Book info

• Title So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
• Author Douglas Adams
• Year 1984
• Genre Science Fiction

There is a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. It's not an easy thing to do, and Arthur Dent thinks he's the only human who's been able to master this nifty little trick – until he meets Fenchurch, the woman of his dreams. Fenchurch once realized how the world could be made a good and happy place. Unfortunately, she's forgotten. Convinced that the secret lies within God's Final Message to His Creation, they go in search of it. And, in a dramatic break with tradition, actually find it...

Thoughts

In all honesty, I wasn’t that bothered about reading past the third book in this series. I had bought the full trilogy of five, however, and so for completeness sake, I wanted to keep on going. This fourth book is a bit different to the previous outings, with a lot of the story taking place on earth and a lot of it between human beings.

I couldn’t quite see where the story was going and felt like I was missing some significant point or other, but that wouldn’t surprise me.

I did like the ongoing epic coincidences that occur - Arthur losing her number, and then turning up at her house - and the bit with the guy who turned his house outside so that he wasn’t in the asylum. Confusing but fun, like most of Adams’ work!

This wasn’t as off-putting as the third book was to me, but equally, I’m not sure it did anything to sell me on to the final book either. It felt very much like a filler, marking time until another idea finally emerged. Disappointing but dispatched easily enough to have very little influence on me in either direction.

Rating: 2 / 5