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Women's Fiction
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Unabridged)

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Unabridged)

List Price: $24.95
Your Price: $9.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: End of the Universe Falls Short
Review: While this second book in the hitchhiker series is amusingly satirical, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe falls short of laugh-out-loud funny. Some lines will have you smiling at society's stupidity and your own conformity to it, but the overall feeling of the book is simply sci-fi run amuck. I admit that the themes that run throughout the series are intriguing, but the effort it takes to sort through the layers of insanity makes the read almost unworth it. If you have nothing to do, pick up a copy, but don't plan on joining the hitchhiker cult any time soon.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The peak of hitch-hiker's series
Review: This is absolutely the best book in the Hitch-hiker's pentalogy. Even better than the first, and the others are on a downward spiral. But this is a maelstrom of inventions, of masterful marvelous satire, ranging from the Absurd, the outright demential and the satyrical. Almost every sentence will make you laugh, and the best of them will make you think! My favourite episodes? Zaphod's irritable personality at odds whit an emotive insect, an acrophobic elevator, a soul divorced from its body and the demented captain of an intergalactic ship waiting for lemon-soaked napkins! Then you have Millyway's Dinner, the Science Fiction answer to Petronius'Coena Trimalchionis, and later, after the encounter whit the man who rules(?) the Universe, the absurd fate of Ark B! Oh,we'll miss Douglas Adams! He was truly unique.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Even better than a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster
Review: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe begins where The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy left off, only Zaphod Beeblebrox's idea of stopping for dinner at the aforementioned restaurant is delayed a bit (or an incredibly long bit, depending on your upcoming temporal location). Having escaped the legendary planet Magrathea without having been killed by intergalactic policemen or, in the case of Arthur Dent, having his brain slicked up and studied for the inherent Question of the Life, the Universe, and Everything which is undoubtedly hardwired into it somewhere, the hoopiest cast of space travelers in the galaxy thought their troubles were over, or at least greatly lessened. They were completely wrong. The Vogon ship that destroyed the earth shows up to destroy the last two remnants of that now-dead world, namely Arthur Dent and Trillian McMillian. Unfortunately, Arthur's increasingly strident demands for a cup of real tea have the entire computer system on board the Heart of Gold focused on that task rather than anything as silly as escaping imminent destruction. This is just the beginning of this particular set of adventures. Other highlights include a visit by Zaphod's dead great-grandfather, a night of drinks and food at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Zaphod's experience inside the universally-feared Total Perspective Vortex, a trip in the mega-rock band Danger Area's stunt ship into a sun, a meeting with the real Ruler of the Universe, and a return trip to the Earth-sort of.

Nobody crams as much comedy per page as Douglas Adams. While The Restaurant at the End of the Universe isn't quite as amazing as its predecessor, this is only because its predecessor was so amazingly original and different from everything that came before it. The satire Adams employs, often quite subtle, is as brilliant as always; anyone who reads this book will laugh, but only some will realize that he/she is really laughing at himself and the absurdity of human life that Adams is playing off of. These characters are more real to me than many of the people I know in real life. Best of all, they don't change: Arthur Dent remains the rather bemused, clueless soul he has always been; Ford Prefect is just Ford, only more so; Zaphod-well, Zaphod's just this guy, you know; and poor longsuffering Marvin the Paranoid Android is still the most depressing (yet hilarious) robotically engineered life form in the galaxy. If these crazy characters and Adams' brilliantly comedic narrative don't make you laugh, you would be well advised to don a pair of Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses because you are headed smack dab into big trouble indeed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The book at the begining of the bestsellers list
Review: The book is pure genious it plunges you into an exciting rollercoaster of a ride, In this enthralling sequel you can rejoin with the bitter monkey based lifeform Arthur Dent and his betelguesian friend Ford Prefect, The criminal president of the galaxy Zaphod Beblebrox, Trillian and of course Marvin the manically depressed paranoid android. In this book we meet Zarniwoop the president of the hitch hikers guide to the galaxy.And also nosh at the restaurant at the end of the universe.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: More fun, more laughs...
Review: Picking up right where "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" left off, we are propelled into a quest set out by President of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox, friend of our heroes from the first, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect. Halfway through the novel, Zaphod catches up with our heroes and the fun with Ford and Arthur returns with just as much humor and timing as the first novel. This is a highly entertaining book that continues to explore the silliness of the human race and exploit us terrans for what we really are: dumber than mice. Douglas Adams is one of the great literature writers of the 20th century, and this book proves it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ABSOLUTELY FAB & HISTERICAL
Review: Best book I ever read. Itll cheer you like no other-the world is a wacky place-best to make fun ot it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: marvin's marvelous moment
Review: Book two in the Hitchhiker's trilogy--"The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" is a very good follow up to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Very funny in its own right, it still fails to achieve the brilliance yet to come in Books three and four.

