Illiterarty.com Book reviews and blogs by Bridget

If this was written before anyone had heard of the author, it would get a pretty patchy reception.

If this was a car, it would be going cheap—a DeLorean someone died in. Pay cash, clean it yourself.

If this was a meal, it would be a fine Japanese dish eaten with a beautiful returned astronaut.

Here it is, Mostly Harmless, the final book in the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy trilogy... as neatly ties up a huge confusion of space-time anomalies. In the best way it could possibly be done.

The earth was indisputably demolished forever back in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, and Arthur has been a homeless wanderer ever since. Or was the whole thing just mass hallucinations caused by a dead CIA agent in the drinking water? Arthur is back, on earth, six months after it was demolished... and he has a lot of catching up to do.

The third book in the (but by no means the last!), Life, The Universe And Everything follows the adventures of Zaphod, Trillian, Arthur and Ford. Having learned how the universe is governed, the quartet now have an unexpected and even more difficult challenge... saving said universe.

Zaphod, Trillian, Ford and Arthur return to participate in some even more unlikely deep-space situations than those that occurred in the first installment of this trilogy in five parts; The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is the first book within Douglas Adam’s classic and well loved “trilogy in five parts” Hitchhiker’s compendium.

If this was an art installation, it would be a functioning concept-SUV made out of tofu.

I found this book to be EXTREMELY difficult in a multitude of ways. During the reading process, which was quite drawn out due to the following, I struggled through stages of ambivalence, irritation, eagerness, interest, distaste, and the desire to just read something else and forget about it. So, I suppose you could call Pattern Recognition emotionally evocative... [...]

If this was a sofa, it would be a sublimely comfortable, utterly kick-ass retro-style seventies design which will only get more expensive as the years progress, despite being upholstered in a scary orange and brown design.

If this was a video game, it would be a free-roaming third-person action-adventure with epic storytelling goals that never really resolve, but you don’t mind too much because you’re half-glad it’s finished and you can stop playing.

If this was rated on Birmo’s own cheeseburger scale, I’d give it three and a half fat, freshly-made ones out of five, with a coke on the side for the ones who came before.