Enimmäkseen harmiton (1992)

Out of all the Hitchhiker's Gude to the Galaxy books, I think I must digress and say that 'Mostly Harmless' does not, in fact, refer to the Earth, but to itself.

The book is mostly harmless except when it isn't.

In fact, it isn't mostly harmless at all.

There are many humorous passages and lots of quirky zingers and a sensation of the penultimate plotless surreality of life, the universe, and everything, but like LIFE, itself, it just feels like an accumulation of STUFF THAT HAPPENS.

Trying to find out the great question to the answer to the universe has mostly derailed in service to living a bit of life and trying to get a little enjoyment out of it before we die... which sounds, suspiciously, like what we all do.

COME ON! WHO WANTS TO READ ABOUT THAT???

But then, seeing where an alternate universe Trillian winds up and watching Ford confront the corporate mega-annoyance of the publishing industry around The Guide does have it's bright points... but let's face it... Arthur's daughter is a REAL PAIN IN THE RANDOM.

Seriously, the whole book goes just south of a Vogon Poetry Reading after that point. It's almost like we're reading a tragedy but we don't really want to admit to it. We'll order room service and buy New Zealand but that's just a funny bit to cover up for the fact that LIFE HAS IT IN FOR US.

If this book wasn't so accurate in its hilarity, I might want to take a boot to its posterior.

Mostly Harmless my ***. ( )

A return to form. Douglas Adams described it as a 'bleak' book, but that's where he started - earth didn't survive the first twenty pages in Hitchhiker's. ( )

So nine years on, I've finally finished this series. It looks like I never reviewed any of the previous instalments (not even the two I read last November), so it's hard for me to remember them to work out how this compares.

In its own right, the first 30% or so was really funny, but after that it got rather serious. I found the plot much easier to follow than either of the previous two books, but it was actually a very serious plot about feeling like your existence is pointless and trying to find your purpose in life and, oh yeah, trying to raise a maladjusted teenager who appeared out of nowhere and brandishes weapons a lot.

I feel like I have to rate this book at least as highly as the fourth one, so three stars it is. But it was a strange one. ( )

Overall I think this was the least interesting of the Hitchhiker's Guide books, I am happy with the ending though. I think that it ended exactly as absurdly as it should have. ( )

Not as good as the other 4, but still entertaining. ( )