Friends Like These

August 31, 2009
In his latest, British humorist and TV personality Wallace (Yes Man) takes readers along on his quarter-life crisis quest to reconnect with childhood friends. Just months from his 30th birthday, Wallace found that "the evidence of impending adulthood" was all around him: he and his wife were eating healthy food, patronizing trendy bars rather than the neighborhood pub, and renovating their London home. When his parents send him a box of childhood mementos, Wallace gets the idea to locate as many childhood friends as he can before his next birthday. Traveling across the United Kingdom, out to Japan and elsewhere (even entertaining a trip to Fiji for one former school buddy), Wallace rediscovers shared memories, creates new tales and fulfills old dreams (including seeing a live Michael Jackson concert). By juxtaposing verbal snapshots of his childhood with his adult life and those of his friends, Wallace presents an entertaining (if somewhat shallow) look at the lives of a reluctantly maturing generation; fans of Gen-X and Gen-Y culture writers like Chuck Klosterman should find their overseas counterparts eminently relatable.