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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)

Douglas Adams

Start date: December 1, 2016

Finish date: December 31, 2016

Discussion: New School Classics- 1915-2005

Why we're reading this: Revisit the Shelf Reread, December 2016

Pervious Reads:
-New School Classic, January 2014

Revisit the Shelf …more
[close] Revisit the Shelf Reread, December 2016

Pervious Reads:
-New School Classic, January 2014

Revisit the Shelf Reread, December 2016

Prior Group Reads:
Contemporary Classic Group Read, February 2014

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New School Classics- 1915-2005

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What Members Thought

Aug 16, 2016 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction-20th-century, read-2016, 1000-guardian, audio-books, fantasy, british-literature, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, science-fiction, comedy

From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Arthur Dent is trying to stop his house being demolished to make way for a by-pass. But his friend, Ford Prefect (who hails not from Guildford, but somewhere near Betelgeuse), is more concerned about the imminent destruction of the Earth. Ford is a writer for the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, "the most successful book ever to have come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor" and he may just know how to avoid being evaporated by the Vogons...

The global m ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Jun 02, 2018 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, 1001-books, dnf

Sorry to all the lovers of this book ... I just hated it. For me it was just silly, dumb humor. Not my type of thing, at all.

4 likes · Like · see review

Apr 25, 2011 Maggie rated it liked it

Shelves: boxall-1001, fiction, science-fiction, classics, humour, guardian-1000, satire, usa

Now I've read this, I finally understand cultural references like "don't panic", babel fish, paranoid android, and of course, the answer to life, the universe, and everything, 42.

The story follows Arthur Dent, a normal human who is dragged into a galactic adventure by his friend Ford Prefect after the Earth is destroyed by Vogons intending to build a hyperspace bypass. Given that this book had, and still has, a cult following, I had high expectations. Yet what I got was totally unexpected. It wa Now I've read this, I finally understand cultural references like "don't panic", babel fish, paranoid android, and of course, the answer to life, the universe, and everything, 42.

The story follows Arthur Dent, a normal human who is dragged into a galactic adventure by his friend Ford Prefect after the Earth is destroyed by Vogons intending to build a hyperspace bypass. Given that this book had, and still has, a cult following, I had high expectations. Yet what I got was totally unexpected. It was entertaining in a screwball way. The plot is absurd, and Arthur serves both as the only ground of normality and as a contrast to the insanity of everything else. There are frequent digressions, like one where Arthur's comment about his lifestyle travels down a wormhole in space-time to a meeting between two species. The comment is an insult in their language, causing the two species to launch a war for thousands of years. These digressions are absurd, often contribute nothing to the plot, but play a major role in the don't-take-me-seriously tone of the book.

However I found the book underwhelming. Although it was funny, several times, particularly as the book wore on, the humour seemed forced, as if Adams was only making up more absurd statements because he'd waded too far and knew he had to continue peppering every page with something absurd because the reader expected it. The problem with this is that when you expect the next sentence to be humorously absurd, it's no longer humorous however absurd it may be.

I would have enjoyed this better if the ludicrousness was balanced out by some seriousness, but there was little of that. It is true Adams hinted at serious topics. Zaphod Beeblebrox's presidency raised the issue of the motivations of politicians running for important positions. The planet-creating Magratheans brought up the question of creation and God. In the digression that I mentioned above, there is arguably a message about the repercussions of careless talk. Adams also raised issues like evolution, animal intelligence and the role of robots. Yet every time he raised a serious issues, he would drop it quickly with a joke. With a little more discussion, whether directly or through an analogy or illustration, Adams could have written an intelligent book without losing any of its tone, but as the book is, reading it felt unfulfilling.

Don't get me wrong though, I don't dislike the book. The cast of characters, from the main characters like Arthur, Ford, Zaphod and Trillian, to other characters like the depressed robot Marvin and the ship's overly optimistic computer Eddie, was filled with distinct likeable personalities. I laughed out loud several times, and it was a relaxing read. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 23, 2014 Shay rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I really enjoyed reading this. It wasn't as funny as I expected but it did have its moments. I loved the beginning with Ford and Arthur, they were my favorite characters. It dragged a little in the middle for me but then at the end picked back up. I look forward to reading the second book. ...more

1 like · Like · see review