"Both hilarious and serious – a brilliant exploration of male friendship issues "
Billy No-Mates must have been a difficult book to title, because although Max Dickins begins his masculinity journey with the realisation that he is struggling to name a best man for his wedding, this book is about so much more than maintaining male friendships. It's nothing short of a forensic exploration of what it is to be a bloke. The combination of high-quality comedic writing layered on top of methodical research with therapists, academics and so on (the appendix notes are 30 pages long) is brilliantly engaging.
Regardless of the expert opinions researched and referenced throughout, no one knows the real Max better than his soon-to-be fiancé Naomi of course, and some of the discourse and dialogue between the pair are the best moments in the book. By the time we get to his proposal (genius!), then wedding and his creative solution to the best man problem, Dickins has taken us on a bit of a roller-coaster covering everything from being a schoolboy, to male banter, to toxic masculinity, and to – a new one for me – ‘emotional labour’ (basically, the effort required to make a relationship work). Note to self...
In addition to the humour, the expertise, the personal memoir and the romantic storyline there is a very serious and timely point to this book – which is how to avoid drifting towards loneliness, a significant contributor to the alarming statistics around male suicide. In his epilogue, Dickins muses whether, after mental and physical health, social health might be the last male taboo for men. Perhaps it is a taboo, or perhaps it’s something men don’t necessarily even think about. Billy No-Mates did a brilliant job of making me do so and gave me a lot of laughs along the way.
| Primary Genre | Biographies & Autobiographies |
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'Where have all my friends gone?'When Max Dickins decided to propose to his girlfriend, he realised there was no one he could call on to be his best man. He quickly learned that he wasn't the only man struggling with friendships. For decades, countless studies from across the world have confirmed that men have fewer close friends than women - and the problem gets worse the older men get. But what goes wrong? And what can men do about it? Dickins is going to find out. His funny and charmingly candid search takes him to the doors of world-leading experts. It forces him to examine the friendships he's had over the years, and where they have foundered. And, briefly, it sends him to the website 'Rent A Friend', where he pays someone to hang out with him. But let's not dwell on that. Join Max as he takes a defibrillator to his social life. As he ultimately discovers that if he wants a Best Man, then he needs to be a better man.
Billy No-Mates features in the following genres: Biographies & Autobiographies, Non-Fiction Books of the Month, Mind, body, spirit, Memoirs, Gender studies: men and boys, Coping with / advice about mental health issues, Biography, Literature and Literary studies, Recommendations, Health & Fitness, Gender studies, gender groups, Social groups, communities and identities, Society and culture: general, Society and Social Sciences, Coping with / advice about personal, social and health topics, Family and health, Star Books
Billy No-Mates is available in Paperback, Ebook, Hardback
Billy No-Mates was written by Max Dickins and published by Canongate Books
£8.79
