I’m going to have to talk about reading-the-process and reading-this-book together this time, since I was a bit lost.
As before, spoilers ahead.
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So… they actually have a cataclysmic, it-came-from-outer-space world destruction thing going on here. I really wasn’t sure that was going to happen.
And it’s all, omg omg drink this muscle-relaxant! There’s some random drunkard! There’s some random girlfriend, though I don’t know if she’s the girlfriend of previous random drunkard, but it doesn’t matter, because there are things in space! There are random people on the ground looking at the things in space! And there’s… a towel? A whole page about the importance of towels and earlier, a bit about why this-galactic-travel-guide is better than that-galactic-encyclopedia?
I had a bit of trouble following all that.
But maybe that’s ok, because the world is blowing up and if the author’s intent is to convey that chaos by giving me information overload, then he certainly succeeded. So while I’m a little stressy about not being up to the task of processing all that, I’m not too worried about it.
My favorite lines:
“Energize the demolition beams.”
Light poured out into the hatchways.
”I don’t know,” said the voice on the PA, ”apathetic bloody planet, I’ve no sympathy at all.” It cut off.
There was a terrible ghastly silence.
There was a terrible ghastly noise.
There was a terrible ghastly silence.
The Vogon Constructor fleet coasted away into the inky starry void.
Perhaps not surprisingly, I love writing that consciously uses repetition and rhythm to convey ideas — writing that, while made of words of course, is meant to be read in a way that is not strictly about verbal comprehension.
In addition to seeing the world destroyed, Ive met Zaphod Beeblebrox, been introduced to the Heart of Gold, and got a bit about fish who translate things. It’s all stuff that seems vaguely familiar, but that vague familiarity with some of these names and concepts somehow manages to be not at all distracting. It’s like… you’re watching a Clint Eastwood movie, and you know full well what kinds of characters Clint Eastwood is wont to play, but that doesn’t mean you know what he’s going to do, right here, in this particular movie.
Looking forward to hearing what the Vogons have to say in the next chapter.
“Looking forward to hearing what the Vogons have to say in the next chapter.”
No, you’re really not. Their poetry is terrible. 🙂
When you’re done, go back & check out the HHGG vs. Encyclopedia Galactica bit again–and notice how well it works with “Wikipedia” and “Encyclopedia Britannica” substituted instead. I still marvel at the fact that it was written 30+ years ago, and I really wish DNA had lived long enough to see it play out in real life.
Hee. I was thinking about this when they brought it up again in a later chapter, and yeah it really added some depth to that bit. Nice suggestion. 🙂
Though… I didn’t realize the author had died. Very sad.
I’d just like to echo what Jim said–really, a smartphone/tablet/Kindle plus Wikipedia is essentially the Guide made real.
Huh. I could see that. But still, there’s enough gushing about the Guide’s amazingness in-book that I don’t get distracted thinking, hey, we could do this already… I like that they focus a lot on the content and the characters’ reaction to the device, rather than having it try to amaze the reader on its own terms.