Mostly Harmless (Book 5)

by Douglas Adams

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4548 ratings, 3.80 average rating, 121 reviews (more data...)

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4		35%
3		27%
2		8%
1		1%

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published

February 1st 2000 (first published 1992) by Del Rey

binding

Mass Market Paperback, 240 pages

isbn

0345418778 (isbn13: 9780345418777)

description

The fifth book in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

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Jon rated it:

(review of isbn 0517577402)

06/29/07

Read in January, 1992

recommends it for: Douglas Adams fans

Mostly Harmless was, for many people, a disappointing end to a fantastic series. Adams admitted that he was having a "bad year" when he wrote this book, and it shows: the usual humor and manic pacing are largely gone, replaced by long tracts about actual theoretical science (as opposed to the lunatic-inspired science that created, say, the starship Bistromath), and the tone overall is far darker and more depressive. There are still glimpses of Adams' comedic genius, but ...more

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Kyle rated it:

05/24/08

Read in May, 2008

Starting off a bit too divergent in time and space, and rounding up the few remaining main characters for one last adventure, it would seem that Douglas Adam is straining to be glib about the ineffable laws of the universe. Or rather the many universes we may or may not be aware of, preferring to call it some sort of Mish Mash. Yet halfway through this novel, we can see that every sidestep and meander is in the service of a plot that is as straight and piercing as Time's arrow. Arthur Dent ge...more

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Simon rated it:

03/10/08

Read in March, 2008

It's been a good 20 years since I read the first four Hitchhikers books, which I loved. This one felt very different. The wackiness and comic invention has been toned down, and in its place is a very English strain of wistful melancholy. The plot makes a certain kind of sense if you think about it, although it's not what I would call satisfying. There are a couple of laugh out loud moments, but the overall feeling is one of sadness. Interesting...

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Nathan rated it:

02/08/08

Blechh! Worst. Ending. Ever! I've heard that Douglas Adams wrote this book during a bad time in his life (hey, we all have 'em), but this book more or less stinks. I have chosen to forget that this book was ever written, and that the series ended on a definite high note with "So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish". Those of you who have not had your minds poisoned with this bit of tripe would do well to skip it altogether.

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Matt rated it:

11/08/07

bookshelves: science-fiction

Read in July, 1993

I'm a huge fan of Douglas Adams, and loved the first four books in the "trilogy". I was sorely disappointed by the fifth and final book in the series though. To me, it seemed like he was thinking "I'm sick of people whining for more Hitchhiker's books. I'll show them." The way the book ends is so...final. I understand Adams was going through a bad period when he wrote this book, and it shows. Don't bother with this one.

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Savinipop rated it:

11/20/08

Read in July, 1993

recommended to Savinipop by: me myself and I
recommends it for: scifi peeps

I know this seems like an odd book to give such a high rating for, but hear me out.
I loved this series of books. Adams is clever and inventive, but not without looking for a higher meaning. I would enjoy each moment and new idea as I flipped the pages as fast as I could, but I have to say at the end of each book in the 5 part trilogy, he was stretching. He was trying to answer that question, but would end up with a very funny, lighthearted book, until this one.

Without going into detail(o...more

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Ryan rated it:

11/08/08

Read in November, 2008

recommends it for: Teachers

This book made me wonder if Douglas Adams had some marital problems in his later life, or if it was just a much more general distaste of people which bled into his writing.

The prior Hitchhiker books all have, at bare-minimum, at least a cursory veneer of optimism, which has been extant to blunt and sweeten the rather stark and sometimes unapologetically bitter guts of these stories. It appears this book has omitted that particular characteristic from its makeup, though, and it has actually ...more This book made me wonder if Douglas Adams had some marital problems in his later life, or if it was just a much more general distaste of people which bled into his writing.

The prior Hitchhiker books all have, at bare-minimum, at least a cursory veneer of optimism, which has been extant to blunt and sweeten the rather stark and sometimes unapologetically bitter guts of these stories. It appears this book has omitted that particular characteristic from its makeup, though, and it has actually done so (mostly) to the benefit of its story.

As to the story, it is another tale of being human while being around other humans who are not really as human as you might think they would be, and that then all trapped and wound in the fabric of comedy (the travails of the Hitchiker - a la Arthur Dent) and the possibilities of science and technology (the nearly total failure of the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy ever actually solving any one of Arthur's problems, ever, at all).

There is a bit of "What's the point?" about the Hitchhiker series, and this book addresses it headlong. What makes it different than other books wondering the same thing is that it makes no pretense at arriving at any sort of answer other than the boring, inevitable one: things start, things go on, things end, and if you're lucky, you will have been able to feel happy more than once along the way.

