The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams

That isn't actually the cover of the copy I read. Mine was the "A Trilogy in 5 Parts" anthology, but it seemed inappropriate to review five books in one go, considering they were written over the span of 13 years. I, for one, would hate to be judged by my actions 13 years ago. There I am in Mme Simard's grade 4 class, stupidly wearing yellow turtleneck fleece to gym class...

Back on track, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is hilarious in waves. At its best, Douglas Adams is able to write prose that makes us wish we were clever enough to write stuff this clever. When you laugh, you also get to couple your amusement with an elitist knowledge that not everyone is going to be laughing along with you. Whether or not this is true is debatable, but the fact that reading and enjoying THGTTG makes you feel smart isn't.

The best moments are the absolutely random ones that aren't trying too too hard. Whether it's the revelation of the thoughts of a sperm whale who has snapped into existence thousands of miles above a planet or the unexpected apocalyptic one-liners that Adams loves to finish chapters off with, the book is funny in a way that few others are. There's also a bit of "wouldn't it be quaint if..." kind of humour, but it's forgivable considering how good much of the rest gets.

At its worst, the book struggles to overcome its original incarnation as a radio play. Some of dialoguier sections, in particular, get lost in literary translation. At least, I assume that this is the problem. Having a spaceship's computer say something, then having a robot say something sad, then having another character yell at them both to "shut up!" may be funny when you get to play around with inflection and timing, but the written word struggles to keep up the funny. The ending suffers much the same fate. Rather than wrapping up any kind of consistent narrative, the book ends knowing full well that it will have a follow-up, because there were more radio stories to be written into a book. Nothing's resolved and the last words you read are simply a character uttering the name of the next one.

If you break it down, the book works out to about 24% funny, 51% silly, and 25% tedious. Some of it gets a little taxing, and it sometimes feels like Adams is just cruising on autopilot, assuming that whatever he writes is gold, but without a doubt, the good stuff is great enough to make it through.