|
|
We all know
those folks who absolutely LIVED by the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...
We all thought they were crazy. Well, they weren't that crazy. The books were
good. Darn good.
The reasons for why they are so
good are many. The ones I know are that the books have that Monty Python
humor in them , dry humor that is. They are amazingly creative, which
says a lot in the science fiction genre. Adams
also takes time to craft his characters and all their oddity, but allows you
to accept them and see their dimensionally.
The books read pretty fast, as
if they were made for soft-cover and the stories hum along. The manner in
which they are written allows you to accept the most absurd ideas easily and
after a while what appears normal is rather funny. I would say all this is
pretty weird coming from a fellow who had a masters in English Literature.
When Adams moved to the Dirk
Gently series, I believe he truly came into his own. The stories, while
not as bombastic, became much more sophisticated and character-based, not
merely a tour of oddity. The dry humor is still there and perhaps it's subtly
is honed. These books feel more refined, finished and at home in hardcover.
Perhaps the best part is no-one rolls their eyes at you when you reading them.
The Hitchhiker's Guide
series is arguably his most well known work, being that it was a radio show
first and then a book series, as well as a play and any day now, a movie.
All are rather good, but they seem to lose their punch somewhere around the
end of the third book - or it could just be me(I read them all though). Don't
let the large leather compendium of books scare you... get the paperbacks.
They are easy to get into!
|
|
