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    So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
    Unavailable
    So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
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    So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
    Ebook200 pages2 hours

    So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

    By Douglas Adams

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Now celebrating the 42nd anniversary of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, soon to be a Hulu original series!

    “A madcap adventure . . . Adams’s writing teeters on the fringe of inspired lunacy.”—United Press International

    Back on Earth with nothing more to show for his long, strange trip through time and space than a ratty towel and a plastic shopping bag, Arthur Dent is ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressed-out imagination. But a gift-wrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription, the mysterious disappearance of Earth’s dolphins, and the discovery of his battered copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy all conspire to give Arthur the sneaking suspicion that something otherworldly is indeed going on.

    God only knows what it all means. Fortunately, He left behind a Final Message of explanation. But since it’s light-years away from Earth, on a star surrounded by souvenir booths, finding out what it is will mean hitching a ride to the far reaches of space aboard a UFO with a giant robot. What else is new?

    “The most ridiculously exaggerated situation comedy known to created beings . . . Adams is irresistible.”—The Boston Globe
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House Publishing Group
    Release dateDec 30, 2008
    ISBN9780307497901
    Unavailable
    So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
    Author

    Douglas Adams

    Douglas Adams created all the various and contradictory manifestations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: radio, novels, TV, computer game, stage adaptations, comic book and bath towel. He lectured and broadcast around the world and was a patron of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and Save the Rhino International. Douglas Adams was born in Cambridge, UK and lived with his wife and daughter in Islington, London, before moving to Santa Barbara, California, where he died suddenly in 2001.

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    Reviews for So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

    4/5

    3,708 ratings56 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Not as good as the first three books, but still entertaining.
    • 4/5
      Fourth books usually suck. This one is probably better than the other three, and only suffers from the same familiarity that makes your partner less funny as the years go by, with that stupid laugh of theirs...
    • 3/5
      I like that this is all about Arthur.
      Poor thing.
      I just want him to be happy.
    • 4/5
      The fourth book in the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy trilogy? Kind of an odd thing to have a fourth in a trilogy but it is worth while but please please read the other three books first...Or you will be very confused.DaScienceGuy.WordPress.com
    • 3/5
      The love story is well handled, or at least I agree that love always takes me like that. I admit that by now the naming policy as regarding the number of books in the series was badly blown, but it was still fairly funny.
    • 5/5
      We get the resolution to a couple mysteries (God's final message to his creation), reunite with Marvin, and get Ford and Arthur working together again. Roughly as good as Restaurant, and a huge improvement on Life, the Universe and Everything.
    • 4/5
      This was never really my favorite of the series, but I think it's about due for a re-read.
    • 5/5
      Morning read with the boys. Arthur's back on the reconstituted Earth, and finds a girlfriend. Still hilarious, but I missed the other characters and the traveling around in space.
    • 3/5
      A change of gear from the previous books, which left me blinking in the sunlight: Arthur Dent returns to Earth (more or less) and starts chatting up women.There is a slightly self-conscious chapter close to the end where the author actually suggests some readers skip a few chapters. I was almost tempted to comply, though glad I didn't as the aircraft incident that followed was quite good.On the whole, though, not really up to the same standards as the first two books of the series.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyed with my sonHad to skip a few chaptersLoved the biscuit story
    • 5/5
      Fourth book in the Hitchhiker "trilogy."Arthur Dent returns to Earth. The fact that Earth has already been destroyed by Vogons is not particularly important. Why and how Arthur returns remains a mystery, but he is relieved to find that Earth still exists and that only a few months have passed since he first caught a ride with a passing spaceship. The novel's main focus is Arthur's relationship with Fenchurch, a woman who he falls for at first sight. Their journey of eventually leads them to discover God's final message to Creation. Not as much action as in the first three books, but the focus on the development of Arthur's character make this a worthy addition to the series.
    • 4/5
      As I've said before these are hard to review.This one I must say though wasn't one of the best of the series.But I still enjoyed it it just isn't the best of the bunch.On to Mostly Harmless
    • 5/5
      Old favorite from high school. Had to pick up this used hard cover copy to supplement tattered paperbacks.
    • 3/5
      To me, this book marks the descent into normalcy for Douglas Adams. It's a pity, really. Because the other Hitchhiker books are beyond crazy. They're bat-shit insane, in the best possible way.

