POR FIN LO HE TERMINADO!!! Ha sido mi Mortirolo particular!!
Me ha costado horrores y eso que las primeras paginas prometían, bueno las 20 primeras.
Segundo libro que leo de este autor y este incluso me ha gustado mucho menos que el del autoestopista galáctico... La verdad es que hasta mas del 50 % no entendía que estaba leyendo!! Luego poco a poco se va mas o menos entendiendo pero ni con esas, todo muy poco gracioso (ummm creo que este humor no va conmigo). 1/10.
No se si darle una última oportunidad al autor con el 2º del autoestopista...
Sinopsis: Dirk Gently es un detective muy peculiar. Sherlock Holmes afirmaba que, cuando se ha eliminado lo imposible, lo que queda —sea lo que sea— es la verdad. Dirk Gently, sin embargo, jamás elimina nada, y menos que nada, lo imposible. Y para resolver sus casos prefiere recurrir a la física cuántica antes que a las huellas dactilares. Así pues, cuando le encargan la búsqueda de un gato perdido —un misterio por lo general muy fácil de desentrañar—, Dirk acaba encontrando dos fantasmas y un Monje Eléctrico venido de otra dimensión, y descubre un terrible secreto que puede acarrear la destrucción de la humanidad. También averigua la imposible, improbable, increíble y aterradora razón por la que un experto en ordenadores tuvo un sofá atascado en la escalera de su casa durante tres semanas. Pero ¿qué sucedió con el gato? El gato, infortunadamente, murió.

1988 The plot gets a bit muddled at the end, but I dearly love this book. And the sofa.***Sept 10, 2012This may be one of the few books that is more rewarding to re-read. Now all those random scenes make sense.In fact, my reading pal at the mini mart and I were talking yesterday about how hard it can be to read Adams the first time. That you have to just stick with it, and hope it makes sense at the end. [It won't, it'll still be muddled nonsense, but it'll be funny nonsense] This reading what I particularly enjoyed were all the bits about music and computers and cats. These may have been my favorite bits before, but I failed to record that. I also particularly noticed the idea of extinction, echoed in Last Chance to See.And the sofa issue.Personal copy

Too many not fully expanded ideas

The concept of putting as many ideas as possible in as less book space as imaginable worked well for the hitchhiker, but in this case, it was too much, no I mean, less.

It could have been an epic milestone like the ingenious hitchhiker series, but it is simply too short and too densely packed at the same time, it´s a miracle that this is even possible.

Infodump makes one nervous toward the end
The characters and main plots could have been used for one much longer or two short books and it would have been a masterpiece again. More details in the descriptions, probably some more explanations to the reader or another side plot, infodumps, longer dialogues, it would all have been possible if Adams hadn´t tried to distill it to the absolute minimum. I got nervous the closer I got to the end because I couldn´t imagine how all those should culminate in a credible, understandable, and satisfying ending.

Deus ex machinas instead of explanations
Especially the end was really unsatisfying, so much came out of nothing, interesting ideas weren´t described in detail and everything felt quite half-baked with too many questions left unanswered and too much confusion for the reader. And I am someone who reads multi k page series with loads of settings, characters, and connections that can be understandably described by the author without a permanent "what, where, when, why, how?" like in this case.

And it goes puff
Adams' intention has been to make as many and as complex subplots, connections, and associations as possible to let them explode in an epic culmination point, but it didn´t get speed and just hit the fourth wall a tiny little bit without producing more noise than contrived harrumph to let the embarrassing moment pass by. It feels as if there should have been a second half before the sudden ending.

Amazingly still good
Don´t get me wrong, it´s still a good, philosophical book full of innuendos, connotations, and some good laughs, but don´t expect the same quality or the same entertainment as the more famous galactic fun (just the trilogy, not what follows) brought to your mind.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

Incoherent, rarely funny.

The classic, beloved, brilliant, wacky Douglas Adams, with his penchant for paradoxes and meaningful nonsense and his totally absurd humor. It would be hard for me to chose what I loved most from this book, but I think it was the decision-making program that allows you to justify practically any outcome by back-tracing from the desired result - that could come quite handy, no?
But apart from all this, the book is quite well thought out, with a self-consistent detective story and an imaginitive and complex plot.

Douglas Adams never disappoints.

ডগলাস অ্যাডামসের গদ্যশৈলী খুবই চমৎকার। কাহিনীর নতুন একটা অংশ শুরু করার ভঙ্গিটা উপভোগ্য। গল্পের মোচড়গুলো উপভোগ্য ছিলো। সাড়ে তিন।

I don’t know if it’s me, but I found it very difficult getting immersed in the book. It took me reading about half of it before I was invested in the story and the characters. But now, I can’t wait to read what’s next!

É uma ficção-científica-espírita (rá!) divertida com o melhor daquele humor ferino que só o Douglas Adams tem, mas achei bem aquém daquela coisa extraordinária que é a série do Guia.

I read the prologue in a bookstore when it came out in 1987 and had to have it immediately. Adams just has a way with words that produces great comedy and irony.

This is a wacky romp with so many plotlines and ideas, very few authors would be able to tie it all together. But Adams does it with style and humor, and you will be left with a true awe of "the interconnectedness of all things".

Reread 1/30/2014: Just as brilliant as I remember. I actually had forgotten that some of the themes regarding regret/closure and music/beauty were actually quite moving. A hilarious and stunning 5 stars.

I just love this book. Not only is it personally evocative of my 80's childhood, but I think it really is the most enjoyable of Douglas Adams works (perhaps only Hitchhikers surpasses it). The plot is nicely twisty, unfolds at its own pace and in some odd ways (you can really see British SF/F techniques of cold opens and asides that make no sense until much later in the story that are meant to set you questioning and draw you in), and hangs together well. The characters are all likable: while the Hitchhikers stories take place in a universal culture that is sardonically indifferent bordering on hostile, the Doctor Who antecedents of the Dirk Gently stories gives Adams a softer and more compassionate humor. Dirk himself is a fascinating character (and again, shares a lot of the Doctor's DNA). The story is very much set in 80's London, but I don't think that harms it - of course, I read it in the 80's and know that time, if not that place. Your mileage may vary.

If only Adams wrote faster... I would have loved 5 or 6 Dirk Gently books rather than the 2.5 we got.

Brilliant ideas again.

Sometimes I wish that Douglas Adams was one of my best friends and we could talk hours and hours about space and time travel. Still, thank you for existing once upon a time.

Hysterical. If you liked The Hitchhiker's Guide but thought it could do with fewer spaceships, try this. If you're shaking your head in bafflement, thinking "Fewer spaceships? Do you want to ruin the whole thing, woman?" try this. If you've never read any Douglas Adams at all, try this. If you like things that are good, try this.

On the other hand, I am pretty sure my best friend hated it, and she does often like things that are good, so maybe it's not for everyone. But try it anyway.

"He was rounder than the average undergraduate and wore more hats. That is to say, there was just the one hat which he habitually wore, but he wore it with a passion that was rare in one so young. [...:] By means of an ingenious series of strategically deployed denials of the most exciting and exotic things, he was able to create the myth that he was a psychic, mystic, telepathic, fey, clairvoyant, psychosassic vampire bat.

"What did 'psychosassic' mean?

"It was his own word and he vigorously denied that it meant anything at all."