Read me then join him (Join Me - Danny Wallace)

Member Name: dtait09

Product:	Join Me - Danny Wallace
Date:	25/09/09 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very funny, good read

Disadvantages: a tad too long

INTRO

Danny Wallace is a british humorist who has done work in various capacities such as radio presenter, tv broadcaster, writer as well as author. Join me was his first solo book having had cult success with his collaborative book 'Are you Dave Gorman', written with...Dave Gorman. A few books later Danny wrote 'Yes Man' in which he says 'Yes' to everything, and his popularity grew as a result of it being made into a film starring Jim Carrey.

JOIN ME

Join Me started when Danny found out that his deceased uncle had tried to start a community on his swiss farm. Unfortunately he couldnt get more than 3 and Danny decided to put out an ad in a local paper that said something along the lines of 'Join Me - by sending a passport sized photo to this address'.

The senders would be sending without knowing the cause, or purpose for this and this was something that couldnt even be cleared up by Danny himself. To his surprise he started gaining 'Joinees' and the book becomes a story of stories of what became of the man who started a cult by accident.

Danny's mate bet that he couldnt get to 1000 and the story centres around that challenge as well as the ongoing saga of Danny's relationship with his girlfriend of whom he neglects to mention anything about Join Me due to the strain his 'stupid boy projects' puts on their love.

GOOD FEATURES

Ive never been a big reader yet have read two of Danny Wallace's books in the past couple of months. My lack of reading is due to the concentration needed but I really got into 'Yes Man' and equally enjoyed 'Join Me'. His style is quite tongue in cheek but has a good way of describing things so much that I felt like I went through his emotions at the time reading them back.

At 400 pages the story really is told in great depth and I enjoyed the journey. A journey which involved travelling to different countries to spread the word, even though he didnt really know what the word was. Join Me escalated into a collective of people performing good deeds which gives the whole project a feel good factor to it.

BAD FEATURES

I guess for someone like me who isn't a big reader 400 pages was probably 100 too many, and some of the stories were embelished somewhat and I felt the book could have been shorter and not lost any of its good features. The story is a little tedious and some of the stories make you think it was fictional but that is his style and its not something that would put me off his other books.

OVERALL

This book is now a few years old so I would expect most people to be able to buy a copy for under £5. At this price it would be a bargain as it is a good read, a funny tale of how a man starts a cult by accident. I would recommend to anyone who has read his other books, or likes light hearted comedy reading.

Summary: Recommended