When I first read the book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, I had drastically high expectations, considering the movie based on it was one of my favorites.
With this novel, Douglas Adams gave life to a phenomenon that will long outlive his tragically short life, delighting millions of readers for untold years to come. Adams’ abnormally dead-on humor also draws deeply from the well of sociology, philosophy and science.
The characters are also terrific: the ill-fated Arthur Dent, who basically has no idea what is going on; Ford Prefect, Arthur’s noteworthy friend from Betelgeuse; Zaphod Beeblebrox, with his two heads, three arms and cavalier attitude; Trillian the lovely Earth girl who basically flies the Heart of Gold; Slartibartfast the planet builder; and my favorite character of all, Marvin the eternally depressed robot.
“Loathe it or ignore it, you can’t like it” is the paranoid android’s philosophy about life. If you don’t like science fiction, it doesn’t matter; read this book just for the laughs. The most amazing thing about Adams’ humor is the fact that everyone seems to “get” it.