Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Light hearted and very fantastical. The main appeal is the frivolity with which it is written, which borders at times on excessive but treads the line skillfully.

I like the paranoid android. Plot uses extreme coincidence as a plot mechanism in itself, which is quite clever and allows for a believable and highly improbable storyline.

It is clear the author either truly does not take themselves seriously, or makes a very concerted effort to appear as though they don't care too much. However, the prose is not dumbed down.

The book is too short to fully develop the characters, possibly due to the original format being a radio show. But readers probably aren't intended to fully understand all the characters anyways, it's meant for entertainment.

Overall a good, light, whimsical read with decent prose and clever storyline mechanisms.

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maddie_can_read's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is my favourite book of all time. I can't remember the first time I read it , but it was over 10 years ago. Just re-reading it again in January 2024. Douglas Adams has such a unique, creative voice and this book is so fun to read. I've read books trying to emulate this style and there is just no comparison. I could see how this book might not be for some readers, because Adams has a very distinctive, quirky and weird writing style and a lot of the book is really "out there" but those are all the reasons I absolutely love this book. There is a plot, an interesting set of characters, tons of tangents, and lots of fantastic examinations into modern society. Some of the references might go over your head because its almost 50 years old and its very British, but there's enough it the book that it doesn't matter if you miss some things. It's so sad the author died when he was only 49, I believe we missed out on so many wonderful and wacky stories when we lost such a creative mind. Rest in peace Douglas Adams, and thanks for all the fish !

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theirgracegrace's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted slow-paced

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

4.0

A classic of British science fiction, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy follows Arthur Dent, a normal English man who is the sole survivor of Earth after it is instantly demolished to make way for an intergalactic freeway. His journey takes him to space ships (properly owned and stolen), terrible poetry recitals, and a planet shrouded in myth that manufactures planets. Along the way, he learns absolutely wacky (and generally useless) information about the cosmos, meets a depressed robot, and discovers the answer to Life, The Universe and Everything.

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