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3.5
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Dirk Gently #2
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
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When a passenger check-in desk at London's Heathrow Airport disappears in a ball of orange flame, the explosion is deemed an act of God. But which god, wonders holistic detective Dirk Gently? What god would be hanging around Heathrow trying to catch the 3:37 to Oslo? And what has this to do with Dirk's latest--and late-- client, found only this morning with his head revolving atop the hit record "Hot Potato"? Amid the hostile attentions of a stray eagle and the trauma of a very dirty refrigerator, super-sleuth Dirk Gently will once again solve the mysteries of the universe...
0 pages, Audio Cassette
First published October 10,1988
This edition
- Format
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0 pages, Audio Cassette
- Published
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June 1, 1993 by Audioworks
- ISBN
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9780671881450
- ASIN
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0671881450
- Language
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English
Characters More characters
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Dirk Gently
Dirk Gently bills himself as a "holistic detective" who makes use of "the fundamental interconnectedness of all things" to solve the whole crime, and find the whole person. This involves running up large expense accounts and then claiming that every item ...
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Thor
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Kate Schechter
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About the author
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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, humourist, and screenwriter, best known for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (HHGTTG). Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy developed into a "trilogy" of five books that sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime. It was further developed into a television series, several stage plays, comics, a video game, and a 2005 feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.
Adams also wrote Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), and co-wrote The Meaning of Liff (1983), The Deeper Meaning of Liff (1990) and Last Chance to See (1990). He wrote two stories for the television series Doctor Who, co-wrote City of Death (1979), and served as script editor for its seventeenth season. He co-wrote the sketch "Patient Abuse" for the final episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. A posthumous collection of his selected works, including the first publication of his final (unfinished) novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002.
Adams was a self-proclaimed "radical atheist", an advocate for environmentalism and conservation, and a lover of fast cars, technological innovation, and the Apple Macintosh.
Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, humourist, and screenwriter, best known for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (HHGTTG). Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy developed into a "trilogy" of five books that sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime. It was further developed into a television series, several stage plays, comics, a video game, and a 2005 feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.
Adams also wrote Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), and co-wrote The Meaning of Liff (1983), The Deeper Meaning of Liff (1990) and Last Chance to See (1990). He wrote two stories for the television series Doctor Who, co-wrote City of Death (1979), and served as script editor for its seventeenth season. He co-wrote the sketch "Patient Abuse" for the final episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. A posthumous collection of his selected works, including the first publication of his final (unfinished) novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002.
Adams was a self-proclaimed "radical atheist", an advocate for environmentalism and conservation, and a lover of fast cars, technological innovation, and the Apple Macintosh.
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As a fan of Douglas Adams, you have a high appetite for the craziness and near impossible randomness. The book is ok on humor and creativity but I felt let down as a complete book.
Unbeatable premise - A bombing at an airport with no casualty deemed (rightly so) "An act of God". The immortal Gods have entered into a contract with a lawyer and advertiser (humans) and humans have extracted their pound of flesh by taking away the Godliness. Thor who is the only God who is still trying to care, in the process gets banished. Throw in an angry eagle, a coca-cola vending machine, an unopened refrigerator and a hot-potato. Gently ends up solving the case for 'Gods sake'.
Neil Gaiman apparently shared this as an inspiration for his American Gods. You accept Dirk Gently, Holistic private investigator, who believes in not eliminating the impossible and believes in the basic interconnectedness of things. But the book, seems like a well laid book wrapped up in a hurry. The last chapters which had all the action were abrupt as if he was working against a deadline.
All in all, the book was a twilight book of Douglas Adams - neither here nor there and a little glum.
Unbeatable premise - A bombing at an airport with no casualty deemed (rightly so) "An act of God". The immortal Gods have entered into a contract with a lawyer and advertiser (humans) and humans have extracted their pound of flesh by taking away the Godliness. Thor who is the only God who is still trying to care, in the process gets banished. Throw in an angry eagle, a coca-cola vending machine, an unopened refrigerator and a hot-potato. Gently ends up solving the case for 'Gods sake'.
Neil Gaiman apparently shared this as an inspiration for his American Gods. You accept Dirk Gently, Holistic private investigator, who believes in not eliminating the impossible and believes in the basic interconnectedness of things. But the book, seems like a well laid book wrapped up in a hurry. The last chapters which had all the action were abrupt as if he was working against a deadline.
All in all, the book was a twilight book of Douglas Adams - neither here nor there and a little glum.
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This used to be one of my favorite books when I was 18 (that was more than a few years ago *cough* thirty something *cough*). I was definitely going through a ‘I love everything Douglas Adams’ phase at the time and while I still like this book because sometimes the ridiculousness of the plot and randomness of how everything happens is still so much fun I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did back then.
There are some great things in this. There is Dirk who is a funny and severely quirky character who is often very creative in his role as a holistic detective. I really do laugh at the odd way in which he sees the world and interacts with it.
While if I met him in real life I’d probably like to deck him, in the story I find his antics and musings completely fascinating and sometimes hilarious.
Some of the story seemed more like just random events to me this time through and while situationally funny I wasn’t sure how it all moved together sometimes. Thor having performance issues was entertaining as was Kate trying to figure out why right after she left the ticketing gate at Heathrow Airport did it blow un and what is with all the penguins in her subconscious.
