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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
5 stars for diction, comedic timing, and endlessly entertaining paragraph-long sentence structure. It was a great reading experience.
However, the resolution of the plot only takes like 5 pages, and hardly answers any questions. Felt too deus-ex-machina-esque. It sort of read like he was writing an awesome book about gods walking the earth (it reminded me of American Gods at some points, which is one of my favorite books), but then DA apparently ran out of time and was told to wrap it up, the publisher's waiting. the first 90% of the book was fantastic, and the last 10% was a crappy resolution where the plot fell off a cliff.
5 stars for most of the book minus 1.5 stars for bad ending = 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4)
However, the resolution of the plot only takes like 5 pages, and hardly answers any questions. Felt too deus-ex-machina-esque. It sort of read like he was writing an awesome book about gods walking the earth (it reminded me of American Gods at some points, which is one of my favorite books), but then DA apparently ran out of time and was told to wrap it up, the publisher's waiting. the first 90% of the book was fantastic, and the last 10% was a crappy resolution where the plot fell off a cliff.
5 stars for most of the book minus 1.5 stars for bad ending = 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4)
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't think this was as good as the first one, but it was ridiculous and a lot of fun.
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This story’s really amazing and I just couldn’t stop reading it till the end.
This book is just silly. The plot essentially just works itself out in the end & Dirk Gently is little more than a bystander. But if you enjoy Adams' outlandish humor & high energy chaos, then this is well worth reading! Also, I awarded this book an extra star simply because it has my favorite title EVER.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
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:
Yes
I liked this. I originally didn't plan on reading anything after the Hitchhiker's Trilogy (give or take a book or two) because satire laced absurdist fiction is like eating a pan of fudge: You can only eat a little at a time and when you have eaten the whole pan, you don't want any more for a long time. Then, when you forget that you are off fudge, you make another pan with the same recipe and start the process over. In other words, I didn't think I would want to read more Adams than the trilogy (give or take a book or two) and if I wanted more, I would just re-read the trilogy (give or take a book or two).
But give Dirk Gently a try. "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" is the second volume in the series. I haven't read the first, but already I'm half-way through the series! According to Wikipedia, the ultimate authority, this is the last full novel that Adams wrote. Apparently, they haven't yet traced its DNA back to any non-produced Dr. Who story that Adams pitched, so it's original.
"Only" four stars because the sinews connecting the bones of the plot seem a bit loose, but perhaps it should be five stars because the whole point of being a "holistic detective" is that you want to keep you linkages loose, in every sense of the word, as much as possible. No, I still give it four stars because he doesn't quite pull off the interaction between a mortal meeting an immortal god. Literally impossible miracles are pulled off and the skeptical foil keeps saying, "Yes, yes, but I'm piqued at you because my personal thrust has been blunted in some area of my interest or other." I'm all for a skeptic writing skeptical stuff, but when the skeptic writing skeptical stuff is writing fiction for all, diminution or dismissal of the impossible cannot be just a matter of course, unless it is latter seen that the dismisser is clinically insane.
That missing star shouldn't dissuade you from reading this. I think some of the scenes are entertaining, some are engaging, and some, especially some of the "physical scenes" are so well written as an aid to the reader's imagination, that Adams missed a trick as non-satirical, non-ironical story teller. Maybe the Dirk Gently series is the furthest that Adams could have veered into this territory, so we should all appreciate what he gave us before he exited this existence.
If they would make a movie of this book, the producers and writers and director(s) should keep the focus on the mundanity of the mundane Dirk Gently as he traverses the improbable, the impossible and the phantasmagorical, which he can only effect by being a little disassociated, a little credulous, and a touch more out-of-touch . The charm in this book is not so much the raging rapids, but the feather, which shoots them, top to bottom, only to survive and wash up on a bank, slightly bedraggled, yet improbably mostly whole.
Dirk Gently is like all of us, who would lose our grip, but, unlike all of us, he, he doesn't.
But give Dirk Gently a try. "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" is the second volume in the series. I haven't read the first, but already I'm half-way through the series! According to Wikipedia, the ultimate authority, this is the last full novel that Adams wrote. Apparently, they haven't yet traced its DNA back to any non-produced Dr. Who story that Adams pitched, so it's original.
"Only" four stars because the sinews connecting the bones of the plot seem a bit loose, but perhaps it should be five stars because the whole point of being a "holistic detective" is that you want to keep you linkages loose, in every sense of the word, as much as possible. No, I still give it four stars because he doesn't quite pull off the interaction between a mortal meeting an immortal god. Literally impossible miracles are pulled off and the skeptical foil keeps saying, "Yes, yes, but I'm piqued at you because my personal thrust has been blunted in some area of my interest or other." I'm all for a skeptic writing skeptical stuff, but when the skeptic writing skeptical stuff is writing fiction for all, diminution or dismissal of the impossible cannot be just a matter of course, unless it is latter seen that the dismisser is clinically insane.
That missing star shouldn't dissuade you from reading this. I think some of the scenes are entertaining, some are engaging, and some, especially some of the "physical scenes" are so well written as an aid to the reader's imagination, that Adams missed a trick as non-satirical, non-ironical story teller. Maybe the Dirk Gently series is the furthest that Adams could have veered into this territory, so we should all appreciate what he gave us before he exited this existence.
If they would make a movie of this book, the producers and writers and director(s) should keep the focus on the mundanity of the mundane Dirk Gently as he traverses the improbable, the impossible and the phantasmagorical, which he can only effect by being a little disassociated, a little credulous, and a touch more out-of-touch . The charm in this book is not so much the raging rapids, but the feather, which shoots them, top to bottom, only to survive and wash up on a bank, slightly bedraggled, yet improbably mostly whole.
Dirk Gently is like all of us, who would lose our grip, but, unlike all of us, he, he doesn't.