I don't really know what this book is. I sifted through 50 pages or so of gibberish and decided that I just didn't have the patience or interest to go on. Maybe in 20 years or so I'll build up enough patience to try to read this again, but for now I'll move on to something else.

I read the Hitchhiker's Guide, and being the first book of his that I experienced I did I enjoyed it, but the more I read from Adams, the more I get the impression that he's not really that impressive. He just spouts the first nonsense that comes to mind, some of which can cause a smile, but most of which just makes me cringe, or wish the book would move on to actual story rather than trying to make himself seem witty at all cost. If there was any story going on in the first 5 chapters, I probably would have continued. However, there was not. Maybe the rest of the book makes up for it, but after spending days to get through just a few pages because of pure boredom, I simply don't care anymore.

Unfortunately, I think this book confirms a great suspicion of mine; that the work of Douglas Adams is just not for me. I was never a fan of Hitchiker's, unfortunately, but as a huge fan of the Netflix series (don't hate me, folks) I really wanted to give the book a shot.

The plot is hugely different, so the show seems to have only been influenced by the eccentric titular character, but honestly...and I very rarely say this... the show's plot and character was better. Eeek! I'm sorry, but yes I've said it!

For me, Dirk seemed to really fall flat in this. He never even appeared until over halfway through, prior to which we had just heard a bit of backstory regarding his different name, which I felt served little purpose in the plot, and thus don't really get why it was necessary. When he did appear, he was a relatively 2D, mediocre character; nothing unlikable about him, but also nothing extraordinary about him. The only characters I truly cared for was the Electronic Monk and his horse, however once they serve their purpose to the plot, they kind of disappear, which was a shame.

Speaking of the plot...umm, what? I understand that the weird, eccentric wackiness is Adams' trademark, and I did appreciate the oddness of the atmosphere the book creates (it was one of the few things I did enjoy). However, no matter how trademark this may be, for any author, for me as a reader, it still needs to tie up in a logical matter. For a book based on a character whose life career is to investigate the "interconnectedness" of everything, nothing in this book seemed to connect. I have no clue how the end came to be, and I'm not convinced that everything tied up in a logical way, thus leaving the ending really unsatisfying for me.

The humour is also, personally not for me, however this hasn't affected my grading of the book, as this is personal preference, but I just thought it worth noting.

I think I'm going to call it a day in trying to get on board with Adams' work, I'm afraid. Credit to him as a writer, but he really isn't for me, and I think his literature lacks occasionally in fleshing out characters, and really nailing the balance between wacky plots and a satisfying conclusion.

I still don't really understand how the ending of this book worked, and trying to describe the plot would be like trying to build a submarine out of cheese. Instead, I'll just share some quotes from this book that I especially loved, because Douglas Adams is the only author in the history of the world who is capable of creating them.

"'A horse?' he said again.
'Yes, it is,' said the Professor. 'Wait - ' he motioned to Richard, who was about to go out again and investigate - 'Let it be. It won't be long.'
Richard stared in disbelief. 'You say there's a horse in your bathroom, and all you can do is stand there naming Beatles songs?'"

"Richard stood transfixed for moment or two, wiped his forehead again, and gently replaced the phone as if it were an injured hamster. His brain began to buzz gently and suck its thumb. Lots of little synapses deep inside his cerebral cortex all joined hands and started dancing around and singing nursery rhymes."

"On the wall was a Duran Duran poster on which someone had scrawled in fat red felt tip, 'Take this down please.'
Beneath that another hand had scrawled, 'No.'
Beneath that again the first hand had written, 'I insist that you take it down.'
Beneath that the second hand had written, 'Won't!'
Beneath that - 'You're fired!'
Beneath that - 'Good!'
And there the matter appeared to have rested."

"'Welcome, by the way, to my offices.'
He waved a vague hand around the tatty surroundings. 'The light works,' he said, indicating the window, 'the gravity works,' he said, dropping a pencil on the floor. 'Anything else we have to take our chances with.'"

"'Don't you listen to anything you say? The whole thing was obvious!' he exclaimed, thumping the table. 'So obvious that the only thing which prevented me from seeing the solution was the trifling fact that it was completely impossible. Sherlock Holmes observed that once you have eliminated the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.'"

I first read this book quite a while ago, probably not long after it came out. A time we could look forward to a Douglas Adams book instead of having to look back to the past. He is missed.

I don't think I got anything more out of Dirk Gently than I did twenty years ago, but that's just fine.

It's funny without being silly, wry without being mean. I love Adams's humor, his turns of phrase, and how everything comes together in the end. Or the beginning. Or both.

If you are interested in this book because you watched the Netflix series, or intend do so, my comments at the end :D

Adams nails it again and delivers a nice piece of fiction/comedy/romance/sci-fi/detective/fantasy.

