Join Me: The True Story of a Man Who Started a Cult by Accident

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Editorial reviews

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

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Mike Gayle
'Join Me is the kind of book I love: effortlessly funny, painfully accurate and entertaining to the very end. Brilliant.'

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Mail on Sunday
"One of the funniest stories you will ever read"

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World Magazine
"Hugely funny"

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Church of England Newspaper
"funny and fascinating...his 'gospel' exposes how gullible, reckless and abnormal we normal people are"

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Big Issue
"A highly amusing and engaging book...hugely compelling. If he doesn't make you join, he will almost certainly make you laugh"

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Heat
"The hilarious true story of a bunch of strangers being swept up in a bored man's experiment."

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Mike Gayle
'Join Me is the kind of book I love: effortlessly funny, painfully accurate and entertaining to the very end. Brilliant.'

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Book Description
Idealistic young author sets out to create the perfect utopian society. Nothing complicated then!

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Synopsis
Danny Wallace was bored. Just to see what would happen, he placed a whimsical ad in a local London paper. It said, simply, 'Join Me'. Within a month, he was receiving letters and emails from teachers, mechanics, sales reps, vicars, schoolchildren and pensioners - all pledging allegiance to his cause. But no one knew what his cause was. Soon he was proclaimed Leader. Increasingly obsessed and possibly power-crazed Danny risked losing his sanity and his loyal girlfriend. But who could deny the attraction of a global following of devoted joinees? A book about dreams, ambition and the responsibility that comes with power, Join Me is the true story of a man who created a cult by accident, and is proof that whilst some men were born to lead, others really haven't got a clue.

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Customer reviews

review by: He's the strongest, he's the quickest, he's the best! date: 2007-12-10 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.

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review by: Critic Extraordinaire date: 2007-10-05 rating:
You Must Join Him
Danny 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.

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review by: TheEvilKlown date: 2007-05-29 rating:
Will you Join Me?
This was the first Danny Wallace book i read, and my god, it's brilliant, i read it constantly for hours on end, laughing all the way through, if you like true funny stories, I highly recommend you read this.

If you dont enjoy it, I'll refund your money*





*not an actual offer, i dont earn enough, but trust me, its brilliant

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review by: tracybee date: 2007-05-15 rating:
Another Masterpeice
This book is great, now this might sound like a bit of a simple explanation, however it is the truth.

This book made me laugh out loud so probably not a good idea to read it on the bus!!

When you get to the bit about the picture of the dog be prepared, I laughed so hard I had to put the book down and have a little rest.


review by: star_reader date: 2007-02-15 rating:
Loved it!
Brilliant... hilarious... this book will make you laugh out loud no matter where you are.

Danny Wallace at his very best.

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