Rating: 
Summary: just as good as the original trilogy
Review: This is the fourth volume in the Hitchhiker's Trilogy and it is just as good as the first three books of this increasingly inaccurately named trilogy. Douglas Adams brings Arthur Dent back to Earth after a long trip hitchhiking across the universe. Yes, Arthur Dent is back on the same Earth that was destroyed by the Vogons to make an intergalactic highway. Exactly how the Earth and all of its original inhabitants are recreated is teased and hinted at and if you pay attention to what you're reading you'll easily figure out why (more why, than how). Arthur Dent is back on Earth and pretty confused as to exactly how there is an Earth to be back on. Throughout this novel we learn that all the dolphins are gone (which is old news and no longer newsworthy), and we meet a Rain God, find out what God's Final Message to Creation is, revisit Marvin the robot, and find out that Arthur finds love with a woman named Fenchurch. That's a whole lot to fit into one book. On top of that, we have levitation, a small house that walled in the entire ocean, Ford Prefect, and the world's stupidest dog. All of this is handled with the offbeat humor that we expect from The Hitchhiker's Trilogy. This novel, for a change, focuses on Arthur Dent and takes place almost entirely on Earth. In this way, it is different from the Universe hopping we got in the first three novels. In both quality and content, this is a worthy addition to Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Trilogy.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but very different from the rest of the series
Review: My theory is that Douglas Adams had 2 worries after the first part of this whole series. First of all, jeez louise, he sure was giving poor Arthur Dent a hard time... couldn't he at least maybe let him have a girlfriend? And second of all, how about the dolphins? Douglas Adams is really into animal rights, the environment, etc, and it just seemed a little perfunctory to have them all totally obliterated along with the Earth just because of that whole business about the interstellar hyperspace bypass. In this book, dolphins, Arthur, and Arthur's (surprise) girlfriend somehow come together, with a variety of mutant plot twists along the way. As usual with these books, I envy anyone coming to them for the first time. Watch for the "Rain God", he is quite hilarious, and sort of a stand-in for Marvin in some ways. Ford Prefect has sort of a guest appearance, he isn't exactly central to the plot, but he becomes important in some ways at the very end. I would tell a new Douglas Adams fan to read this as a love story, Adams' gift to the hapless Arthur Dent. The wackiness is MUCH lass omnipresent here than it is in the other books, so be warned. Basically good stuff, but very distinct in tone from the rest of the series.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Escape to...Our Own Planet!
Review: Oh, Douglas Adams! What humor! It's been a really really long time since I read him, and I honestly don't remember which books in the Hitch-Hiker trilogy I've read. However, I recently picked up "So Long, and Thanks..." without much trouble. I knew I was missing some references and character development, but it seemed like I could gather enough threads in this random plot to get a gist of his story. The basic idea of "So Long, and Thanks..." is that Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent both suddenly realize that earth still appears to exist - even though last they knew it was to be demolished for a hyper-space bypass. Neither understands, but both hitch-hike their way back there (er, here) to check it out. While Prefect gets hung up along the way nabbing free meals, fighting aliens, and setting up inane pranks, Dent makes it back to England fairly quickly. As he walks towards his home, which he hasn't been to in roughly 8 years and a bizillion miles, he hears the phone ringing and so rushes into his house to get it. Just as he picks up the receiver, it stops ringing. And so begins his adventures back on his own planet. From there, you roughly stay with Dent as he settles back in on eart, falls in love, and reconciles the past 30 years of his life. He meets Wonko the Sane, who really does seem quite sane, and learns what happened to all the dolphins. He finishes this installment with a journey to see God's final message to his creation. It probably took guts for Adams to come up with something that's supposed to be God's final message, but he pulls it off quite well. Overall, I would say that Adam's story-telling nature seems to be so erratic, so creative, so outside the normal bounds that you get transported to another dimension in reading his work. Even though most of this story takes place on earth, you begin to see physics, dolphins and junk mail in a whole new light. You feel witty just catching on to his allusions and subtle writing quirks. For instance,
"["The Hitch Hiker's Guide"] is, essentially, as the title implies, a guide book. The problem is, or rather one of the problems, for there are many, a sizeable proportion of which are continually clogging up the civil, commercial and criminal courts in all areas of the Galaxy, and especially, where possibly, the more corrupt ones, this.
