This quirky sci-fi novel follows the story of Arthur Dent who is having a terrible day as is started when his house was bulldozed to make way for a new highway. Little did he know, that his planet would also soon meet the same fate. Luckily, thanks to his odd friend Ford Perfect he makes it off the planet just in time. The two of them travel through the galaxy surviving the most improbably scenarios.
Listening to this on audiobook the first half was thoroughly entertaining. I didn't find myself wholly moved in any substantial way, but there are some seriously killer lines and jokes that hit to the heart of humanity.
"For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons."
The latter half lost some of my interest as they are exploring this mythic planet that they had (improbably) found themselves on. I wasn't sure where the book was going and what it was trying to tell me.
Overall, I liked it maybe even a lot. But I'm not here for the cult following that I feel like it gets from all 90s hipsters. I've seen the movie multiple times and I'm always left surprised at how little I remember of it shortly after. It's entertaining and really cheered up the cold winter drive that I listened to it on, but overall I'm not sad that there isn't a physical copy on my shelf and I probably won't pick up the rest of the series.
It was fun. If you're looking for easy, fun and comical it's worth picking up.
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