WTR: Friends in Low Places by Vince Wetzel

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WTR (What’s Toby Reading)? provides unsolicited and unsponsored (I don’t get paid) opinions of books I have recently finished.

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If you haven’t reached out to a group of old friends in awhile, Friends in Low Places will compel you to. Author Vince Wetzel’s debut novel is an endearing story about more than four high school friends – Paul, Rob, David, and Jesse – rekindling an annual camping trip to the lake. This is a tale of solidarity, introspection, loss, and the volatility of lifelong friendships.

This year’s “guys’ camping trip” was special – the dying wish of the fifth member of their cohort, named Jim. During the weekend, the friends would be spreading Jim’s ashes around a secluded lake that he had long adored. Jim’s influence on the emotional strings of the book is unmistakable. In fact, the memories of trips past are from the point of view of a tattered journal given to the group by Jim’s wife prior to their departure.

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In spite of the overtone of their friend’s passing, Friends in Low Places is less of a tear-jerking, tissue-emptying tale, as it is a celebration of the experiences the group has shared over the years. From their college-aged drunken escapades picking up girls on the beach, to nursing hangovers as adults, to harboring guilt for leaving wives and children behind for the weekend, each character’s journey is as interesting as relatable.

While I found myself, at times, struggling with the chronology of the journal’s tales, the relative timing of the stories is not as important as the lessons each character has learned through these annual camping trips together. As Rob, Paul, Jesse, and David (ie: MIHO) ribbed each other about past mistakes they’ve made, or lamented the twists of their lasting friendships, I found myself thinking of long lost friends of my own.

Adding the tragedy of Jim’s passing posed a creative way to cut through the silliness of the group’s drunken camp stories to heavier issues that adult men are reluctant to otherwise share with each other – times of sadness, struggle, and acceptance of vulnerability.

I closed Vince Wetzel’s Friends in Low Places better for having read it.

I found myself evaluating the legacy I’m attempting to create, the friendships I’ve made (and lost), and, ultimately, a burning desire to call my buddy Ryan to say ‘What’s up?’.

Thanks Mr. Wetzel, I think I’ll call my old friend now.