing a backpack at the time) that he has to cry for help before sheer panic sets in does little to inspire confidence, does he?

"Friends Like These" is more than slapstick comedy. Wallace has a way with words that allows him to pepper the reader with little one-line zingers almost at will, one-liners that always produce at least a smile, and sometimes much more. No matter the situation, he maintains his sense-of-humor and laughs at himself as much as his readers will laugh at him. At 400 pages, however, some of Wallace's efforts and friend descriptions begin to become repetitious and hard to distinguish from one another, a flaw that will have some readers wishing that he would just get on with it.

This is a funny book but it does prove the point that sometimes "less is more."

Rated at: 3.5

A terrific concept. Very wackily written. I love both travel and humor books, and I can relate to the idea of reuniting with old friends, indulging my nostalgia, and strolling down memory lane, so I enjoyed this one.

Unfortunately, my advanced age (50-something) meant that I had some trouble relating to the cultural milieu of an 80s childhood. I understood the numerous references and was amused by the stories, but I couldn't really get into the pop culture of that day or feel a true appreciation for the effect it had on people who paid attention to or were consumed by it.

Even as I smiled at the author's personal quirks and those of certain characters he reconnects with, I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for a protagonist who seems to feel lost. His future isn't clear, so he returns to the past. But as we all know, you can't really go home again.

Yet this lends the book a certain poignancy, which is another pleasure to be derived from reading it. I would particularly recommended it for those in the author's demographic.