Lad Lit Book Reviews: Friends Like These by Danny Wallace

When I grow up, I want to be like Danny Wallace! Because here is a man who has carved out a career for himself still doing all the things you might drunkenly discuss and laugh about whilst in the pub, but would then never actually do when you came to your senses the morning after.

But take a look at Danny Wallace’s back-catalogue of books and you see that not only is he the man that still carries out these immature boy tasks, but he has wrote a whole bunch of books on them. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, he is the Yes Man after all...

But that is another book! Today I am here to review Friends Like These. This was my first Danny Wallace book, and therefore the one that got me hooked on this brilliant genius! Something hit a chord with me when I read the synopsis for this book, because long before the days of Facebook, I too often wondered what those tiny people who I used to share a classroom with were up to these days. Granted they probably weren’t tiny anymore, but surely something else must have happened to them apart from growth!

And that is the concept of Danny’s book. He finds an address book with the names of his childhood friends from yesteryear. And then comes the idea – the classic Wallace idea! Why don’t I try to track these guys down?!

Of course, it is the sort of nonsense that any normal run-of-the-mill-nine-to-five-guy can only daydream about, but Danny has a bit of time on his hands so he goes on the hunt. And it is a hunt that takes him from London to Berlin, Tokyo, Australia, and California! Quite an epic journey you might say. Once Facebook did explode on to our laptops (steady!), I actually picked out eight friends myself from Primary School. My journey would have taken me to Tooting.

Luckily Danny’s journey is a bit more exotic and fun-packed than that, and although you find yourself wondering where this is all going to end up, you do get lost and caught up in it all as Danny’s friends turn out to be rappers and ninjas, time-travelling pioneers, mediocre restaurant managers, and even Fijian royalty!

Perhaps not Danny’s best book, but when you have written some of the gems that this man has, that probably isn’t very surprising. But I thoroughly enjoyed it, and can safely say I would recommend this to anyone – no matter what your taste – if you are just up for some good old fashioned reading fun!