The previous sentence makes sense. That is not the problem. The problem is: Change. Read it through again and you will get it. The Galaxy is a rapidly changing place..." If you are looking for a good laugh and/or a good escape that essentially deals with the questions of your own world, this book would be a good fit.
Rating:
Summary: a Hitchhiker's love story
Review: "So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish" is without a doubt the best book in the entire Hitchhiker's trilogy (even though its book four). This book strikes me as having a very similar tone to Adams' Dirk Gently novels--of which I am a huge fan. While there is every bit as much hilarious caper going on in this book as there was in the previous three, we get the added bonus of some great character development, a few of the most poignant moments in the entire series, and Marvin's moving farewell to life, the universe and everything. We also discover God's final message to his creation. Woven throughout all the other stuff of this story is a tale of Arthur falling in love. I was surprised by Adams' ability to write a great love story. Rarely have I encountered one as powerful in any form of popular fiction (the only other that deserved to stand with it is Stephen King's "Wizard and Glass"--but that's apples and tank treads). Now that I've managed to blather ineffectively about this great book...just take my word. Get it. It is more than worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: The series curveball..
Review: "So long.." is the fourth in the classic series, and it seeks to twist you up and down. It blatently contradicts what was learned in the first three, so we can be introduced to new, odd characters. Arthur's romance with Fenchurch is good, but we do wonder what the point is. Wonko's philosophy is interesting, but that's the only real laugh in it.
Rating:
Summary: The series curveball..
Review: "So long.." is the fourth in the classic series, and it seeks to twist you up and down. It blatently contradicts what was learned in the first three, so we can be introduced to new, odd characters. Arthur's romance with Fenchurch is good, but we do wonder what the point is. Wonko's philosophy is interesting, but that's the only real laugh in it.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Escape to...Our Own Planet!
Review: Oh, Douglas Adams! What humor! It's been a really really long time since I read him, and I honestly don't remember which books in the Hitch-Hiker trilogy I've read. However, I recently picked up "So Long, and Thanks..." without much trouble. I knew I was missing some references and character development, but it seemed like I could gather enough threads in this random plot to get a gist of his story. The basic idea of "So Long, and Thanks..." is that Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent both suddenly realize that earth still appears to exist - even though last they knew it was to be demolished for a hyper-space bypass. Neither understands, but both hitch-hike their way back there (er, here) to check it out. While Prefect gets hung up along the way nabbing free meals, fighting aliens, and setting up inane pranks, Dent makes it back to England fairly quickly. As he walks towards his home, which he hasn't been to in roughly 8 years and a bizillion miles, he hears the phone ringing and so rushes into his house to get it. Just as he picks up the receiver, it stops ringing. And so begins his adventures back on his own planet. From there, you roughly stay with Dent as he settles back in on eart, falls in love, and reconciles the past 30 years of his life. He meets Wonko the Sane, who really does seem quite sane, and learns what happened to all the dolphins. He finishes this installment with a journey to see God's final message to his creation. It probably took guts for Adams to come up with something that's supposed to be God's final message, but he pulls it off quite well. Overall, I would say that Adam's story-telling nature seems to be so erratic, so creative, so outside the normal bounds that you get transported to another dimension in reading his work. Even though most of this story takes place on earth, you begin to see physics, dolphins and junk mail in a whole new light. You feel witty just catching on to his allusions and subtle writing quirks. For instance,
"["The Hitch Hiker's Guide"] is, essentially, as the title implies, a guide book. The problem is, or rather one of the problems, for there are many, a sizeable proportion of which are continually clogging up the civil, commercial and criminal courts in all areas of the Galaxy, and especially, where possibly, the more corrupt ones, this.
The previous sentence makes sense. That is not the problem. The problem is: Change. Read it through again and you will get it. The Galaxy is a rapidly changing place..." If you are looking for a good laugh and/or a good escape that essentially deals with the questions of your own world, this book would be a good fit.
