Book Review: The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Everyone has told me to read this book: "its a classic," "you'll love it," "its my favorite book of all time." But I'm here to be one of the only people in the world who did not enjoy it--honestly, I didn't even finish it. This book is technically 5 books combined. I will be reviewing the first two.
I didn't like the author's writing, the way he rambles, or the apparent lack of story line. Douglas Adams seemed like someone who's writing would be right up my ally because of his political humor, but I was sadly disappointed. At the beginning of my copy of "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" there is an excerpt about Adams and his journey as a writer.
He started out on radio with this story of an alien who hitchhiked around the entire Galaxy and finally made it to Earth where he was later stranded. He blended in, made friends, and continued living his life until one day the Earth was set to be destroyed. The story goes on and on. Adams was later approached by a publishing company and finally wrote his radio stories into books.
One of the most interesting things to me was that Adams would tell these radio stories without having a story in mind--the characters traveled somewhere new every episode and, by the end of that episode, Adams would have no idea what he was going to do for his story the next time. This makes total sense when I analyze my distaste for the inconsistent and rather rambling lack of story line in his books.
The entire first book could have been summed up in probably three paragraphs. To some people, this is totally entertaining-and I'm not trying to say you shouldn't give this one a go-but, realize that its not your typical read.
There are some positives, however, that stuck out to me and that I really enjoyed. Adams made a lot of reference to society and made the reader question the way that you might do things. He talked about feminism, worldly control, strange rules we have, and my personal favorite: meat-eaters (here is a link to that excerpt, please please please read it and educate yourself).
Ultimately, I can respect the author and his writing style, and respect the people who enjoy this sort of thing, but all-in-all I realized that it just wasn't for me. I'm glad I gave it a chance though, because that's what life is all about, right?
Let me know in the comment section below what your thoughts are on the book! I'd love to hear about parts that you enjoyed, so I can re-read them and appreciate, or criticize, them along with you.
