I just reread this thing for the who-knows-how-many-th time. It’s still quite funny! But it’s interesting to read it as an adult:
- The humor is a little harder to take than it used to be, having now been exposed to long years of amiable nerds gracelessly aping the Monty Python sensibility. Douglas Adams books are clearly another transmission vector for this tendency to tediously parrot (though Adams’ own execution, while inarguably derivative, is fluid and hilarious).
- It’s quite nihilistic, thought mirthfully so. I suspect this had a big influence on my own comedic preferences.
- It’s also pretty libertarian in its perspective, particularly the passage with the ruler of the universe (though I suppose that’s in the next book).
- It’s thin! Adams wasn’t kidding about stopping mid-stream.
- Ben’s right that The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is less satisfying, largely thanks to its repetition of jokes. I think things get quite a bit better further along, though, particularly in Adams’ treatment of the Golgafrinchans, which is considerably more humane than the uniformly acid tone of the first book.
- Last thought: Adams is of course mostly a humorist, but he’s underrated as a stylist. Magrathea is spooky and lonely. The primeval earth is calming and lovely. England is small and homey. This talent really shines through in his nonfiction book Last Chance to See, incidentally, which I recommend highly.
