Lara's Wanderings

I am reviewing this series as a continuation of my review of Neil Gaiman’s Don’t Panic.

Don’t Panic is part biography of Douglas Adams and part guide to The Hitchhiker’s series. This review of the series will incorporate some of the elements I had learned beyond the stories themselves.

The books in the Hitchhiker’s Series that I am reviewing are The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life, the Universe and Everything, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, and Mostly Harmless. The graphic I grabbed has The Salmon of Doubt, but I haven’t read that one either.

I learned in Neil Gaiman’s Don’t Panic, that The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy first started as a radio show by Douglas Adams that ended up becoming very popular. Publishers approached Douglas Adams to write the book, and so the radio show is somewhat similar to the first three books; at least most of the scenes are similar.

If you like a nice, organized plot, these books are not for you.  If you like well-rounded characters with consistent motives, these books are not for you. If you like a series that doesn’t have plot holes, well… you get the point.

So what do these books have going for them?

They are hilarious in an odd sort of nihilistic sort of way. Take Monty Python and then add a semi-truck load of existential angst. It has been years since I read these books, and I suspect I will be reading them again soon. They are not the shining light of perfect writing, but the written form of humor in these novels are genius. Very few people write humor well. As I grow as a writer, my admiration for those who find success also grows. Writing is hard work. Writing humor multiplies that difficulty.

The strength of these books is in the details: the bits of conversation, the observations of human inconsistency, the odd items used in the wrong ways, and the significance in mundane things such as a towel or making a sandwich or even the number 42.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy starts out with a common Englishman named Author Dent who is “rescued” from the earth by his friend, Ford Prefect, seconds before earth is demolished by aliens. Ford Perfect is a traveling alien trying to update the latest version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The rest of the book has these two characters wandering around space with a bunch of other odd characters. What’s the plot? There isn’t one. What are they trying to accomplish? Just surviving until the end of the book. Why should you read it? Because it’s just funny.

The end of this book just stops. It doesn’t really have an ending. It isn’t even a cliffhanger or anything. According to Don’t Panic, Douglas Adams was so late on his deadline that the publisher just wanted him to stop writing and send what he had so far. That became this book. How did such a thing get published? It had to do with the success of the radio show that this marginally matches.

You would think that would be a recipe for failure, but no, to the surprise of everyone involved, it was a successful book. The publishers wanted another one.

The book is super funny and great to read. My first time through I had no idea what to expect. My face contorted between an expression of bafflement and that of humor as I made my way through.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe follows onto the previous book and features a restaurant that exists out of time. I honestly can’t remember a plot, but it has all the cool characters from the previous book.

Life, the Universe and Everything has our favorite characters saving the Universe from destruction. I think they succeed in this one.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish has Arthur returning to a new earth or one from a different dimension eight years after leaving the old earth just to leave again and search for God and his final message.

Mostly Harmless has Arthur now on a prehistoric earth-like earth. He discovers he has a daughter (not naturally) and needs to save the earth again. And just to spoil it for you, he doesn’t succeed.

Do any of these plots matter much? Not really. It’s really more about funny characters and scenarios such as white mice having commissioned earth to be built so they could study humans or an alien race who tortures its prisoners with poetry readings. Still, I do recommend them to anyone who can handle a very philosophically messed up sense of humor.

Check out my young adult fantasy fiction novels HERE for something optimistic and fun.

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