That said, I'll take not-yet-quite-absolutely brilliant writing by Douglas Adams any day over most of the writers out there.

Marvin is the big scene stealer of book two...he comes darn close to hijacking the whole story. His conversation with the tank-like robot from Frogstar is a piece of comedic writing for the ages. Were it not for the insanity of Zaphod, the brilliance of Adams' depressed robot might stolen the whole show.

But oh--the mighty creation that is Zaphod Beeblebrox. Literature rarely produces such maniacal, unforgettable characters. His disdain for Arthur, his asides to Ford, his complete ineptitude in dealing with Trillian, and most of all--his strained relations with his ancestors. No, Marvin steals some scenes here...but this is Zaphod's book.

The range of Adams' satiric gifts never fails to astound me. The scene in Milliways speaks more effectively to the human condition than many sets of other volumes ever could. We all sit at the edge of oblivion every day. Are we to be mere spectators? Or will we work to create something more?

I give "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" my heartfelt recommendation.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome Book!
Review: This book rules! If you like the sarcastic, ironic events that took place in The Hitchiker's Guide to The Galaxy, this book's for you! Even with the addition of a few new characters, this book tells what life must be like for planets other than earth.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dinner is a few light-years away...
Review: After the destruction of Earth, and beginning their search for the answer to "Everything", Arthur Dent and Co. decide to take a little break from their quest and stop by at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe where the food is as odd as it can get.

"The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" is the second book to the trilogy "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. Book one, first of all, should be read first since most of the background information is in there. This sequel is again also a must read for anyone who enjoys humor and science fiction. The best part of this book I think is that the author has the most craziet ideas impanted into the storyline. Also as a definite positive in this book is that the characters and storyline are very well built. Even though character attributes are not given direct and clear, their actions and speech can give you the idea of unique characters who can be easily distinguished from each other. The storyline, after reading the book, you will be able to tell that it has everything needed for a well built story, especially the exploation of the author's own special world.

Even though thay are from the same trilogy, I think that the first and second book has different purpose to it. Both books are extremely funny, but book one was to explain the basic points and create the scene for the story to flow in, while "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" is more packed with adventure and discovery. Anyways, before this sounds like a analization, I would recommend this book not for just people who like humor and science fiction like I said above, but to everyone. This book isn't very long, so it'a very readable. There are almost no slow parts in the story so it's not monotone. So if you got a few minutes each day, find this book and start reading!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A ver fine comedic and confusing tale.
Review: This is not as good as the original, but what ever lives up to the original? This is still a fine novel rife with the irreverent humor that this series is noted for. Again we watch our cast be dumped into situations we can barely imagine. Through time travel, to ancient earth, to incredible torture devices to even the headquarters for the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy! One minor flaw in the book is that you have to read the first novel to really have a clue as to what is going on in this one. All in all this is a very funny and entertaining read. Had I not read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy this novel would probably rank a 5, however since I did read the first book and I gave that one a 5, and this one is not quite as good, this one had to be given a 4.
Thanks for your time. T


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