So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

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: Fall in love!
Review: Any fan of the Dirk Gently novels will fall in love with this book - twice.

A romantic tale for the Hitchhiker and a perfect fourth edition to the Hitchhikers trilogy.

As with the rest of his books, a must-have.

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.

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: Amazing Novel
Review: People always astound me because I so rarely agree with them. At least, I disagree with a majority on so many important issues, such as just how good a novel So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is. In my humble opinion, this is the best novel of the series. I love the rest of the novels in the trilogy (though I haven't read Mostly Harmless yet-most people hate it, so I'm sure I'll love it), but then there comes this fourth one. It has the humor of the earlier novels (and for me surpasses them), has superior narrative features, and has a surprisingly profound underlying philosophy.

In this one, Arthur Dent ends up back on Earth which had been destroyed in the first novel. Fate throws his life into contact with Fenchurch, a woman who senses that something on earth is wrong. She's something of a mystic and something of an angel. What follows is a surprisingly affecting love story and the two lovers' search for the meaning of life.

It's funny, it's romantic, and it's profound. Don't ever think of The Hitchhikers series as simply escapist literature but do enjoy it. This is a great series, and contrary to what a lot of other people say (many of them smarter than me), this is definitely the best novel in the series.


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: Different, and superior to the rest
Review: This book, the fourth in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy, is, hands down, the best. You probably wouldn't think that were true from reading some of the reviews on this page. However, I was astonished and amazed by what this volume had to offer.

For starters, if you read Douglas Adams just for the zaniness and offbeatness of it all, you may be disappointed by this novel. While those elements are not absent, they are severely toned down for this installment. The amazing thing, though, is that Adams manages to mix in his humor at all with a very touching romance and somewhat serious quest of rather epic (rather than episodic) proportion.

The best part about this novel is that it virtually almost entirely features Arthur, and that's it... at least out of the main characters. Ford shows up a bit, and Marvin is in the last chapter, but Zaphod and Trillian are missing, but don't worry, it hardly matters. Adams more than makes up for it by introducing a marvelous character named Fenchurch, who becomes a love interest for Arthur. A love interest for Arthur? Yes, you heard me correctly.

This book, in my mind, establishes Adams as a serious heavyweight. The levels of humor, romance, irony, wonder, and adventure are consistently high throughout, and one never detracts from the other. Besides, we finally get to take a really good look at Arthur (who had been shortchanged in the last two books), the most human character I believe I have ever encountered anywhere, and we get to see a bit of the earth, which Adams makes us realize is rather a funny place in itself.

Do not miss out on this book. Please. Read it for Arthur. Read it for Fenchurch. Read it for the Rain God. And definitely, definitely, read it for the most wonderful love scene ever written. Besides, if you make it to the end, you'll be rewarded with God's final message to His creation, written in letters of flame thirty feet high (quite the tourist attraction). It's worlds above all the others.