The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - 3 stars

[Kristel]

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy The second time to read this book. I found it a bit more hilarious than the first time I read it but the best part are the first few pages then it loses some of its momentum. Over all, a fun read, audio was well done and I own it so probably will read it again someday. I thought of the talking, annoying robots and computer voices and thought of Hal from 2001 a Space Odyssey and I also thought of those annoying voices of GPS in our vehicles and Siri and Alexa, etc. I think that was forward thinking on the author's part. Rating 2.875.

[Chinook]

5 stars

This book is one of two audiobooks I remember reading back in high school (the other being Asterix in Gaul). I had it on tape and then went on to read it and the following books as paperbacks. Now I’ve listened to Stephen Fry read it and it was very well done. Always a favourite.

[Zeejane]

I listened to the audio version, narrated by Stephen Fry. Fry does an excellent job with the narration, and I gave the book a 3 star rating instead of 2 stars, because of this.

I love humor in books but this one fell completely flat for me. The characters were shallow and not well fleshed out. Their interactions with each other were awkward and did not flow well. Maybe these are developed more in the other books of the series, but it made for a tedious plod through the galaxy with this band of misfits.

I also became irritated at how much stuff was completely made up in this book. I understand that it's an absurd comedy-adventure space adventure, but so much of the book was nonsense, that I lost interest within the first couple of chapters and spent the rest of the book rolling my eyes.

I understand why this book is on the List, but I was not impressed.

[Ginny]

4 stars - I really enjoyed this book. I'm not usually a fan of absurdist humour but after enjoying Dirk Gently for Sept BOTM I thought I'd give this other series of Adams a go.

It's a light and easy read, lot's of funny moments and a fairly steady plot, although it does meander off at times.

I wouldn't say it's in any way a 'must read' but given its cultural influence over the years I understand why it has ended up on the 1001 list.

I read the next book in the series as well (not a list book) and unfortunately it wasn't as strong as this one, so I don't know if I will end up finishing the whole series.