31
Aug
2009
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
Literally. The eponymous restaurant is at the end of the Universe. But not in the way you might think. It doesn’t back up against some sort of brick wall or worm hole out in space. It is at the end, as in when the Universe ceases to be. Kablooey. Nada. No more. The End.
So. That’s where our illustrious characters want to get in the second installment of the Increasingly Inaccurately Named Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy.
But, that’s tough to do when A. Vogons are chasing you and B. Arthur Dent is on board to fuck things up for everyone else and C. The Ghost of Zaphod Beeblebrox the Fourth, who is Zaphod Beeblebrox’s Great-Grandfather, but because of a time-machine-related sexual encounter is the Fourth while our Zaphod is either the First or the Nothingth (take your pick) appears and berates our Zaphod for not fulfilling his task in finding out who is in charge of this whole Universe thing.
So, you might ask, do they spend their whole time trying to get to this damn restaurant? No. They go around the middle. Sorry for that spoiler, but hey, the name of the place is in the title, so how much of a spoiler could it be, unless they just never got there, which, frankly, I would not put it past Douglas Adams to do.
No, but they do have more fun with time travel, a species called Golgafrinchams, and a rabbit skin bag full of Scrabble pieces.
And a prescient elevator.
And a tax-evading rock star who is spending the year dead.
And a guy named Zarniwoop.
O.K., I have to stop before I let too much slip out.
Buy The Restaurant at the End of the Universe from Amazon
If you like this book/author, you might like:
(my reviews are in blue)
Lamb by Christopher Moore
Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar
Dune by Frank Herbert
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Discworld Novels by Terry Pratchett
A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman
Wish You Were Here: The Official Biography of Douglas Adams by Nick Webb
Don’t Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Neil Gaiman
Other works by Douglas Adams:
(my reviews are in blue)
The Increasingly Inaccurately Named Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Life, the Universe, and Everything
So Long and Thanks for All the Fish
Mostly Harmless
The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
With John Lloyd:
The Meaning of Liff
The Deeper Meaning of Liff: A Dictionary of Things There Aren’t Any Words for Yet–But There Ought to Be
Somehow I missed this series until recently. I’ve listened to the first 2 on audio and have just loved them. The Hubster read the first 4 when he was younger, but didn’t realize that there are now five books in the trilogy.
When we were on vacation we listened to The Hitchhiker’s Guide and to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. It was the second time through for both of us, but what a fun book to listen to together on a road trip!!
Once again, thanks for the memories! What fun it was to read this series!
Don’t you just love Douglas Adams? Reading his books is like taking my brain out, giving it a good scrub, shaking it dry, and dropping it back into place. I feel as if I’ve got neural pathways I never noticed before. I wish he were still with us, churning out more of his astonishing, mind-altering prose.
The verb-tense mangling at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe is probably the finest running grammar joke of all time.
Gosh this series is so fabulous! Thanks for the memories
I have to re-read this.
Billy, my oldest, is a fan of Douglas Adams. I never could get into his writing.
I read the series years ago, and laughed til I choked. So, when the movie came out, I rushed to see it and was totally disappointed. Hmmm, could the distance of years from my first reading until now have changed my laughter meter? Or did the movie screen steal the intent of the prose. Can’t figure that out.
I keep meaning to ask you: Do you come up with those “If you like this book, you might like…” lists yourself? Do you have some kind of nifty gadget you use? How do you do that stuff at the end of your blog? It is really wonderful and I’m just curious.
mwahahaha…I have a gadget, that I climb up on my roof with during storms, attracting lightning and…
No. I don’t have anything really. For the most part it just makes sense in my mind. Sometimes there are ones on the list that don’t make a lot of sense to anyone BUT me, but I think it’d take too much time to explain it all. When, however, I am stuck, I go to Amazon, type in the book, and see what people who have bought that book have bought. Which can, you know, be hit or miss.
But basically I’ll think about different aspects of the book (theme, topic, writing style, etc) and try to think about what books they remind me of.
Like I said, sometimes they only make sense in my own mind. For example, you’ll see the the Thorn Birds and the Time Traveler’s Wife on each other’s lists. I put it on there because they both involve a young red-headed girl falling in love with an adult (and sort of vice versa) and that love carrying her through the rest of her life. Obviously the plots are totally different, but they have that in common.
The list for this post mainly consists of humorous or absurdist books, a couple about the author, and (don’t shoot me die-hard sci-fi fans) a really good book set in outer space. Oh, and time travel.
Some day when I’m really bored I will write a whole post about this.