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4.42 AVERAGE
4.42 AVERAGE
I had read Douglas Adams' entire catalog back in high school and had enjoyed it, so when I saw someone discussing The Hitchhiker's Guide a while back and realized I no longer had my copies, I picked this one up so I'd have it all in one place. But then I never actually got around to reading it. When I did pick it up, I read the first few chapters and was dismayed to find I wasn't enjoying it nearly as much as I had remembered. So I put it aside and forgot about it for a while.
When I recently found myself without something to read, I saw this stuck in my dust-collecting "to read" pile and figured it was time to pick it back up. And this time, I found myself really enjoying it! Clearly, this is a book that requires a certain frame of mind to appreciate it. Once I was in the right mental state, this was a fun romp around the galaxy!
When I recently found myself without something to read, I saw this stuck in my dust-collecting "to read" pile and figured it was time to pick it back up. And this time, I found myself really enjoying it! Clearly, this is a book that requires a certain frame of mind to appreciate it. Once I was in the right mental state, this was a fun romp around the galaxy!
I read the first 2 and most of the 3rd, but found it impossible to finish. I don't know, but the writing just seem to disintegrate and I had trouble following it. I thought it might help to read it while drunk and unjumble the story, perhaps. So aside from bailing 3/4 the way through I thought it was brilliant, light-hearted and ingenious.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
No
medium-paced
book one, great
book two, okay to good
book three, okay to good
book four, bad
book two, okay to good
book three, okay to good
book four, bad
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
"In the beginning the universe was created.The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . . . et al
This has made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move." ~ Douglas Adams
This Edition
Okay so let's start this by warning you that this might be a tad long - this edition has the first four Hitchhiker's books compiled into one beautifully chaotic mess of obscurities and illogicalities. And I'm going to talk about them separately. Yay.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Adams' style of writing is very confusing. I think that has to be the first point here. It's confusing in a really funny kind of way. I'm sure probably 9/10 of you endeavouring to read this book are probably doing so because you've watched the movie and thought hey, this must make a pretty spectacular book (you're right, by the way) - AND this is a GOOD THING. For that small percentage of you who make up the 1/10 who want to read this book because it was in that privileged spot in your book store between the A Game of Thrones series and all of John Green's books, balanced all on top of Jane Austen's novels and half obscured by the first Fifty Shades of Grey book that someone haphazardly put back after discovering just what that book was about, good luck. YOU, are going to be confuddled on a very extreme level. This may be a "hall of fame" book, but by god do I pray you have the humour for it, lest you review it badly because depressed robots just aren't funny to you (though why you would feel that I simply cannot fathom).
So basically what I'm saying is perhaps watching the movie is a good start. Plus Stephen Fry's voice is the only voice in which this should be read/can do it justice. So now that you're running along to the movie store (if any still exist in your area that is, bloody iTunes) I think we can properly begin with what the hell this is about.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is first and foremost a very long title. Secondly, it's about a typical British man called Arthur Dent who has an extraoridinarily stressful day of firstly having his home demolished and secondly, his planet. The Vogons are a beastly/stupid/ugly/smelly/bad poets species of a thing that build a hyperspace by-pass through the planet. And VRRWOMPH. Bye-bye Earth. *Little sobs of despair*. But fret not! It gets far crazier than this. Arthur's friend, Ford Prefect (bonkers at least 98% of the time) saves him by hitchhiking onto the very ship that destroys the Earth and off on a four+ book story we go.
I feel I should interject here by saying "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is actually a guide that Arthur is introduced to by Ford who is a writer for it. It is a good-ish guide and most importantly has the words "DON'T PANIC" written in big friendly letters on its cover.
The majority of this story occurs on a spaceship called The Heart of Gold, driven by Zaphod Beeblebrox (again, the movie provides you with pronunciations to some very strange names, thus removing your stress from going THAT IS NOT PHONETICALLY SOUND, ADAMS) and accompanied by the depressed robot that I briefly mentioned earlier; Marvin. Of course, Marvin alla Alan Rickman is possibly the best and most perfect combination the universe ever decided to throw together. The story is very funny. It is basically a bunch of characters (including a girl called Trillian who has a thing for Arthur and Arthur has a thing for her but Zaphod whisked her away into space because: spaceship) doing a bunch of very strange things to try and find the answer the Life, the Universe and Everything even though to be honest, none of them really know why this answer/question is so important to them. It's more just a curiosity because everyone else seems to care, plus Zaphod is missing access to part of his brain and is going off urges . . . but that's another story. Their main objective is their own personal trifles, which include things such as, why can't I remember what I need to do?, I really want to just go home., I have a towel and thus am the best editor of The Guide., and, oh god, I'm terribly depressed. It's funny, it's quirky, and if you don't finish it wondering whether you interpreted it right or not, then you simply can't have enjoyed it enough.
I also believe this book also contains one of the best literary moments of all time:
The pot of petunias and the spontaneous sperm whale. Book three actually explains to us why this occurred the way it did, and boy-o-boy is it funny.
I think the best way to think of this book, is to think of it as an introduction to the rest of the series and a probable stopping point for anyone who can't deal with how hard it is to understand what is going on, and more importantly, why.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Book two. Equally as brilliant as the first. In this adventure it mostly picks up from where we left off and throws in much more illogical probabilities and misuses of Marvin than its predecessor. This book is quite literally, mostly, about the group travelling to a restaurant that is situated at the end of the universe (guests eat their dinner and watch the whole universe collapse around them, some even hope to finally meet their god at the "end of time").
This book has some very stressful moments in it, particularly involving Martin. I was specifically upset about his role from the latter half of this book, mainly because he mostly disappears. Sigh. Marvin has to (honestly) be one of the best parts about this story and without him, I do not think the series would have sky-rocketed to fame as it did.
