The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

“The story so far:
In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”

“In an infinite Universe anything can happen.”


Not much in the way of plot or development here, but if you've made it this far into the Hitchhiker Series then that's probably not going to be a big problem. And it isn't! Douglas Adams' The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is a terrifically zany and entertaining adventure. I really enjoy the fact that anything can happen. Somewhere in this book, Adams writes about "brilliant nonsense." I feel like he could be describing this and the other books in the Hitchhiker Series.

Like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, this is a book I first read in high school. I clearly enjoyed the reread, but might have to wait (and recharge my improbability quotient) before picking up the next installment in the series. 3.75 stars

“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”

کتاب دوم نیمه‌ی اولش برای من راحت‌خون‌تر، اما انسجام داستانیش کمتر بود. خیلی جاها حس خب که چی بهم دست می‌داد!
تنها قسمتی که برام خیلی جالب بود، اون بخشی بود که رفتن پیش اون آقاهه که اسم گربه‌ش گاد بود.
در کل کاش نویسنده کنار خلاقیت زیادش یه مقدار داستان‌پردازی و شخصیت‌وپردازی رو قوی‌تر انجام می‌داد. نمره‌‌ی واقعیم بهش ۲.۵ هست که با ارفاق ۳ می‌دم.
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بخش‌های یادگاری از کتاب:
آدم میون این عظمت نامتناهی فقط یه نقطه بی‌نهایت کوچیکه که از بحث بی‌اهمیته حتی دیده هم نمی‌شه.
...
- زندگی چیز غریبیه.
+ زندگی اونیه که تو ازش می‌سازی.
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چرا مردم نمی‌تونن یاد بگیرن که در صلح و صفا کنار هم زندگی کنن؟
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کسانی که بیشتر از همه سودای حکومت کردن بر مردم رو در سر دارن، درست به دلیل همین آرزو، کمتر از همه آدمای دیگه برای این کار مناسب‌اند.
...
به نظر می‌رسه که شما خیس هستید اما نظر شما رو در این باره نمی‌دونم.
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من فقط برای جهان خودم تصمیم می‌گیرم. جهان من چشم‌ها و گوش‌های منن. همه چیزای دیگه شایع است.
...
مهم این بود که آدم یه چیزهایی داشته باشه که بتونه در انتظارشون بشینه.

یه تئوری خیلی معروف می گه هر وقت یه کسی کشف کنه که جهان دقیقاً برای چی به وجود اومده و به چه دردی می خوره، این جهان در همون لحظه ناپدید می شه و جای خودش رو می ده به یه جهان نویی که از جهان قبلی پیچیده تر و عجیب وغریب تره.
یه تئوری دیگه می گه که این اتفاق قبلاً افتاده.

نويسنده كه موفقيت جلد اول رو پشت خودش داشته، در اين جلد طنزي به كار برده كه كمتر از اولي عامه پسنده اما براي خواننده ي پيگير ادبيات جذاب تره. جست وجوي خدا، ملاقات منجي، شوخي هاي زباني و ترجمه ي خوب از ديگر نكات مثبتي بود كه به نظرم رسيد

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Serious philosophy camouflaged as comedy
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
The HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY series can be enjoyed on many levels, so it’s tough to decide how to review it. On the surface, it’s just a zany series of dry British humorous skits ala Monty Python, but when you dig deeper, Douglas Adams has a lot to say about life, the universe, and everything. Taken as a whole, he presents a consistent philosophy that our universe is impossibly huge beyond our comprehension, and our attempts to understand it are woefully inadequate. But we shouldn’t get too upset about it, because it’s much better not to take things overly seriously. Just sit back and enjoy the show, folks. It’s an amazing place.

I could try to describe the plot of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe in a linear fashion, but there just isn’t much point. It's a series of hilarious set pieces that give opportunities for Adams to deliver some incredibly funny and irreverent comments about people and aliens and just how ridiculous they can be. Considering that the series began as a BBC radio series and also became a TV series and stage show, it’s easy to see how it has evolved this way.

As always, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect are an enjoyable pair of comic bumblers, while Zaphod Beeblebrox remains the absurdly egocentric ex-President of the Galaxy, and my personal favorite remains Marvin the Paranoid Robot, who has a brain the size of a planet but is only given an endless series of menial tasks, causing severe depression on his part. There is also a large supplementary cast with unforgettable names, such as Zarniwoop, Roosta, Gargravarr, the Ruler of the Universe, the Golgofrinchans, and fascinating creations like The Total Perspective Vortex:

When you are put into the Vortex you are given just one momentary glimpse of the entire unimaginable infinity of creation, and somewhere in it a tiny little marker, a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot, which says “You are here."