It was a hard read though. I have to admit that I didn't dedicate as much attention to this book as I had wished, between my overworked and underpaid job and my messy personal life, I could only manage to pick this book for 10 minutes everyday before I fell completely asleep.

I haven't decided if I liked this more than The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy but definitely was worth reading. At least, the plot is excellent, everything is connected and all that at the beginning seems totally unrelated, at the end, makes sense (kind of).

The characters are quite enjoyable. Dirk is pretty stressful (not to mention annoying) until he actually starts to sort things out (or at least he makes you think he is doing so). Richard is quite funny, and the rest, even though remain secondary are well developed and have a reason for being there.

This novel has nothing to do with the series. Well, there is a holistic detective called Dirk Genlty who believes in the interconnectedness of all things and... that's it. So, 1) if you want to read the book before you watch the series: don't. It's not necessary. I mean, read the book anyway, but go ahead with Netflix. 2) If you liked the series and want to read the book: go ahead, you won´t find your favorite characters but chances are you are going to laugh harder, find even weirder situations and don't worry, Dirk is as annoying as in the series.

You can read this review and more in my blog :)

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 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.

"Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable. Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we not eff it after all."

This book is Douglas Adams' take on detective fiction in which Sherlock Holmes meets Doctor Who, quantum theory meets time travel.

As with many detective stories this book features a murder and all evidence seems to point to an innocent man, Richard. Enter the rather shady Dirk Gently, ex Cambridge undergraduate, last seen in police custody some years previously, now running a holistic detective agency. Holistic because it is based on the interconnectedness of all things, any event in the space-time continuum can connect to any other. Adams therefore assembles a wonderfully madcap collection of people, things and events, and weaves them into this imaginatively playful romp. Normally TOO MANY coincidences would have the reader rolling their eyes with frustration but here it just seems to work, it's fun to see what gets linked together.

Now I'm sure that this is a Marmite book, you will either love or loathe it. If you enjoyed Adams whimsical style in his better known 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' then you are already well on the road to enjoying this one, if not, then it's unlikely to convert you. Personally, whilst I didn't actually laugh out loud, I found it a very clever piece of writing that left me with a smile on my face and that as far as I'm concerned can be no bad thing.

Look, I really loved the Hitchhiker series, and I quite enjoyed this one, but my general impression is that it feels a bit... dated, especially in the humor. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun romp, and some of the things it's trying to say are eternal.

I listened to it on audiobook and it was quite fun! It really started to pick up near the mid point and then it barreled through, full force, to the end. Richard was very much the straight man protagonist (in the comedy sense, though in the hetero sense as well). And... did I like Dirk Gently? I'm not sure! He's kind of a dick and I particularly hated how he didn't pay his secretary, what a shitty boss!

One particular highlight was Richard's article on music and measuring soundwaves, and how there is a lot of beauty in that. I didn't like how he called Susan 'hysterical' near the end. I also didn't like the cops joking about cop violence, that was a very very dated joke.

I did enjoy everything coming together at the end and, like I said, there were some pretty good observations on humans and their behavior. I will read The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul (mostly because this pen pal sent it to me probably 18 years ago and I never read it, oops).

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.

What did I think? Hmm... I thought that this book was amazing. Mainly because I totally sync with the author's writing style, but also due to the plot, the characters and the subject matters he deals with in this book!

I saved so many quotes to my iPhone while reading this... my poor Notes app is overfilling! But let's not get ahead of ourselves. First off, Adams is just a genius writer. I do believe that everyone can agree with that sentiment. His Hitch Hicker's Guide to the Galaxy series is one of the most popular out there, after all! (And one that I've read through a couple of times as well!)

I actually wanted to read the second book in this series, The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul, for some reason which I can't remember now, but it included GoodReads, something someone said about it, and the crazy title. But before I can read any book in the middle of a series, I really need to read the first books in that series! Thus commenced the lovely road that was Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

And it really was a lovely book to read. Amusing, quirky, filled with paradoxes and conundrums and so forth (say, have you ever gotten a sofa stuck in the staircase that leads to your flat in such a way that it is technically impossible to even have found its way there? If so, you might want to consider the possibility of the involuntary of a time machine!).

What I loved most about this book was the way that Adams always includes real scientific newsworthy discoveries into his plots. Who else would base a detective agency based on quantum theory? Who else would set a whole book around such crazy things as ghosts and time travel and saving the universe and still have it coming out slightly believable? Why, Douglass Adams of course!

Anyway, I've been having trouble gathering my thoughts for decent reviews lately, so I think I should leave this one where it is without spoiling any more of the story. I hope to be enjoying the second book in the series just as much as this one!

This was so weird I have no idea what I just read.