On a side note, if you are so lucky to have the foreword that I did in your book from Adams on how he came up with this idea, read it. I'm usually one for skipping these things, because frankly, I don't care. BUT this one is possibly funnier than the book itself (okay, not quite). But still.
A lot of the issues that arise in this sparkling sequel is because Arthur desperately wants a cup of tea, but a decent cuppa is yet to be found on board The Heart of Gold. After educating the very exuberant computer on the history of tea and all that, he clogs up the system as the computer focuses all its energy on making this perfect cup of tea for him. Hence they're stuck on a spaceship with no power and guess who finds them? Dunn, dun, dunnnn, the Vogons! Sigh. But with some very strange spiritual encounters the cast manages to not quite die today. The rest of the book then spirals off on the tangent of all tangents and splits up the characters presenting up with a destroyed-pinata-like plot line, which still manages to be really quite good. And seeing as there is no movie that you've probably seen of this book, I won't tell you anything else. Except, of course, that Marvin saves the day, at one point, like the badass robot we all know he is deep down inside.
Plus I might mention this book all boils down to Arthur being stranded on prehistorical maybe Earth at one point. Just in case you thought the book was sounding too sane. It really isn't.
If you managed to keep your head through the first book, I highly recommend to power on into the next. It's pretty similar on the crazy scale, and slightly better in some parts too. The third book is when the pie hits the fan.
Life, the Universe, and Everything
Book Three. And possibly the strangest (I didn't enjoy this one as much). This book has to win the crown of weirdness when it comes to this series. There were at several chapters of me going, should I reread that? I have no idea what just happened. *Rereads*. Still have no idea what happened. Mostly, these were chapters involving Ford (I told you he was bonkers).
Finding himself stranded on prehistorical Earth, Arthur kicks off Life, the Universe, and Everything for us in a reasonably bazaar manner. After a trip on a flying sofa, a cricket "match" with Krikkit robots (which are white) and a few conversations between a robot and a mattress, you will have completely accepted that you have no idea where exactly this book is going. For me I found this detrimental to my overall enjoyment of the book. I still liked all of it, but the lack of cohesiveness between the scenes made it feel more like a meringue trying to be a cake kind of book, rather than a solid chocolate cake with a few spontaneous dates in it, like the other books. There also happens to be a character called Slartibartfast who features in this book (that name, wow). A certain character called Agrajag also features, and is very, very funny before promptly dying. No really, it's a highlight of this book.
Essentially, Life, the Universe, and Everything is a mixture of extremely strange and seemingly unrelated occurrences, and of Arthur and Ford being dragged into saving the universe (what an effort) by odd named characters. Oh! And a real lack of Marvin. *Frowny face*. I think perhaps I would enjoy this book more if I, well, if I read it again. There was an awful lot that happened, but let's put it this way; if you read it like I did and then went huh? Read the wikipedia plot summary. It's infinitely easier to keep up with. Spacey games of cricket tie in with the climax of this plot, and let's not forget that Arthur gets to practice his flying quite a lot, over all making it a very strange and mostly quite good story.
On a side note, the method for flying is hilarious. Adams basically states that you just have to fall . . . and then "forget" to hit the ground. Most people achieve this by getting distracted - a frequent occurrence for Arthur Dent.
So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish
Book four. The best line in literary history as a title. When I was reading the first book, this line pops up (duh) and I honestly had to stop and take a picture of it. Don't ask me why. I think it was just because it felt a little like casually passing by the Eiffel tower. Hm.
This last book is mostly about Arthur. He's back on what we are assuming some form of Earth. He has no idea why it's there, or why everyone's claiming the destruction of the Earth were all hallucinations, but hey he's there and he's ready to role with it. I mean, after cavorting about the universe I'd say you'd be ready for anything.
So after removing the Babel fish from his ear (a fish that should definitely meet with the T.A.R.D.I.S at some point as they both translate any language) Arthur puts it in a bowl that mysteriously has the words "So Long and Thanks . . ." written on it. After acclimatising to being home again Arthur meets the love of his life, Fenny, or as we are supposed to call her, Fenchurch - Adams really had fun with these names. The majority of this book is essentially a plot switching between Arthur's love life, Ford going "beep" and Marvin not featuring at all (okay, he does return towards the end). It was certainly a relief to read after the previous installment, in the sense that I knew what was happening (well, in the scenes with Arthur anyway).
This book has a beautifully perfect ending that makes sense *celebrations*. Obviously I'm not going to comment on what the ending actually is but I just thought I'd have my input on the fact at it is indeed satisfying. Really what we're dealing with here is a story that is entirely manageable by anyone who survived the first book. From love, flying, intimate scenes on an aeroplane's wing and a conversation with a madman name John Watson about the disappearance of dolphins, I don't see how you couldn't love this final book. Honestly, it all makes mostly perfect sense. And indeed, makes for a . . . mostly harmless. . . book.
Summary
I think I have to sum up this overly long and wordy review with the simple statement that I'm really quite upset that it's over. Well, I mean there's more books, but it feels like it's over. Well, after the conclusion of So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish I think you'll understand my twang of depression anyway. These are four brilliantly written books that are slightly incredibly mad and there is nothing for it but to salute the memory of Douglas Adams and praise the lord that he decided to write this series, even if it took 10 years of procrastination and a lot of baths.
"There was a point to this story, but it has temporarily escaped the chronicler's mind." ~ Douglas Adams
There's no need to explain why this book is absolutely amazing!
All I can say is: I'm damn glad I read it. My life is that much closer to completion.
All I can say is: I'm damn glad I read it. My life is that much closer to completion.
In the beginning the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was created. This has made a lot of people very happy and been widely regarded as an excellent move.