Best Title, Weakest Book (So Long and Thanks for All the Fish - Douglas Adams)

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Product:	So Long and Thanks for All the Fish - Douglas Adams
Date:	03/08/03 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nicely different, Arthur Dent receiving some good luck at last

Disadvantages: Different from what I would have hoped, but possibly better than if Adams had simply re-treaded old ground

A very different, but interesting direction for what was originally the final volume in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy" of four books, So Long and Thanks For All the Fish does not deal so much with adventure, life-threatening situations and hilariously inventive alien species so much as a return home for the series' protagonist, Arthur Dent; the last-but-one human before the confusing events herein, and romance.

Firstly, an apology for writing three reviews in one day, but I wanted to get this sorted while the ending was still clear in my head! Secondly, I would wholeheartedly reccomend that anyone interested in this series of books should start from the beginning- this book makes more sense that way, and the characters have really grown on me by this point! Oh and thirdly, I still like this book a lot despite the title, and have not yet read the fifth and final book written a long time after.

I'm not sure how this book was acclaimed when it was first released in the mid-1980s, but it seems to me to be a deliberate change in the style of storytelling. The major differences are as follows:

- no sign of two-headed, three-armed alien Zaphod Beeblebrox or his girlfriend Trillian, while Betelgeusian Ford Prefect does not feature heavily until the end, and Marvin the Paranoid Android making a small cameo

- no bizarre, sarcastic and inventive technologies, like the ill-at-ease lifts, satisfied doors, personality computers and restaurant powered Somebody Else's Problem drives (if you didn't understand that last reference, join the club- and I read those books!)

- very few outer-space shenanigans, apart from the very end of the book. It mostly takes place on Earth

My personal favourite in the trilogy, if we're going to call it that, is still the first book, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," and one of the main things I loved about it was the way it could
develop insane concepts loosely based on what's been done before in science fiction. As this book features less of these, although there's still more than a sprinkling, I did not like it as much, but there is still enough character humour and clever silliness to make it a 'classic.' Notions such as a man who finds it is literally always raining on him turning out to be a Rain God, 'but nobody knows'- classic stuff! There is also a very big come-back for one of my favourite lines in the whole series, from the third book: the knack to flying is the art of learning to try and hit the ground, but miss. All one needs is a distraction at the critical moment, and for the confused Arthur Dent this is no problem.

Talking about the characters, here's a brief overview:

Arthur Dent is tall and around 40 by the time of this book, originally described as "never quite at ease with himself" and certainly no more at ease following his misadventures through time and space over the years. The return to Earth allows Arthur to finally ditch the dressing gown he's donned throughout the series, and some well earned rest.

Fenchurch is a bit of a mysterious character who Arthur falls in love with, which has something to do with them being some of the only 'real' humans left. Their romance among the clouds is certainly unlike anything that's happened in these books before.

Hoping that I don't spoil anyone's enjoyment, if you were planning to read this, Marvin the Paranoid Android (the character I found the funniest in the first book, but not too much in the others) finally experiences a state of non-annoyance and non-depression as he 'dies', which is a nice end, but I still feel quite disappointed at the omission of Zaphod Beeblebrox. A bit too much of a weirdo in the first book, I'd really started to like the guy in the last two books, but here he is
simply said to have had children with trillian. Not too bothered about her exclusion; she wasn't too interesting I didn't find.

Overall, while I did not find it as enjoyable a read as the first book and "Life, the Universe and Everything," my favourites out of the four I've read so far, I can certainly realise how a reader skimming through all the books in several sittings would appreciate some cosy, fireside comedy love story after the Krikkit Wars of the previous book, but I do have some problems with the book. The title refers to the last message left by the dolphins when they left the original Earth just before it was destroyed, (the dolphins were the second most intelligent creatures on Earth, after the mice of course) which led me to believe that this book would deal with them much more than it does. The dolphins do not appear, and the book seems more concerned with Earth's reappearance and God's final message to his creation. Which is quite a nice ending.

I was not disappointed with this book, but it was a little too different for me to enjoy it as much as the others. I have yet to read the final instalment, "Mostly Harmless," and will try to get hold of the radio show as well.

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