      This book isn't really about the crazy antics of Ford and Arthur. It's about Arthur falling in love with Fenchurch. Who names their kid Fenchurch? Honestly. It's fucking weird.

      So, Arthur gets dropped off on Earth. He hitchhikes, and gets picked up by Fenchurch, and her brother. After he's dropped off, Arthur gets completely obsessed with Fenchurch, for some fucked up reason.

      He keeps finding connections to her. Or inventing connections to her. Whatever. It just continues his obsession with her, until he finally finds her, and they fuck. Oh, I'm sorry. They 'make love' while flying over London.

      Because, the secret to flying is to aim at the ground and miss. It helps to have a distraction, just as you're about to smash into the pavement. So, Arthur teaches Fenchurch his little trick, and they fly around town all happy and shit.

      Just kill me, man. Just shoot me in the fucking head. I can't stand it when characters are happy. It's fucking infuriating. Where's the goddamn conflict, man? Come on. I mean, this is a world with aliens. The triple-breasted whore of eroticon-6. Zaphod, for fuck's sake.

      It's an amazing world, that Adams has created, and he just fucking wasted it on this book. It fucking pisses me off so much.
    • 4/5
      This is my favorite of the five books in the Hitchhiker trilogy. There's just something touching about Arthur and Fenchurch's flying date.
    • 4/5
      Arthur Dent returns to earth after 8 years of travel and meets soulmate Fenchurch, travels to Wonko the Sane to find out why the dolphins disappeared, and goes to the planet where God's Final Message to His Creation is written. This one is a little different from the others in the series in that much of it is a romance, rather than a space travel adventure. It still has some of Adams' regular humor, but I missed the laughs and the really loony stuff that has become the norm for Arthur Dent's adventures. I am extremely fond of the characters in this series, though, so would "follow" them anywhere. The audio version is read by Martin Freeman, who played Arthur Dent in the 2005 movie, and he does an amazing job, not only with Dent's voice but with all the other characters - his Marvin is especially wonderful.
    • 3/5
      Unlike many people, I didn't come to the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy via the radio series, I was a book fan right from the start.So, back in 1985 when Douglas Adams wrote another entry in the canon I was unfeasibly excited...And with So Long there wasn't any disappointment, its one of my favourite books, one I can go back to time and time again.It seems to me that Adams took the opportunity to experiment with some of his wilder ideas of what he could do in a book. One chapter starts with a single sentence which covers about 8-10 lines. The next sentence is something along the lines of 'go back and read it, it does make sense'! He knew that readers habits are such that in the heat of reading we'll even skip a sentence if it doesn't make any sense straight away. And of course, if you took the time to parse it, it did make perfect sense.And then there is a chapter that exists purely to pose the question 'This Arthur Dent, does he fuck?'On its own this book is the romance in the Hitch Hikers story arc, with Arthur finally meeting someone to love, with the help of Dire Straits.In summary, if you haven't read it, and you're familiar with Douglas Adams, then go and get a copy, and experience Douglas at his best.
    • 3/5
      Despite the events of earlier books, Arthur Dent finds himself back on earth after traveling both through space and time. Before long, however, Arthur realizes some very significant changes have taken place on his home planet as he encounters a girl of questionable mental health, a man who might know why the dolphins have disappeared, a sudden alien encounter, and his old friend Ford Prefect. Fun reading for those who enjoyed the previous books in the series.
    • 3/5
      I'm just a bit fed up with the story by now. This was by far the weakest of the 4 books in the series which I've read so far. It just feels a bit loose and not really necessary. The story doesn't really add to the overall tale in my opinion and seems to be very much an afterthought.I still enjoyed the little quips and there were a few bits that made me chuckle a lot, but the book took me ages to finish as I wasn't that gripped by it. It just didn't keep dragging me back like a really good book should. I will read the final chapter of the trilogy in 5 parts, but I need a break from them first.
    • 5/5
      This fourth entry in the Hitchhiker’s Guide ot the Galaxy series is a departure from the rest by being primarily a romantic comedy. There are a few call-backs to the other books in the series, but this book stands almost entirely on its own. It breaks the rule that a story needs dramatic conflict by remaining consistently entertaining without ever putting anyone seriously at odds.
    • 4/5
      Adams begins this fourth book in the series by contradicting events in the previous books. The Earth, which was destroyed in book one, has for an unexplained reason reappeared in the universe, and in fact, it is as though it was never destroyed at all. Arthur Dent is eager to return to Earth and the life he had, and along the way he meets Fenchurch, a woman who remembers the destruction of the world while she was on it. She is sure it took place, even though everyone else on the planet is convinced it was mass hysteria.This book was a lot quieter than all the other books with less wackiness cropping up all the time, and I think the story was better for it. The story of Arthur and Fenchurch was rather wonderful and when moments of the strange came in it fitted nicely. And it's the only one that had a satisfactory ending, as far as I'm concerned. This is my favorite in the series.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as the other books, but still amusing.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed reading this book as much as I have the last ones.

