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EAN: 9780091888008 ISBN: 009188800X Label: Ebury Press Manufacturer: Ebury Press Number Of Pages: 320 Publication Date: July 03, 2003 Publisher: Ebury Press Studio: Ebury Press Related Items:
Editorial Review: Amazon.co.uk Review: How could you refuse the polite invitation of begoggled Danny Wallace in Join Me? You don't know what you could be missing out on. It's all about living for the moment in this quirky, seemingly pointless yet addictive narrative. Finding himself with too much time on his hands after quitting his BBC job, Danny revels in "sitting around in his pants" and generally taking a break from the responsibilities of working life. Danny attends the funeral of his great uncle Gallus and finds out that he had set up a commune of like-minded people to escape Swiss small town small-mindedness in the 1940s. Intrigued by this idea, on his return to London Danny places a cryptic advert in the classified ads paper Loot and gets some surprising results. His Norwegian radio-producer girlfriend Hanne is bemused and infuriated that this has become more than a transient interest; it takes over his life--and hers. The number of "joinees"--people replying to his ad--escalates as word gets out about this new "happy cult", but without a clue about what he wants to achieve, or do with all his newfound friends, Danny has to think fast as dissent rises in the ranks. Now the reluctant leader of a troop of random hopefuls, he maintains their interest with obscure e-mails and watches as his joinees meet and bond. Whatever he had created, it was bigger than he had anticipated. From an initially puerile idea, it had grown into something of a social experiment--why were people willing to take the risk? What was lacking in their lives that they thought they might get out of contacting a stranger? Taking risks, no matter how big or small, is the essential crux of the matter here and of course, nothing ventured, nothing gained. --Angela Boodoo Average Rating:
 Rating:  - contrived and pointless zaninesseverything about danny wallaces projects seems very contrived, and false, it fairly obvious he approaches everything in a much more cynical way then his writing suggests, it seems much more likely he sits donw and thinks about the slimmest possible concept that he can get a book or tv series out of, the writing is of a very sixth form comedy style, and he realy forces up the word count to squeeze a book out of this material. having somehow managed to get through the whole thing, i found it completely forced and just cant imagine what people find funny about this, the writing certainly isnt funny, the concept would possibly be if it were true, but its so obviously contrived, the observations are mundane, and pedestrian. danny obviously fills some kind of niche and earns his living from his average talents, but this is just vacous and extremely contrived. Rating: - A good man to share a pnit with but not a good writerI was really excited to get this book having read the reviews. However, although I found the concept amusing and genuinely laughed out loud at some observations, usually the relationship ones, Danny is not a good writer. The prose is overly wordy for my liking and simply not tight enough to the extent that I have added this book to my very small " will never finish" pile of books. I have no doubt that an evening down the pub with Danny would be very funny indeed, he loves people and shows genuine affection for them in this book which is endearing. However, if he does any more projects, I might just wait for the tv show to come out..... Rating:  - funnyI think it's really funny, it seems just about all the other reviewers do as well. It probably won't take you long to read, the worst thing to happen if you do read it is you may lose bladder control while your laughing. By the end you'll feel reassured in the goodness of people. Rating:  - Be in The Collective, become a Joinee today!Danny Wallace, until recently he was more famous as Dave Gorman's sidekick - but now he is a regular face on TV. This book is in the same sort of genre as "Are You Dave Gorman" which Danny co-authored and tells the true story of how Danny Wallace starts a cult by asking people to join him.... ...And people do! They have no reservations and hand over their faith to join a man in an unknown crusade. After having people join him, Danny decides what to do as the leader of a cult and comes up with the ultimate in humanistic altruism - they will all do a good deed per day for someone. This is a very entertaining book which shows how a decent man can do good deeds and encourage others to do so to ensure the world is a more pleasant place. The same man also sees his love-life fall apart as a result. This fails to live up to the same level of pathos of the Dave Gorman adventures, which is a shame as it has ample chance to do so given the subject matter. It doesn't ruin the book though, it still remains a very funny book and one which I strongly recommend. The tale is an interesting one, as a jape turns into a fairly large movement and gains press coverage. Not all cults involve insane religious maniacs killing themselves to ride a comet to paradise - some are for honest people to join forces to make the world a better place. This book does that too by giving the reader a laugh and an invite to join Danny Wallace and become a member of his cult. Rating: - You Must Join HimDanny Wallace a man with nothing better to do, decides one day to put an add in a local newspaper simply saying Join Me and had an address for people to send off to Join Him. Not expecting a response at all little would Danny know that, that one add would set off a chain reaction that would start a country wide cult that would eventually take the world. If I went any further I would reveal the entire story but all I really need to tell you is that this is a fantastic read that entertains from front to back. Danny has an amazing talent to make people laugh out loud while reading his books. I can't tell you the number of times I have been sat in a quiet public place and just burst out laughing, only for it to be followed by a mountain of stares from the people around me. Take it from me that this is a delightful read and a definite must, Danny is easily one of the best comedy writers in the UK of the last decade.  Try searching the Internet for "Join Me" or Ebay for "Join Me". You might also be interested in the following great products:
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