The story doesn’t make a lick of sense, and since Adams is intent on showing the absurdity of attempting to make sense of the immensity of the universe, it doesn’t have to. As I listened to the audiobook, I had trouble understanding what was happening, but instead keyed in on the sublime one-liners and crazy situations the characters found themselves in.

Speaking of audio narrators, Martin Freeman does the honors for this book and its sequels, whereas the brilliant comedian Stephen Fry narrated The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy. That performance was so perfect that it would be hard for anyone to top it — in fact, I always recommend that book for any of the many audiobook skeptics I encounter. But Martin Freeman is no slouch — he played Arthur Dent in the 2005 film version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the main character in the original UK The Office television series, Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy of films, and Watson in the UK Sherlock TV series. I’m a huge fan of dry British humor, and Freeman really does a bang-up job of creating a host of unique character voices.

His one choice that struck a discordant note was giving Zaphod Beeblebrox, one-time President of the Galaxy, a Bronx accent more suited to a hotdog stand operator. The accent itself is excellent — but it doesn’t really fit the character. I got used to it, but it wasn’t my favorite. The most important voice in my mind is Marvin the Paranoid Robot. If Freeman can nail his lines, all else is forgiven. And Freeman is well suited for self-deprecating misery — his most famous television role is as the downtrodden office worker tormented by Ricky Gervais, after all. Fortunately he pulled it off very nicely.

Once again I’ll finish this review with a classic Marvin quote. At one point Marvin gets left behind in a parking lot by the main characters for 576 billion years as they leap forward in time but not in place:

The first ten million years were the worst, and the second ten million years, they were the worst too. The third ten million I didn’t enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline. The best conversation I had was over forty million years ago…. And that was with a coffee machine.

This is second in a classic series that builds mayhem from the first. The plot is wacky enough, and the characters thin enough that you'd probably be fine reading out of order. Because there really is no order on offer here.

I bogged down about halfway through. Adams's humor just isn't my cuppa. Things happen for no reason besides dramedy. The people are shallow. The reader-insert character, Arthur Dent, is a sap and a sad-sack and a bit of a naïf as well. I care about nobody and the head-spinning plot switches kept me from attaching to the plot.

So I'm thinking this reread is over. At least for now. Did I like this when I was younger? I honestly don't remember, but the fact I never picked it up in all the years since is maybe indicative. Two stars, but the second is simply recognition of this as a cultural snapshot of the nihilism of the period it was written in.

“The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question 'How can we eat?' the second by the question 'Why do we eat?' and the third by the question 'Where shall we have lunch?”

In which installment we learn that tea is a most dangerous beverage....

Parking Cars - what else does one do in a car park
13 September 2016

tWell, this is annoying. Having just arrived back from Europe, and having travelled half way around a world you could say that I now have the holiday hangover – Jet Lag. Basically I have had about 10 hours sleep in total over the past four days, namely because I go to sleep and suddenly an hour later I am wide awake, laying in bed, wondering whether I should get up and do something, or simply lie there and attempt to get some more sleep, which generally doesn't occur until around 5:00 am (which means that I am not up until around 10:00, when I am able to sleep in that late). Also, having had my first full day of work (in an office) for seven weeks, you could say that I am a bit zonked. However I have just finished the second instalment of Adam's rather bizarre, and quite absurd, space adventure, and if I don't start writing the review now I probably never well (not that I can easily write at the moment, even on a laptop – maybe I should get up and go for a walk before hand, or even better go down to the pub and get a beer – yes, maybe I'll do just that).

tOkay, I'm now down at the pub with a beer in front of me, but I will do my best to resist the temptation to talk about how Belgium has turned me into a beer and coffee snob, particularly due to the fact that in Belgium you get beer that has been brewed in Monasteries for hundreds of years, where as in Australia you simply get beer that is pretty substandard (though nowhere near as bad as English beer – which as I have said previously is little more than coloured water). Anyway, enough of that because I really want to get this review completed before I move onto my next book.

tSo, the book starts of where the previous one ends, and sort of follows the television series (though the television series ends at the end of this book). However I didn't feel that this part of the series was anywhere near as good as the first book (or even the series). I would sort of suggest that it was tying up a few loose ends, but in fact the first book didn't have any lose ends that needed tying up (but then again any lose ends that exist in absurdist literature generally are not ment to be tied up – otherwise it would cease to be absurd). Further, it seems that the story has been padded out a bit and as such it feels a little forced, especially since the original really didn't need a plot – they land up at the Restaurant that exists at the end of time, namely because they are looking for some place to have a meal and people go there for a humongous light show. Our heroes then steal a stunt ship belonging to a galactic rockstar, but it turns out that this ship is going to be flown into a star. Fortunately they find a teleport and escape, but Zaphod and Trillian disappear to who knows where, while Arthur and Ford land up back on Earth (or at least on a ship heading in that general direction).

