The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Image from google

This book is always recommended. I swear anyone who has ever read it would urge others to give it a go. So after people and websites galore told me to read it, and after it being on my to-read list for an age, I finally have.

Hitchhikers Guide is every bit as awe-inspiring as I expected it to be. It twists your mind every which way possible, into a mass of awesomeness, and breaks the boundaries of thinking in a way that is only comparable to one other literary piece: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
That's right, I just compared something to Lewis Carroll. And it's so very true.

Unfortunately, I was silly, and saw the 2005 film first. Although the film has an exceptionally star-studded and pretty darn amazing cast, it just doesn't live up the the genius of the book. This also meant that I already knew some big things that were revealed in the book, but I did appreciate how Adams very subtly weaves the story.

It also had a side-effect of reading anything that Marvin the robot said in Alan Rickman's voice. This, however, is not such a bad thing, as if anything it made for even more amusing reading.
A general side effect of the book was that every time I read it I wanted Tea.

The characters are very well developed for such a small book, and even some smaller parts had personalities that you could easily identify. Ford in particular has a very good personality - I do love the fact that he just can't help himself from being curious. I also have a sneaking suspicion that underneath the egotistical exterior Zaphod has a lot more to offer.

Book Cover from Wikipedia

As there's literally nothing I can fault it on, I'll tell you about things I loved. one thing I particularly enjoyed about this book was the side notes on things in the Universe and beyond, and how everything he says is either amusing, or ties in with the story at some point. Or both.

In fact, I'm sure that some minor references in this book will turn out to be the crux of the whole plot in another. In that way I wish I hadn't seen the film - I would have been even more in awe. I would probably have never seen anything coming.
Luckily, there's four more books to read.

So the main themes: Life, the Universe, and Everything. That pretty much sums up the whole book, don't you think?
All in all it's witty, with laugh out loud moments, whilst contemplating life as we know it. I'd call that Genius.

Definitely 5/5 stars.