By Dan D
Tell me dear hitchhiker, did you bring a towel with you? According to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy you should. A book written by Douglas Adams (author of the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy series, deeper meaning of life, and Dirk gently's holistic detective agency.) of the sci-fi genre that perfectly balances dark nihilistic humor and sci-fi adventure and wonder. Follow Arthur, a perfectly normal human being if not a tad slow as he's brought by his new friend ford (an alien stuck on earth, trying to get back to Betelgeuse 5 on a trip across the galaxy after the destruction of earth. Just know that nothing will make sense, friendships will be forged and tested, and most importantly of all bring your copy of the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy and of course a towel!
In the end, given my bias on the subject and the way the comedy spoke to me personally i enjoyed the book. The comedy is very niche humor (you like it or you don't) but makes me laugh after every page and a minute or two of thought. Then again being niche humor and a definite product of the times there's the chance that it's simply not the book for you. British humor (RANDOM RANDOMNESS WITH WIT!) is heavy in each page, almost like a parody of a sci-fi story it never takes itself seriously and isn't afraid to poke at sci-fi tropes. All the comedy is topped off with a layer of technical detail and minor seriousness that really solidifies itself into the Sci-fi genre and gives you an honest urge to see the story through to the end.
That being said it isn't a perfect story, no story truly is and if it were to assume itself perfect it'd be akin to Vogon poetry in all probability. There are bits where the humor can get especially dry and even boring for some stretches of page. To compound the problem all the technical detail comes in quick bursts, forcing you to halt the story or sometimes interjecting itself between plot points to form a cheap Deus Ex Machina moment which isn't really satisfying when we read two or three pages or technical stats and all of a sudden conflict is resolved. Long story short it's strong points get overplayed and by consequence get over used, but they're good enough to reel you back in afterwards, making it's strengths outway it's weaknesses again in my opinion.
When it's all said and done It's a good book, a really good book deserved of it's acclaim, there's a reason he wrote a series! I look forward to reading the next book in this line of succession and delving into the awesome awesomeness that is the spacey, and slightly politically charged Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy series. If it isn't clear from my child Esq raving i say you should seek out, buy, fall in love with, and maybe obsess over this book. If you're in the mood for a nice space adventure book that will both make you think and laugh pared with some genuinely chilling moments of cosmic horror then this is without a doubt the book for you. Then again who am i kidding? What fan of sci-fi hasn't read this book yet? 
No comments:
Post a Comment