tWhile that is the basic plot of the second half of the television series, this book gives a bit more of a meaning behind plot – the Vogons realise that since Arthur and Trillian managed to escape Earth their job of destroying the Earth was left half finished so they decide to go after them to finish it off (and you will see more of that in future books). Also, Zaphod decides to go and find out who the actual ruler of the universe is, namely because even though he is president of the galaxy he really has no power (though he ends up getting board and heads of to have some dinner instead). In a way it felt a little forced and sort of detracted a lot from the original premise, which was understandably quite absurd. Even though Zaphod does eventually find the ruler of the universe, as it turns out the guy is pretty absent minded, and in a way one wonders whether he actually rules anything, and why it is that he is supposed to be the ruler of the universe.

tMaybe it has something to with this idea that there really isn't any order, or sense, in the universe, and if there is any deity, the lack of sense, or purpose, suggests that the ruler really has no idea what is going on, or maybe has been around for so long that he (or she) has simply become senile. In a way it does seem to be like this, but I really don't want to get into anything too theological to attempt to disprove Adam's theory because in a way it is your typical Deist view of existence – sure there is a God who created the world, but he is either long gone, or simply set it in motion and let it go about on its own devices. I guess that is why the theory of Thermodynamics works – creation moves from order to disorder in the same way that a mechanical device slowly, but surely, winds down to a halt. However the way that the world seems to go about suggests that maybe he have been forgotten about it. However, it is quite interesting that whenever somebody comes along and suggests that maybe if people learnt to get along a bit better they either end up shot, forced to drink poison, or hung on a cross.

tOne group I do need to mention are the Gulgafrinchans – they are a rather amusing, and quite interesting, race of people. The deal with them is that there were three classes of people – the ruling class, the working class, and the middle class. The thing with the ruling class is that they were the rulers (and controlled the means of production), so they considered themselves particularly important. The working class actually had useful skills that the ruling class could use to produce stuff, while the middle class simply leached off the capital of the ruling class and the hard work of the working class. The middle class consisted of people such as advertising executives, sales managers, film directors, and telephone sanitisers – people that if they were removed from society then society would pretty much continue to function, but at a more efficient rate.

tIn a way I am inclined to agree – there is actually a whole class of people that simply exist to make things more complicated, and more expensive. Lawyers (and politicians) create reams and reams of laws to make life so complex that one cannot navigate the environment without spending lots of money to actually understand what these mystical words actually mean. As for advertisers, market analysts, and sales managers – they simply exist to make things more expensive. For instance they take what is effectively a t-shirt and with a wave of their hands transform it into a lifestyle – a brand if you will – which means that one can jack up the price to no end. In a way the middle class really only exists to take money from the working class, give it to the ruling class, and take a significant cut for themselves. The fact that they come across as a bunch of bumbling idiots who haven't managed to get anything done because everything has been referred to a discussion group is no accident. In away, as some suggest, totalitarian dictatorships are so much more effective because they do away with all these pesky politicians who exist only for the election cycle, and simply get things done. The problem is that it is actually very rare for there to be a totalitarian dictator that wants to make the country great as opposed to simply using his position as a chick magnet (otherwise Africa would be one of the most powerful continents on the planet).

tI can't finish off this review without making mention of Marvin the Paranoid Android. No matter how disappointing the book ended up being for me, he still ends up stealing the show. Even though he is an incredibly intelligent robot (who has existed, by the end of the book, for millions of years) it is impossible to actually get anything out of him – namely because he acts like your typical self absorbed depressive – 'here I am, a brain the size of a planet and you want me to …'. Mind you, he really has his moments, especially when he is talking to a robot tank, and simply by being himself, ends up getting the tank to literally destroy itself (by shooting away the floor underneath it). In the end, it is the classic line that he gives when he is at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe (which is have quoted in the title, so I won't repeat it here) which is probably my favourite line of the entire series. Oh, and prophet that rocks up at the restaurant just before the universe ends, and doesn't get a chance to finish his apology for being late.

tMaybe, just maybe, I'm being a little harsh on this book.

Truly, the most memorable characters in this book are the ones in Disaster Area.

Just ignore the inane ramblings of the most important person in the universe, Mr. Beeblebrox, the man who says What all the time, or the brilliant but somewhat easygoing Trillian, or Froody Ford. They're just bit players. Indeed, the character that chews cud is rather more intelligent than the grand majority of those B-Cast characters sent to crash on that backwater planet with the official main characters.

Didn't you know? Between Disaster Area and the robot with the brain the size of a planet are the ULTIMATE main characters.



And now that we've met the meat... welcome to the best show in the universe served up with a huge side dish of pokes at God (or some philosophical backwater person who claims to be the leader of said Universe), the Universe, and Everything.

Anyone want to play a game of scrabble?