I remembered watching this movie
with Brother #1 and really enjoying it, but unfortunately after ten years, all
the specifics I remembered was 'forty-two'. I didn't even remember what it meant - just that it was crucial. My library had a beautiful anniversary
copy of the novel, and I decided it was time I refreshed my memory.
I don’t really know how to describe
this book, other than as a very logical Alice
in Wonderland in space. It is absolute nonsense, but somehow it makes
complete sense when you think about it. Even with the parts that at first seem
to be nothing but confusing, if you hang in there, it finally comes together.
When Earth is destroyed to make way
for a new interstellar freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by his best friend, Ford
Prefect, who unbeknownst to him is an intergalactic hitchhiker. Picked up by
the aliens who have destroyed his planet, Dent is swept up into a cosmic
adventure. Ford and Dent eventually meet up with Ford’s cousin, Zaphod
Beeblebrox, who is fleeing from the police in a stolen technologically
groundbreaking spaceship, and searching for a legendary lost planet.
There are many twists and turns,
and ‘convenient coincidences,’ resulting in one of my favorite quotes ever:
'Would it save you a
lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now?'
It’s complex, witty, and just a
straight up well-written space adventure. I hadn’t realized that Hitchhiker is an entire series, so when
I reached the end I was kind of annoyed because I wasn’t prepared for it to come
so suddenly. Now, though, knowing there are many more books picking up where
this one ended, I think it was the perfect ending. Not too ‘cliffhanger-y’ but
enough to leave you wanting the next one.
And from now on, when anyone asks
me a question I don’t want to answer, I’m simply going to reply, “Forty-Two.”
After all, that is the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.
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