Now here's the thing that makes this book honest, if a little too dour at times: eventually, nearly all the people you like in the book do shitty things to each other, no matter who it is doing the doing and no matter to whom those things are being done. Random Dent, Arthur's new/estranged daughter, is the living, breathing result of something shitty having been done - that thing being this: she was born. And, being born, it also meant that one way or another, her young life would be spent growing up.

Despite the fun and jokes of the teenage years being a fairly rich fodder for comedic tension between Random and, um, just about everyone she meets, there is a very moral center to this character's presence (or at least there can be, depending whether you read only for entertainment or whether you, like me, read to immerse yourself somewhere else - somewhere where things make at least a little more sense than they seem to here, even if the events aren't any more fair there than here, and probably less so). ...less

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Katie rated it:

06/23/08

Read in June, 2008

This was good, almost as good as the first one in the series. It had some very good humorous bits and was overall an enjoyable read. However, I'm left with two questions still (STOP reading if you don't like anything that seems remotely like a spoiler!):

1. What happened to Zaphod? Other than he got blasted off into some random space capsule with some government-official-types in the interim short story. I was expecting him to make a return. Oh well.

2. What was the question? You...more

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St-Michel rated it:

(review of isbn 0345379330)

04/25/08

bookshelves: 1995

Read in January, 1995

The fifth of the wildly acclaimed trilogy. Well, as a standalone, and seriously, even as part of the trilogy, this book was rather unecessary. Actually, I think I take that back - as a part of the trilogy it was completely unecessary but as a standalone, it wasn't all that bad. Now, as a whole, the trilogy was pretty far out there every now and then and almost derailed itself a couple times, mostly in So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, but I think that book saved itself and the trilo...more The fifth of the wildly acclaimed trilogy. Well, as a standalone, and seriously, even as part of the trilogy, this book was rather unecessary. Actually, I think I take that back - as a part of the trilogy it was completely unecessary but as a standalone, it wasn't all that bad. Now, as a whole, the trilogy was pretty far out there every now and then and almost derailed itself a couple times, mostly in So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, but I think that book saved itself and the trilogy by book's end. This book, however, in my opinion, the bridge just exploded and thrain's now down in a watery grave.

But, whoa, before you get all fussy over the matter and say "How dare you!" I'm representing it in that light in respects to being a part of the trilogy and only the trilogy. Like I said, it really wasn't that bad on its own accord, but it did make for a tough rate - it was fair-to-do in its own special way but completely twarted a good ending to it all. Now perhaps The Salmon of Doubt could have mended this whole mess, but sadly that was unfinished, and in some respects, never really got off the ground (I could be wrong here, I haven't actually read The Salmon of Doubt but from what little I've seen of it, it was stuffeded with a lot of biographical filler and annotated noted concerning the trilogy as a whole. Eh?).

My reasoning behind the like but dislike as a standalone vs a finale to a quintet...uh, I mean trilogy:
1. It just doesn't even read the same as the rest of the books. It almost feels at times as if it wasn't even written by Adams at all. Sure it's got that Adams humour here and there but it's just not nearly as apparent and the flow feels really off to its predecessors.
2. What the hell? Ok, I guess I should go into a little more detail, but then in a way, I think that pretty much covers it - what the hell? What the hell happened? So Long and Thanks for All the Fish sort of had that feeling too, but really, once you gave it the chance it deserved, it seemed a proper ending and I always thought that's where it should have stayed. Sure there were questions to be had, but it served its purpose. Young Zaphod Plays It Safe was quite...well it was an odd little essay that I don't think anyone knew where it was to fit in, but whatever, it was short and sweet and really didn't affect anything either way, but then this - how in the world did we get here!?
3. But let's put it all aside - discard the "What the hell's?" or "WTF's" for the "texting" world we've become. It's an alternate reality, or the "right" reality or the way it should have always been. It's not Adams at his best, but it is Adams and Adams is Adams. Which basically means, if you like Adams, then read it, I implore you, BUT take my suggestion: don't read it as the next chapter in the Hitchhiker's trilogy or else you'll be grossly disappointed. Read it for what it is, or what it should be: a novel titled "Mostly Harmless" that just so happens to contain a few of the characters from the trilogy....less

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Ian rated it:

07/21/08

bookshelves: douglas-adams

Some eight years after writing the fourth Hitch Hiker book Douglas Adams returns to his most famous creation after composing two Dirk Gently novels and travelling to Madagascar to write amusing lines about Limas with Mostly Harmless, the fifth book in the increasing misrepresented Hitch Hiker trilogy.

