Reviews

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

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raeb's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

sammiecamille's review against another edition

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funny relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

linimie's review against another edition

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4.0

The story is crazy, ridiculus and as random as can be... but it provides some good entertainment. I read it in Dutch, and despite the phenomenal translation, that was a mistake. The typical British humour would have been so much better in it's original language.

The book does not have an ending, to figure out what is going on I will have to read the next book(s). However, it is about random humour... and the book succeeds in that. Fun, but not great... at least not in Dutch.

Ps. The movie is very different, so to know the actual story, you will need to read the book.

jenikki's review against another edition

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5.0

Honestly, what can be written about this book that hasn't been said already? I read this as a teenager, and I remember finding a lot of it really funny, but overall found the book rather disjointed and jumping topics and settings with such rapidity it was work just to keep up. That said, I think it's essential reading for any teenager if you want to get many pop culture references in the past 30 years. Because I read this back then, I knew Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" was inspired by this. However, I'd forgotten some of the details, such as Zaphod always saying, "OK Computer" every time he wants to talk to it (duh). And lines from this book have become iconic, whether it's the "So long, and thanks for all the fish" message the dolphins send to the humans before they vacate the planet, or the number 42. Now, reading it as an adult, I laughed all over again, and still found it disjointed and all over the place, but it occurred to me partway through that that's the point. Douglas Adams' masterwork is a sci-fi version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (as I've said many a time, my favourite book of all time) and we all know how loopy and disjointed THAT book is. It's meant to unsettle you, to throw you into the chaotic world in which poor Arthur Dent now finds himself. Ford is as hilarious as ever, as is Zaphod, and I'm so happy I reread it. The one thing that baffled me upon rereading it now is that I never moved on to the next book in the series. But I'll make up for that by doing so now. ;)

hedgehog68's review against another edition

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2.0

Sikkert egentlig en bra bok, bare ikkje en bok for meg.

nebulaic's review against another edition

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5.0

September 2019: 4.5/5 stars

May-June 2021: 4.25-4.5/5 stars
(I still found it good, but something about the writing style just didn't click that well with me. I'm keeping my previous GR rating though coz I'm pretty sure my lessened enjoyment is a me problem and not the author's / story's.)