Everyone in the galaxy, it seems, has read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Except me.
This Sci-Fi/Comedy novel would've never strayed into my hands had so many people not suggested it. Friends talked about it, teachers recommended it. Even YouTubers sand it's praises.
Had it not been for them, I probably never would've picked up The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It's a sci-fi/comedy mashup, and I've never read much into either of those genres. More importantly, this book was in that terrible unknown of the bookstore... the "adult section."
Rarely have a strayed into those dark recesses of Chapters. Those sections which sell books the likes of which my parents read, where no grand adventures are had, no one dies nobly, and the theme is some broad criticism of society in general. Basically, they're boring as hell.
Still, to appease the masses I put aside my qualms and bought the first four books in the series all jammed into one package. My reading material for the next month thus cut out for me, I brought it home and promptly forgot about it for a few months.
Only a week or two ago did I finally rediscover it and read the first few chapters. Next thing you know, I'm hooked. I finished just a few days later. Let me tell you now, it's good. Give me a few more minutes of your time, and I'll try to explain why.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy starts with a man named Arthur Dent's house being demolished. Shortly thereafter, the earth is as well, and Arthur finds himself flying along on an alien spaceship along with a friend from earth who just-so-happened to be from another planet. Calamity ensues.
Thats really the clearest way I can think to sum it all up. I'll be perfectly honest when I say that, in this first novel at least, there isn't any grand over aching plot, which in retrospect makes it seem like the book would be terrible. There's some setup for the next novel, but mostly the characters just do without an obvious purpose. Jokes are made. Adventures are had. Nothing connects.
There wasn't a cohesive story. There was never any pressing worry for more then a chapter or two at a time, never some desperate, universe-altering quest, and yet I was riveted. Why? Because the book was damn funny, that's why.
The best way I can think to describe the humour in the book is that it's Monty-Pythonesque with a hint of ASDF movie or Rejected. Basically, some clever satire with a whole lot of seemingly random stuff. And it's brilliant.
Let me give you a small example of just how random this all is; as it turns out, dolphins are actually much smarter then humans and escaped the planet just before it was destroyed. The only creatures on earth smarter then dolphins are mice, who, as it turns out, experiment on humans while letting us think that we experiment on them.
Weird. Off the wall. It's done in such a clever way, though, that you forgive the randomness, the forget the lack of any real plot, and you just laugh your way through the novel. Please do give this book a shot- it's well worth it. It's worth it just so you know what your friends are talking about when they slyly say "You know the meaning of life? 42."
Thanks for reading,
-Mark