Rating:
Summary: The REAL Conclusion To The Hitchhiker's Saga
Review: Still hitchhiking his way through the galaxy on an alien spaceship, Arthur Dent passes by the area in the Solar System where his home planet of Earth used to be (before it was blown up by the evil Vogons), and is absolutely astonished to discover that the Earth is still there. He's dropped off by the spaceship nearby his home, where he slowly but surely comes to grips with being back on his home world. Arthur soon discovers that the demolition of Earth by the Vogons has now been written off by the planet's population as a great big, possibly government-induced "hallucination." Arthur also discovers that all of the planet's dolphins have mysteriously vanished. However, there's also love in the air for Arthur, as he soon meets a beautiful young woman named Fenchurch, who may hold the key to the mysterious re-appearance of Earth, and the equally mysterious disappearance of the dolphins. Meanwhile, Arthur's old alien friend Ford Prefect, hitchhiking in a different part of the galaxy, also discovers that the Earth has suddenly re-appeared, and plots a course for Earth to rejoin Arthur. And, for the coup de grace, God's Final Message To His Creation will also be revealed by the book's end...."So Long And Thanks For All The Fish" is Book 4 in Douglas Adams' popular five-part sci fi/comedy series, "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy." Call me a "Hitchhiker's" purist, but as far as I'm concerned, "So Long" is the final "Hitchhiker's" book, as Douglas Adams *originally* intended. I've completely disowned Book 5, "Mostly Harmless," which Adams, by his own admission, only wrote on a whim, and, in my opinion, is the worst book of the bunch, an incredibly disappointing and totally unnecessary extension of the saga. Now, if Adams had stuck to his original plan and left the "Hitchhiker's" series alone after "So Long," it would've been perfect, for "So Long" is a brilliantly funny book that's just as hilarious as Books 1 & 2, "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" and "The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe," and picks up the slack that Adams left with the unspectacular Book 3, "Life, The Universe And Everything." Adams revisits his clever, witty writing style from the first two books, with all of the jokes squarely hitting their targets, and his amusing love story for Arthur and Fenchurch is very nicely done as well (hey, it's about time Arthur got himself a woman!). Many great scenes throughout, such as Arthur's initial road-accident courtship of Fenchurch, the plight of Rob McKenna (who has rainclouds follow him everywhere he goes), Ford Prefect's attempt to pay for a gargantuan drinking bill on another planet with a credit card, Arthur & Fenchurch's flying escapade, their meeting with Wonko The Sane, Ford's drunken reunion with Arthur, the re-appearance of Marvin the android, and, of course, God's Final Message, which really does seem to put all of Arthur's misadventures throughout the galaxy in context in a single sentence.I have an old, leather-bound edition of the "Hitchhiker's" saga, printed in 1987, that only goes up through "So Long," with a forward by Adams in which he refers to "So Long" as the "last" book. I, personally, have chosen to honor Adams' original intentions, and simply refuse to read Book 5, "Mostly Harmless," ever again. In my opinion, "Mostly Harmless" is a hallucination, a hologram, a figment of everybody's imagination. It does not exist. For me, "So Long And Thanks For All The Fish" is the TRUE final "Hitchhiker's" book, a wonderfully funny & touching conclusion to the adventures of Arthur Dent & friends, as Douglas Adams originally intended it to be.
Rating: 
Summary: So long, and good riddens
Review: The infamous "Hitchhiker's trilogy" should have stayed just that, a trilogy. Douglas Adams' first three books were marvelous, if not haphazard and over-the-top goofy, sci-fi adventures. So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish doesn't fit AT ALL. Not only does it take a lot of the happy-go-luckiness away, it doesn't even come into play in the overall trilogy. The book presents many questions, and doesn't answer any of them. And the next book, Mostly Harmless, doesn't play off So Long in any way. This book is worthless. Unless you want to know what God's final message to his creations is, or the fate of Marvin, skip it and go straight to Mostly Harmless. It would be like nothing had happened. Let's face it, Earth is a boring place. And that's all this book was about.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: By far, my favorite book in the Hitchhiker's series. It provided a different, almost dark feeling, and to me, a perfect conclusion to the series. (Ignoreing "Mostly Harmless"'s existence") This is Adams at his best, pouring out rip-roaring lines, social commentary, and a wonderfully fun, innovative, and thought-provoking read. May his work live on.
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