Let me start by saying that I did enjoy reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I just don't think that I enjoyed it as much as I felt like I should. Don't get me wrong: Hitchhiker's was witty and Douglas Adams is a seriously hysterical writer, it just felt like as soon as the story really warmed up and got going, it was over a few chapters later.
In case you are one of the few people who has not heard of this novel before, here is part of the synopsis on Goodreads:
"Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor."
From that one sentence alone, who wouldn't want to read this book?
So is there something I am missing? Are there more books that come after this one that keep the story going that I am just totally oblivious to?
Because Adams is just fantastic to read. He has a singular gift for delivering sarcasm that is oh so delightfully British and it comes across in his characters so well. Not only are the characters witty, but they are realistically written and that makes it even better.
For example the protagonist, Arthur Dent, is a human thrown into countless alien situations after he is saved moments before Earth's destruction. How does he respond? At times, he freaks out a bit. At others, he is hysterically sarcastic. It definitely made it easy for me to imagine how I would react in the same kinds of situations (but let's be real - I'd probably just cry the whole time).
And it isn't just the human characters that are well written. Marvin, the constantly depressed and self-deprecating robot, goes around moaning about how miserable he is. Even Zaphod Beeblebrox, a two-headed humanoid and president of the galaxy, has moments that I found myself relating to him.
In all, I would recommend The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to lovers of sci-fi and anyone looking for an easy, enjoyable read with some funny characters.
Have you read Hitchhiker's? What did you think - what did you like or not like?
No comments:
Post a Comment