Douglas Adams’ ‘So Long and Thanks for All the Fish’

A Must Read 300If you’ve followed my reviews, then you know I am a huge fan of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy. I recently reread the whole collection, so I thought it was time to review entry number four: So Long and Thanks for All the Fish. In the onset of the story, Arthur Dent hitchhikes his way across the galaxy and finds himself on a peculiar planet: Earth. This is strange for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that Earth was destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass three novels ago. While stumbling around what appears to be his home, Dent meets a woman, Fenny, who has apparently become delusional in the wake of the “mass hysteria” involving big yellow spaceships. As Dent becomes more intrigued by Fenny, he sets out to discover what really happened to his home planet.

If you have read the first three books, be warned, this book feels noticeably different from the previous trio. First and foremost, there is much more subplot going on, especially concerning romance. The overall tone of Douglas Adams’ jabs at technology have changed, too, so the social commentary throughout is almost out of place, though a refreshing change of pace. Despite these changes, the novel is still very much a Douglas Adams work, and readers can expect to find themselves busting many a gut throughout their read. While not Adams’ most hysterical piece of literature, it is arguably his most solid as a standalone story, and it gives backstory to many occurrences that might have made readers scratch their heads in the first book (for example, what is with the dolphins?) All-in-all, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish wasn’t my favorite Hitchhiker’s book, but it answered questions, gave some commendable character depth, and still had its fair share of hilarity. If you are a fan of Douglas Adams, you should definitely give this book a go. People that found the other Hitchhiker’s books strange will find this more welcoming (though it should really be read as part of the whole series, of course), while diehard fans will certainly want to know more of Arthur Dent’s adventures.

Source: Jake Depew, Assistant Editor