Adams wrote some wonderful jokes throughout the story but now that I’ve read so many more books I see where there are some real pacing problems and the actual story is a bit lackluster overall, but the jokes are great.
Even though this isn’t as great as I once remembered it being I still so love to dive into this type of humor from time to time and just give into the improbability and impossibility of it all.
There are some great things in this. There is Dirk who is a funny and severely quirky character who is often very creative in his role as a holistic detective. I really do laugh at the odd way in which he sees the world and interacts with it.
n “He had a tremendous propensity for getting lost when driving. This was largely because of his method of “Zen” navigation, which was simply to find any car that looked as if it knew where it was going and follow it. The results were more often surprising than successful, but he felt it was worth it for the sake of the few occasions when it was both.”
“When the girl sitting at the next table looked away for a moment, Dirk leaned over and took her coffee. He knew that he was perfectly safe doing this because she would simply not be able to believe that this had happened. He sat sipping at the lukewarm cup and casting his mind back over the day.” n
While if I met him in real life I’d probably like to deck him, in the story I find his antics and musings completely fascinating and sometimes hilarious.
Some of the story seemed more like just random events to me this time through and while situationally funny I wasn’t sure how it all moved together sometimes. Thor having performance issues was entertaining as was Kate trying to figure out why right after she left the ticketing gate at Heathrow Airport did it blow un and what is with all the penguins in her subconscious.
n “Insofar as she recognized at all that she was dreaming, she realized that she must be exploring her subconscious mind. She had heard it said that humans are supposed only to use about a tenth of their brains, and that no one was really clear what the other nine tenths were for, but she had certainly never heard it suggested that they were used for storing penguins.”n
Adams wrote some wonderful jokes throughout the story but now that I’ve read so many more books I see where there are some real pacing problems and the actual story is a bit lackluster overall, but the jokes are great.
Even though this isn’t as great as I once remembered it being I still so love to dive into this type of humor from time to time and just give into the improbability and impossibility of it all.
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I didn’t enjoy this nearly as much as Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. It started off interesting, but for some reason I became progressively less interested as the story continued and I put the book down more and more frequently. I also didn’t find it as funny. It had humor, but it didn’t make me laugh as much. I think it intentionally took a more serious tone, which I might have appreciated better if I’d been more interested in the story.
The first book had a mixture of elements from both science fiction and fantasy, but I thought it leaned more toward science fiction. This book, on the other hand, was purely in the fantasy category with Norse gods playing a large role in the story. In many ways this reminded me of American Gods, at least in terms of the basic premise, except without the “American” part. This book was published first, so maybe I would feel differently if I had read it first, but I preferred American Gods.
I’m not really sure why this one didn’t work as well for me as Dirk Gently did but, by the end, I was happy to be done with it.
The first book had a mixture of elements from both science fiction and fantasy, but I thought it leaned more toward science fiction. This book, on the other hand, was purely in the fantasy category with Norse gods playing a large role in the story. In many ways this reminded me of American Gods, at least in terms of the basic premise, except without the “American” part. This book was published first, so maybe I would feel differently if I had read it first, but I preferred American Gods.
I’m not really sure why this one didn’t work as well for me as Dirk Gently did but, by the end, I was happy to be done with it.
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Şahane bir kitap okudum, ŞA-HA-NE!
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Milenyum Üçlemesinde Stieg Larsson Lisbeth Salander'ın Cebelitarık'ı sevdiğini söyler ve bir kayadan bahseder. Üçlemenin getirdiği her şey için belki sırtını dayayıp dinleyebileceği bir yerdir bu kaya... Adams ile çay saatim bitince istedim ki göklerin tanrısı Thor tıpkı Kate'e yaptığının aynısını yani "bir çiçek demetini kaldırır gibi" beni de kaldırsın ve taaa buralardan tam da bu kayanın dibine bıraksın. Tanrı değil mi yanıma hiç bitmeyen soğuk siyah bira ve belki biraz tuzlu fıstık ile birlikte kitaplarımı da versin. Olsun bu böyle olsun!
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Milenyum Üçlemesinde Stieg Larsson Lisbeth Salander'ın Cebelitarık'ı sevdiğini söyler ve bir kayadan bahseder. Üçlemenin getirdiği her şey için belki sırtını dayayıp dinleyebileceği bir yerdir bu kaya... Adams ile çay saatim bitince istedim ki göklerin tanrısı Thor tıpkı Kate'e yaptığının aynısını yani "bir çiçek demetini kaldırır gibi" beni de kaldırsın ve taaa buralardan tam da bu kayanın dibine bıraksın. Tanrı değil mi yanıma hiç bitmeyen soğuk siyah bira ve belki biraz tuzlu fıstık ile birlikte kitaplarımı da versin. Olsun bu böyle olsun!
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The more expansive world and cast of characters in this follow up to the first Dirk Gently novel does wonders to show how many seemingly random events can inevitably come together; thanks to the interconnectedness of all things!
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This book makes up for being less bizarre than the first by being much more comprehensible. That being said, it is still crazy and fun.
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Funny book. Much like all his others.
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