R- So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (x)
PG16- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (v), The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (slight v), Life, the Universe, and Everything (?Who can tell?), Mostly Harmless (v)
I should create a fourth rating for these books. Rather than calling them "b" for difficult subject matter, I should call them "i" for insane subject matter. They are incomprehensibly unassociated with themselves, each other, or anything else in the universe except that some of the characters are recurring. Come to think of it, that sounds like my life.
But they're funny. Hilarious, side-splitting, snort-your-enchilada funny. Adams has a perfectly British sense of humor, combining the outrageous with straight faces and lightly peppering the whole thing with sarcasm. Plot? We don't need no stinking plot! Plots are for wusses. Plots are for people who want to know the answer (which is 42, if you cared) without knowing the question (which is still being debated). Plots are for people with only one head who don't know how to fly and left their towels at home.
Don't take my word for it. The darn books have been bestsellers- I don't know how, Sci-Fi never sells unless it's written by Michael Crichton- and practically everyone I know owns a copy. Of course, that may not be a recommendation after all. Anyway, just read them. If you don't like them, you can just keep them on your shelf for a friend to "borrow". Maybe if you're lucky you'll get them back the Tuesday before the world ends.
Did I mention there was a radio show prior to this? And that once upon a time there was supposed to be a movie but it never quite happened...? In fact, Adams made his living writing Dr. Who episodes and other stuff like that before the lucky sod got a bunch of bestsellers for writing stream of consciousness wish-fulfillment.
The world ended on a Thursday for most of Earthkind, but Arthur Dent was not so lucky. Ford Prefect, researcher for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, took a liking to him and helped him escape the Earth before it was bulldozed. That was just the beginning of a very bad day. But armed with the large friendly letters "Don't Panic", Arthur braves his way through Vogon poetry and discovers that humans were only the third most intelligent beings on Earth, and he meets Zaphod. Oh yes, Zaphod. Let's talk about Trillian instead. She's a nice, normal human girl who's dating Zaphod. Er. Let's talk about Marvin, the clinically depressed robot from the marketing division of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, now owned by Zaphod. Er, yeah. Zaphod. Two heads and he doesn't think with either one of them, but that's okay, because his purpose in life is to distract people from what's really going on. And he doesn't even know it.
The plot is destined to end at The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, where every table has a wonderful view of the end of the universe repeated hourly. But the scenery isn't the only action in this book. The beginnings of a plot are dropped on Zaphod's head by a stork (well, not actually- he created the plot years ago then performed brain surgery on himself to keep it secret), and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy office building is mostly taken intact by someone who doesn't want Zaphod to remember the plot. Frogstar awaits.... Meanwhile, Ford, Arthur, and Trillian are stuck on the Heart of Gold, unable to tell where they are or why the ship shakes at just the right time to upset the scrabble board. What does this all mean? Do Arthur and Trillian, the only surviving parts of the great computer Earth, know the question to the answer of the universe?
So Arthur and Ford are now stuck on Earth 2 million years before it will be blown up again, and for company they have the rejects from another planet, including public telephone cleaners and the like, so they finally have time to ponder Life, the Universe, and Everything. For example, what does cricket have to do with the end of the universe? What are the strange robots that make a "whop" sound doing with all the items they collect? Will they unleash the greatest force of destruction the universe has ever known- again? Some people think that the last three books in this series are not as good as the first two, since they are completely unrelated to the radio show. I disagree, however. My reasoning? I just like them. Especially the fourth book, but the other three as well.
Having learned to fly and forgotten how again, Arthur makes yet another trip to Earth, discovering that the place he thought destroyed was now, in fact, rematerialized, complete with Ford'd Guide entry. The only clues are five fishbowls left to certain members of the human race. Written on the fishbowls is So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. What does this mean? And can Arthur finally get a real girlfriend? The second question is probably more urgent- it's been waiting for longer. Of course, the girl of his choice thinks she's a hedgehog, but that's not important. She's also discovered the secret to everyone being happy, but she hasn't managed to explain it coherently ever since she noticed the world was being vaporized by Vogons. This is my favorite of the whole set of books, if only because Fenchurch is such a great character. Not to mention which, the end of Marvin and God's Final Message to His Creation are poignant moments, usually requiring consumption of a pound and a half of chocolate to fully appreciate. Read slowly and try to breathe between paragraphs. Make sure someone knows you are reading this book and is prepared to perform CPR if you should collapse from laughing too hard.
Are human beings really Mostly Harmless? Is it the universe around it them that is going crazy, or are they the source of the infintesimal changes, like the neutrino that made all the clovers four-leafed and slightly altered the building plans for the Guide's offices? Will Arthur Dent ever find Fenchurch again? Will the last version of planet Earth survive the introduction of astrology to an alien race living on the tenth planet of Sol? These and more questions will be unhelpfully answered in this, the absolutely really-I-mean-it conclusion to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy.
"Young Zaphod Plays It Safe" stars yours truly, Zaphod, prior to his experiences in the novels. I suspect it is also prior to his self-performed brain surgery, but I'm not sure. Zaphod helps a team of scientists track down a crashed spaceship carrying lethal weapons. In doing so, he discovers that the greatest menace to the universe has been freed- in the direction of Earth. The beginning of the end is near.... You don't need to read this story unless you bought the really really complete version of the Ultimate Guide, in which case you already own it and reading it takes 15 minutes of your time and is probably worth it, if you like Zaphod at all.
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