20250527 Tuesday

Book log: Life, the Universe and Everything (1982)

The story continues directly on from the previous book, as if it was
another chapter. Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect are returned to Earth,
in the middle of a cricket match shortly before the destruction of
the planet. The cricket match will turn out to have potentially 
catastrophic consequences for the entire universe. After a few 
chapters the prose becomes darker, more abstract and more 
philosophical, and the book feels like it turns inward and slows down
considerably. Funnily enough, this is where I relocated my old 
bookmark, ie where I stopped reading the series as a teenager. 

As for the narrative, our heroes travel through time loops, through 
spatial loops, and the nonsensical nature of the story becomes ever 
more apparent. I feel like the concept is starting to wear a little 
thin - that it's not a story rich on jokes and observations, but 
rather a stream of gags with a story tucked onto it. The book picks
up again in the latter half, and Marvin turns out to be a true hero.