Douglas Adams – Dirk Gently’s holistic detective agency (03-026)

[gerbie]

Douglas Adams – Dirk Gently’s holistic detective agency (03-026)

My first swap on BookCrossing gave me this book by the author of the very famous Hitchhikers galaxy. I have to admit I was reluctant to read this one, this is completely not my genre. I just do not get fantasy and sci-fi, perhaps it is my lack of imagination, though my opinion is that I’ve got too much imagination to adapt to other’s. I want the image to appear in my mind, not someone else decide for me. Thanks to Kittiwake, who I got this book from, I started anyway.

Up until now the only three books in this genre I managed to finish (and appreciate!) were 1984, Brave new world and This perfect day. The first two have proven to be classics, with a lot of predictions coming true within half a century, the last one hopefully will be proven wrong, though I’m afraid Levin was as right as Huxley and Orwell.

This time I was pleasantly surprised to notice that you can use the genre with a sense of humour as well. It took me a bit to get into it, but I immediately liked the way some conversations went. An example:

- We’ve got one of your computers down the station, buggered if I can get it to work
- Which model do you have?
- I think it’s called a Quark II
- Well, that’s simple. It doesn’t work. It never has done. The thing is a heap of shit. I suggest you use it as a paperweight.
- I wouldn’t like to do that sir, the door would keep blowing open
- What do you mean officer?
- I use it to keep the door closed, nasty drought..

I opened the book at random to find this conversation, there are dozens like these in the book. I read another book at the same time, but found myself more and more often drawn towards the adventures of Dirk. In the story Dirk is trying to solve a murder, in the meantime saving the entire human race from extinction (at no extra charge).

I enjoyed reading this, though some of the twists in the second half of the book got me frowning a bit, I think I could read more by Adams. This doesn’t mean I’m drawn towards the whole genre though.

Comments

[sarahcarotte.livejournal.com]

Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (the sequel) is one of my favourite books of all time.

Re:

[gerbie.livejournal.com]

I'll write another review after I've read that one. Getting curious now, you're not the first one to say this.

Re:

[sarahcarotte.livejournal.com]

I love Douglas Adams. Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul appealed to my particular interests and hang-ups. That and the first time I read it, I was sleep deprived.