a wasted opportunity
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Being a fan of the books of Tony Hawks and Danny Wallace, I was looking forward to reading this book which seemed to be of a similar genre. The concept is brilliant but the book is let down by the lack of enthusiasm for both the task he set himself and the telling of the story.
While Tony Hawks and Danny Wallace describe their adventures in the form of a story, Rich Smith seems to list a loosely related series of events without any real narrative, making it very difficult to care about the outcome or what is coming next.
I think I would have enjoyed the book more if Rich Smith had made more of an effort with his challenges, rather than give up at the first sign of any inconvenience, e.g. he couldn't find a bathtub lying around a small town so didn't bother to complete the task related to the bathtub (rather than go to the effort of buying, begging or borrowing one) and doesn't pursue a challenge related to swimming pools because he is only able to find a public swimming pool - surely this would have made the story even more interesting? The beauty of the Tony Hawks and Danny Wallace books is that they do whatever is necessary to complete the challenge they have set themselves and this draws the reader into caring about their success. Rich Smith doesn't seem to be prepared to make the effort to fulfil his challenge and this results in a book which turns into a list of cities visited and got drunk in, with the odd challenge thrown in as a side issue.
I got bored halfway through this book but continued in the hope that it would improve and everything would come together in the end. Unfortunately, it didn't and just petered out.
Overall, a fantastic idea let down by poor execution and poor writing.
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Terrible
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A neat concept spoiled by really poor writing. The story doesn't flow, and while it is slightly humorous in tone, it is not funny at all. Definitely not like Tony Hawks or Danny Wallace. Save you money.
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Please don't waste your money
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I got this one as a Birthday present and it was more disappointing than the Lavender Bath Set received from my mad Great Aunt.
If you like Tony Hawks, Bill Bryson, Garrison Keillor, et al. then prepare to hate this. The writing begins with an air of humour and quickly degenerates into poor prose, weakly thought & written "adventures"; to finish with a dissappointing flourish that sees Rich & Bateman eventually go home.
I had to fight my way to the end of this, in the hope that it would become funny at some point; it does not.
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DISAPPOINTING!!!!!
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i saw this book in an airport bookshop and thought the idea seemed so funny that this would be a must! I think it was shortly after take off that i regretted not buying 24 Logical Problems to make you Vomit instead. The only good thing is the idea. He himself seems to lose interest quite early on and barely cares that he does not complete some of the tasks and appears as if he cant be bothered. I definate advise not to buy it unless you run out of toilet paper, wallpaper, wrapping paper or sandpaper. And even then..only if someone is pointing a gun at you..and you think they'll use it.
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Great idea, ultimately disappointing.
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I picked this book up for a flight, having really enjoyed Tony Hawks' comedy challenges. The first chapters were encouraging, I found Richard Smith's writing clear and humorous, he'd done his research and I'd settled back into my uncomfortable airline seat with high hopes. Sadly the part of the book written in the US as a bit lacklustre - gently amusing at times but nothing to make me laugh out loud. It feels a little like the author's enthusiasm was waning a little (both in terms of the writing and in his determination to complete his quest) and as one sparsely-sketched anecdote ran into another, so did mine. Mr Smith is a decent writer and is clearly capable of researching his work carefully - I just found myself wishing, as I read the book, that he had applied himself more dilligently to finding out about the places that he visited and to completing all of his misdemeanours with a little more panache. As it was, the book is an account of two young men drinking their way across the states, stopping occasionally for a half-baked prank. Parts are really quite good - I loved the golf commentary and some of the encounters with locals - but too much of the book is 'We went here, we couldn't do this law, we got drunk.'
Ultimately, the book fails as an off-beat travel book through lack of real attention to the destinations and isn't quite funny enough to stand as a comedy book. [...].
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