A(n uninspiring) milestone in my literary career: finally read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I read in 2.5 hours. Up til page 41 I found the book juvenile, boring, and silly, and felt that this was probably because I am not a prepubescent boy (no offense to you males). The first line that changed my opinion somewhat was "The robot camera honed in for a close-up on the more popular of [Zaphod's] two heads and he waved again." I suspect my satisfaction with this line is because it is atypically Philip K. Dick-esque (c.f. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch). I found the rest of this book a mix of mediocre and mildly amusing. I really don't understand the enthusiasm people feel for this work, and this is coming from a blogger who ends most posts with "Highly recommend!" The only intriguing character for me was Zaphod, although he could not redeem this book for me. Would not recommend.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
A(n uninspiring) milestone in my literary career: finally read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I read in 2.5 hours. Up til page 41 I found the book juvenile, boring, and silly, and felt that this was probably because I am not a prepubescent boy (no offense to you males). The first line that changed my opinion somewhat was "The robot camera honed in for a close-up on the more popular of [Zaphod's] two heads and he waved again." I suspect my satisfaction with this line is because it is atypically Philip K. Dick-esque (c.f. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch). I found the rest of this book a mix of mediocre and mildly amusing. I really don't understand the enthusiasm people feel for this work, and this is coming from a blogger who ends most posts with "Highly recommend!" The only intriguing character for me was Zaphod, although he could not redeem this book for me. Would not recommend.
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You have nothing to say about this?
ReplyDeleteYou must have left this comment when I saved a draft to prevent the possible irritation of losing the post to this irritatingly slow computer's intermittent failures.
ReplyDeletealso I think this means we can't be friends
ReplyDeletetest of my interest in being your friend: how old were you when you last read this book?
ReplyDeleteprobably like 12 but I'm going to read it now so I can say how awesome it still is.
ReplyDeletesomehow I am not completely sure you will be unbiased in your judgment.
ReplyDeletep.s. "felt that this was probably because I am not a prepubescent boy" - how insightful of me :)
Well, I read it a long time ago, though not when I was prepubescent, but thought it was a certified laff riot. (Humor of this type has some screamingly funny parts but can't help having and some parts that don't work).
ReplyDeleteThis book is sheer brilliance. Seriously. "The yellow ships hung in the air in much the same way as bricks don't."
ReplyDelete