celinenyx
Written on Sep 7, 2013
Now celebrating the 42nd anniversary of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, soon to be a Hulu original series!
“Wild satire . . . The feckless protagonist, Arthur Dent, is reminiscent of Vonnegut heroes.”—Chicago Tribune
The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky above their heads—so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals stand between the killer robots of Krikkit and their goal of total annihilation.
They are Arthur Dent, a mild-mannered space and time traveler who tries to learn how to fly by throwing himself at the ground and missing; Ford Prefect, his best friend, who decides to go insane to see if he likes it; Slartibartfast, the indomitable vice president of the Campaign for Real Time, who travels in a ship powered by irrational behavior; Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed, three-armed ex-president of the galaxy; and Trillian, the sexy space cadet who is torn between a persistent Thunder God and a very depressed Beeblebrox.
How will it all end? Will it end? Only this stalwart crew knows as they try to avert “universal” Armageddon and save life as we know it—and don’t know it!
“Adams is one of those rare treasures: an author who, one senses, has as much fun writing as one has reading.”—Arizona Daily Star
- ISBN10 0345418905
- ISBN13 9780345418906
- Publish Date 23 June 1997 (first published 1 January 1982)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Del Rey Books
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 240
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780345418906
Reviews
Quirky Cat
Written on Feb 28, 2013
I actually think that Life, the Universe, and Everything may be my second favorite in the series (my favorite obviously being The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy). Once again Arthur finds himself wrapped up in a crazy, or should I say absurd, quest that he doesn’t fully understand. You’d think he’d be used to it by now, and I guess by the end of this novel he actually does start getting a good feel for it. Granted certain events really force that perspective forward a bit.
In Life, the Universe, and Everything Arthur goes from being trapped on a prehistoric earth to being at the center of a plot to save the universe, back to a quieter life again. He goes through quite a bit more throughout the course of this book. I actually think this is the one that hits his dignity and opinion of himself the hardest (for obvious reasons I believe).
I love this series for the absurd nature it covers. Sometimes events will happen; even just little things that repeat frequently (like the bag thing) and they’ll never fully get explained or resolved. It’s really the attention to detail that makes the writing for this series so perfect.
I’m really enjoying listening to Martin Freeman read them too. Obviously if you’ve seen the movie you’ll know he played Arthur Dent in it (yes, the Arthur Dent). It’s kind of nice hearing the very same Arthur Dent in the rest of the novels as well. I also very much like the voices he uses for other characters. It’s interesting to see his interpretation of some of them.
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
inlibrisveritas
Written on Jun 15, 2009