Reviews

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

coolguyrick's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

alexainsworth's review against another edition

4.0

I see why dad loves this and why it is so incredibly well loved and a part of american literary canon. I think I might just read more of this series. Thanks @booksandlala for reading this in a vlog and inspiring to finally get on the train millions of others already have.

hiitsmaz's review against another edition

4.0

Really funny

elliot_os's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed idk why it took me so long to read it (*3.75)

blissb's review against another edition

4.0

I feel that this book just reinforced the idea that I don’t quite get British humor. Not a bad read though.

yvarg's review against another edition

funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Supremely British and silly to the point of uselessness, but maybe that's the point?

reeducating_the_phoenix's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

4.75

theglossreview's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This sci-fi classic is the pinnacle of British humour. 

chalkycharo's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

taicantfly's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book is undoubtedly very witty in a kind of time capsule way. Very Monty Python-esque (I think Adams mentioned Flying Circus as a big influence in his humour?) and absurd, it doesn't place its environment nor plot within the confines of the suspension of non-belief, which means Adams can explore a huge variety of his ideas in a way that feels like a sketch show but is still linear and cohesive.

I think it is a bit grating after a time, not really exploring a lot of its philosophical ideas in detail - however not all sci-fi has to be high concept and this nicely fulfills the desire for an easy-to-read, fast paced (~2.5h) and silly book. It's also maybe a bit Reddit-y, but not really through any fault of its own; this book pretty much set the precedent for the kind of humour Reddit users would badly duplicate.

My favourite bit was this passage:
One of the major difficulties Trillian experienced in her relationship with Zaphod was learning to distinguish between him pretending to be stupid just to get people off their guard, pretending to be stupid because he couldn't be bothered to think and wanted someone else to do it for him, pretending to be outrageously stupid to hide the fact that he actually didn't understand what was going on, and really being genuinely stupid. 

My least favourite bit was probably the ending with the cops coming after Zaphod. I forgot about that plot point and, when reminded by the book, realised I didn't care.