Arthur was travelling through all the possible, if improbable, dimensions to find an Earth to settle on since Fenny disappeared in hyperspace before crash landing on the world of Bog where he fo...more

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Jessica rated it:

11/13/08

bookshelves: 2008

Read in November, 2008

I love Douglas Adams. I love The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I love the Restaurant at the End of the Universe (my favorite). I love his Dirk Gentley books...I did not, however, love Mostly Harmless. In fact, I didn't even like it. The book was hard to follow. The events didn't tie into place like they should have. There was very little humor. In fact, the whole tone was very negative, and I don't pick up Douglas Adams books so that I can feel grouchy after I read them. I read the ...more

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Richard rated it:

(review of isbn 0434009261)

04/16/08

bookshelves: comedy, fantasy, science-fiction, tv-filmtiein

Read in January, 1992

recommends it for: Douglas Adams fans who have read the rest of Hitch Hikers

In 1992 Douglas Adams released the fifth entry in what was, by his own admission the increasingly inaccurately titled Hitch Hikers trilogy.

Unfortunately it felt at the time like it was written with the intention of bringing the story arc to a close so that people would stop asking him to write another darn book. At its end 'Mostly Harmless' does the inverse of so many Hollywood block busters. Instead of setting up an obvious lead into a sequel the book sets about destroying any possi...more

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Brooke rated it:

10/02/07

Read in January, 2005

Old blog...

I have been saving the last book of the Hitchhiker's Guide series as a treat for myself. I own the "Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide", which has all five books. And even though they are wildly entertaining, I was afraid I might ruin the magic by reading them all in a row. So since the books I put on hold had not come into the library yet, I busted this book out to read while proctoring the medical student final exam last Friday. (5 hours in a room with people taking a tes...more

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Manzoid rated it:

09/14/08

If you're gotten to book 5 of the trilogy, presumably you are a fan and really dig the quirky universe that Douglas Adams has created for you. If that's so, I strongly suggest that you stop at book 4, because Mostly Harmless presents a haphazard and dismal end to all our beloved characters and to anything fun and inspiring about that universe. It will probably depress you. Personally I was just stunned at the ending, like suddenly getting smacked with a dead fish, and the scattering of enjoya...more

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Carlos rated it:

08/31/07

To date the most subversive book on science and philosophy I've ever read. At the end you're wondering what the hell happened and maybe you walk around for a while after thinking it over and being all "Man I can't believe that was the ending!" Then maybe years later you walk past a radio playing an interview with Michio Kako or Brian Greene who are talking about strange quark matter and superstring. You go, "yeah, yeah the First Fundamental Law of Probability."

"Wa...more

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Irene rated it:

11/20/08

Read in November, 2008

This book ended so Douglas Adams style, but not very Douglas Adams style; he usually has this very humorous outlook, but the ending was very...sinister. It was altogether very unsatisfactory. I wish he had thought of a different ending, and made the book funnier. this entire book was kind of sinister. Not as funny as the other books in the series. Oh well. There's no going back.

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Carrie rated it:

(review of isbn 0330491229)

01/31/08

bookshelves: 2008, humor

Read in January, 2008

"This is that thing you call sarcasm right?" I love the conversations between Author and Ford. Its always this amusing babble.

I really enjoyed is book and looking back over the whole series it was a great read. Yes it had it's down times but as a whole it was well done. It will definitely be a reread for me sometime in the future. And I do highly recommend it to anyone.

So thats what happened to Elvis? We have aliens who forget who they are, everything about themselves but who l...more

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Nathan rated it:

06/06/08

Read in January, 1998

I found that as I progressed through the hitchhiker novels they became decreasingly funny. Such was the case with Mostly Harmless. What had been rib-cracking laughter during the first novel was reduced to mere chuckles by the fifth. I have wondered if it was simply because after five successive installments Adam's humor (despite his clever use of language) becomes a bit predictable. Or it might be that, in the end, nihilism (even comedic nihilism) really is just too bleak and emotionally numbin...more

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Rachel rated it:

(review of isbn 0517577402)

07/28/08

bookshelves: adventure, h2g2, humour, sf

Read in August, 1997

Mostly Harmless is the fifth book of the Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy, and as such, it's worth reading. However, in many ways I think that its title is a little too apt.
This is my least favourite Hitchhiker book, because it left me slightly depressed by both its storyline and its position as the final book of the trilogy. Even so, it has sequences that are too funny to be missed, most notably the story of (and our hero Arthur's confusion about) the King. Furthermore, it answers questions and cla...more

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Nathan rated it:

12/01/08

Felt like Adams phoned this one in. The story was funny, but seemed to be a effort to just end the series.

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trivia questions

In rhetorics and literary theory, what do you call a pointless repetition (i.e., saying the same thing twice without actually adding anything)?

(E.g., "It ain't over till it's over," or "Anything that happens, happens. Anything that in happening causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen. Anything that in happening happens again, happens again" from Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams.)
a. Simile.
b. Allusion.
c. Alliteration.
d. Tautology.
e. Oxymoron.
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Mostly Harmless (Book 5)

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