A Town Called Wallace (Danny Wallace and the Centre of the Universe - Danny Wallace)

Member Name: dkm1981

Product:	Danny Wallace and the Centre of the Universe - Danny Wallace
Date:	25/04/09 (120 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None really

Disadvantages: It's short, pointless and not funny.

-The Book-

Wallace is sat at his computer one day, procrastinating, when he sees The Royal Observatory Tower at Greenwich through his window. He takes a trip there and learns that Greenwich is the centre of the earth. This leads him to thinking, as you do, about where exactly the centre of the universe is.

A perusal of the internet leads him to a blog, where he discovers that the centre of the universe is, allegedly, a man-hole cover in Idaho, with the mayor of the town claiming that he has solid proof of the fact. When he discovers that the town is called Wallace, he decides it is a cosmic coincidence and adventure ensues when he decides to pay Wallace a visit.

The 120 page 'quick read' book is the account of Danny Wallace's 24 hour visit to the 'centre of the universe', including the people he meets (from the lovable to the downright strange), the souvenirs he collects (mainly coins) and the places he visits (from haunted disused mines to the all important man-hole cover).

-My Opinion-

I have a great love of travelling and have always fancied doing something partly random and partly with a purpose, but definitely travel related. My favourite idea so far is to travel around the world visiting a country begining with each letter of the alphabet. This is why I have started to read travel-related books such as this one (see also my reviews on 'You Could Get Arrested For That' and 'One Red Paperclip'). I thought this book would be along the same vein and, to some extent, it was, but to be honest I didn't really enjoy Wallace's journey to the centre of the universe.

First of all it was very short - I only paid £2.99 for it from Amazon, but I still felt a little cheated. This wasn't helped by the fact that the type was HUGE - so much so that it felt like I was learning to read again. Selling it as a 'quick read' is a bit cheeky in my opinion - I consume books at a ridiculous pace at the best of times, but this one warranted a mere couple of hours, rendering it somewhat unsatisfactory.

Secondly, there really was no point to the book. Now I know I seem to be contradicting myself a bit here, as I earlier said that I enjoyed the randomness of books of this type, but this wasn't random, it was just pointless. The story of Wallace's exploits gave me the impression that he had done this just so he could write a book and make some money. Everybody is entitled to make some money, but this is just an out and out scam in my opinion. I wonder if he can even see the Royal Observatory Tower from his window - more likely, in my opinion, he just knew it was there and thought it would make a good excuse for a free jaunt to the back of beyond and, of course, a book deal.

This leads me to my third criticism of the book - it's just too contrived. Everything from the initial idea to the 'comedy' elements felt like it was scripted for a mediocre TV programme. The conversations he has are like something from a bad soap opera. There were bits that were, I suppose, meant to be funny, but were accompanied by 'canned laughter' in my mind.

-Overall-

I had high hopes for this book but, sadly, they weren't met. It certainly didn't make me want to read any of his other books, which is a shame as some of is earlier work was well-received by many. If you have any suggestions that might make me change my mind about Danny Wallace, they would be welcomed. Otherwise, however, I'll be leaving it at this!

Summary: I'd think of more useful ways to spend your £2.99, especially in this economic climate.