      This book concentrates mostly on Arthur who finally seems to be getting his life back on track but is confused as to how he can be on Earth when it had been demolished by the Vogons. When he meets Fenny, he finds his world turned upside down in the best way possible and he's not as bothered about how this second Earth.
      Just when he thinks his Hitchhiker's Days of traveling the Galaxy are over, Ford walks back into his life and Fenny mentions wanting to know the answer to some things that were bothering her.
      This book was delightfully confusing and it was fascinating reading about Arthur falling in love with a gal who seems to be his perfect match. I found myself giggling throughout this story and trying to find extra time to read so I could find out what was next in store for Arthur and Fenny as well as the rest of his traveling companions.

      Looking forward to the next book in the series!
    • 4/5
      So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is set apart from the other Hitchhiker books in that it deals heavily with Arthur Dent’s love life. But, despite the differences in pacing and tone, it’s still an amusing, enjoyable listen with an ending that made me remember why I fell in love with these books in the first place.
    • 5/5
      it all comes together in the end and he even gets the girl.
    • 4/5
      Loads of other reviews already, so I won't go down the usual summarizing-the-plot or saying-I-did-or-didn't-like-it route:People expecting the knockabout comedy of the first books are likely to be thrown off guard. There are fewer jokes and a less frenetically episodic plot (by this time, Douglas Adams was no longer using material based on the radio series, you see).Thing is, Adams was in love when he wrote this one, and it shows. After three books largely involving odd social-satire aliens on faraway planets, written in a way that made it all feel perfectly normal, here we have one set largely on Earth (sort of), with regular humans (sort of), written in such a way that it all feels slightly otherworldly. There's a sort of wistfulness about it.
    • 4/5
      I listened to an Audiobook version. This book was very funny and highly entertaining. I enjoyed listening to story read to me with a British accent. It made it more authentic and pleasurable.
    • 4/5
      I pictured Jenny Agutter as Fenchurch throughout the whole book. Don't know why.And half way through I suddenly realised that I did exactly the same thing the last time I read it too.
    • 2/5
      Tolerable read from author trying to kill off a series
    • 4/5
      I considered this Much weaker that the previous offerings. I wasn't prepared for a love story when starting this book. It was, howeve, good enough to grab and hold may attention. So much so that while reading it in an airport, I was so engrossed that I missed my flight.