So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish - Review

Well, how embarrassing. It appears that titular means ‘in title only’, so my use of it referring to the guide yesterday was quite wrong. What I should have used instead was ‘eponymous’, which is a considerably more badass sounding word in any case. We live and learn.

 ‘So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish’, the fourth book in the rather inaccurately named Hitchhiker’s trilogy, is really a radical departure from the first three books in the series. For me, it was very much like going from an early Pratchett like The Colour of Magic to one of his later books, say Witches Abroad. It feels much more coherent and refined, with the meanderings in the story adding to the general experience rather than coming across as non-sequiturs.

The fact that I enjoyed it so much more is, of course, largely due to personal preference; I prefer character driven plots significantly more than the alternative, especially concerning relationships, and the fact that the tone is rather lighter throughout appealed to me as well. Indeed, it even pokes fun at a few of the issues I raised in my earlier review, particularly with regards to fleshing out Arthur. He has so much more personality here, and his relationships with the other characters are better for it.

Honestly, I feel like ‘So Long’ works exceptionally well as a standalone story. There are of course references to the preceding books, but none of them are necessary to the understanding of the plot; it provides a fresh beginning and a solid end, wrapping up the arc neatly. This of course is a problem, as there are two more books in the series. Five is known to be significantly more miserable due to Adams going through a rough patch, and the sixth was written by someone entirely different following his death.

Having read synopses they sound interesting but perhaps rely too much on bringing back past characters (though of course these highly improbable coincidences are bound to happen when using the Heart of Gold) while Four stands on its own merits. Eoin Colfer, the author of the sixth book, has somewhat fallen out of my favour recently, due to the decidedly awful decisions he made with his Artemis Fowl series.

Regardless of whether or not I eventually choose to continue with the rest of the books (and I almost certainly will; I hate to leave things unfinished), I can safely state that, thanks to the fourth entry to the series, ‘Hitchhikers’ is worth a look.

Next project: re-reading Monstrous Regiment to see if it’s as weak as I remember.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy - Review

I was all set this morning to dutifully stride up to the boss’s desk, sweep aside the Star Wars memorabilia and throw down my geek badge, as I hadn’t found the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to be all that. It was often very funny, thought-provoking and at times prescient – the titular guide put me in mind of nothing so much as a combination of a Kindle and Wikipedia – but I was unable to connect much with the characters and was bothered by the lack of any coherent plot. However, eight chapters into ‘So Long and Thanks for all the Fish’ and I’ve laughed out loud quite a few times and am genuinely interested to see what happens to Arthur and Ford. I’m optimistic that this will mark an upturn in the series for me, so fingers crossed.

Let me expand on my issues with the first three novels. First and foremost is the character of Arthur Dent. He is introduced to us as a typical, if somewhat strange, everyday guy – the reader’s surrogate. He gets swept up in these events far bigger than himself, and understandably feels incredibly lonely. Later, we find out that in his mind is locked the ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything (we already know that the answer is 42) and despite being given the option to resolve this by having Marvin (an incredibly miserable robot, so depressing to be around that when he interfaces with other machines they tend to commit suicide) read his brainwaves, this is ignored forever.

I’m getting ahead of myself a little bit, let me back up. Now, while Arthur is understandably off-balance initially, he doesn’t really ever find his feet. Indeed, his feelings are ignored by his companions and he is regularly treated awfully and dismissively. In addition to that, he actually is a bit of a whiner, to the point where you rather wish he’d get on with it. The problem is that as the reader’s surrogate, every time he – and Earth, which he often finds himself representing – is put down, you feel it too. He does have his moments though, and sharing them with him is a delight.

The other main characters are Ford, a researcher for the Guide; Zaphod, the two-headed ex-president of the Galaxy; Trillian, an Earth woman who met Zaphod at a party and went off with him bringing her two mice; and the aforementioned Marvin. Ford is a seasoned traveller never found without his towel, the sole survivor from a planet in distant Betelgeuse-7. He’s kind of a dick at times, perhaps due to the fact that his home planet may have been made up by his father (we never really find out).

Zaphod is sort of related to Ford, and sees himself as a really cool, fun and happening guy, which is alright as that’s how most of the galaxy sees him too. He however hides a dark secret; some time in his past he hatched a plot with several other characters (most of whom we never meet and all of whom we learn precious little about) to find the man who runs the universe, operating on his own brain to seal this plot away. This is resolved in a very unsatisfactory manner at the end of the second book; at any rate I assume it’s resolved, as there was no mention of it at all in the third.

Trillian is just sort of there. She is the brains of the outfit, such as it is, and ends up being an inexplicable plot resolution device for the third book. She and Zaphod have a thing going on, despite him rather taking her for-granted a lot of the time, and Arthur kinda sorta likes her (he was at the party where she went off with Zaphod, though he only had one head then). Marvin is rather more fun than these three combined (though Ford does have his moments), bemoaning the fact that he was programmed to be permanently miserable, despising other, perpetually cheery devices and pointing out to anyone who’ll listen (very often no one) how his vast intellect is entirely wasted.

The above tells you just about everything there is to know about those characters, and any steps taken to flesh them out a little end up trailing off, forgotten. This wouldn’t be so bad if the stories themselves were engaging (the DaVinci Code is a good example of this working) but unfortunately they mostly serve as a vehicle for observations about the nature of space, science and people, as well as quirky and occasionally rather bleak shenanigans. To give credit where it’s due it really is very interesting; I just found it hard to read for long stretches of time due to the somewhat random nature of the events. I’ve been progressing due to my reading sessions being broken up into my commute into and home from work as well as my lunch break, but were it a typical read I’d likely find myself putting it down for something rather more meaty.

The fourth book taking steps to establish what appears to be a genuinely coherent narrative is absolutely the best possible outcome I could have hoped for, and I hope it continues going forward. I’ll keep you posted.

(PS: I know this isn’t what I said I’d post in my last entry; that one is currently sitting half-finished. I’ll see if I can’t get it up today or tomorrow.)