Apparently Douglas Adams got the idea for this lying in a field in Innsbruck, drunk, with a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to Europe. If his trip around Europe was anything like as exciting as Arthur Dent's first experience of intergalactic hitchhiking, I'm amazed he survived (though I imagine it wasn't).
I have unfortunately never heard the original radio series, nor have I seen the BBC adaptation, though I'm told I'm not missing much there. Possibly equally unfortunately, I have seen the recent movie which got the atmosphere of the book right, the comedy right and the casting right, then managed to screw up the plot - how hard is it?! He gives it to you in the book!
Anyway, this is not a review of the film, which is good, as I might easily end up ranting nonsensically for hours on end, which would bore you all to tears in about two seconds flat. As it happens, this is an easy book to review, and kind of a cop-out - I'm not going to say anything that will cause violent disagreement (to clarify, I think it's a great book), but it's Friday, so I don't care. I'll do a hard one on Monday and probably really piss everyone off...
Ok, enough waffle! 'Hitchhiker's' tells us the story of Arthur Dent, an Englishman who is lucky enough to survive the Earth's destruction, thanks to the help of a friend of his, who happens to be an alien (the line explaining how Ford Prefect got his name is one of my favourite in the book - I especially like that it was lost on American audiences who hadn't heard of the car...).
They jump onto a Vogon ship (the Vogons are the bad guys) and are rescued from there by a ship that is powered by improbability. They meet Zaphod Beeblebrox, the President of the galaxy, with one of the best names in fiction and Trillian, originally Tricia McMillan, a woman Arthur met at a party, who is dating Zaphod. The improbability drive leads them into all sorts of adventures, but, like Wodehouse, the important thing about this novel is not the plot (which changed through all its incarnations anyway), but the writing.
Let's face it - who could not love a book that describes ships as hanging in the air "in much the same way that bricks don't" - complete nonsense, but wonderfully descriptive. My favourite character has to be Marvin (the Paranoid Android), whose pessimism in the face of the best news is hilarious. He actually reminds me strongly of Eeyore, which, I suspect, is why I like him so much...
Anyway, a fantastic read, deservedly famous and very entertaining!
Listen to the radio show! It is fantastically funny.
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