Product Description

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. And 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. But what else is new?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41519 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-29
• Released on: 1999-03-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780345391834
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"The looniest of the lot."
--Time

"A MADCAP ADVENTURE . . . ADAMS'S WRITING TEETERS ON THE FRINGE OF INSPIRED LUNACY."
--United Press International

"The most ridiculously exaggerated situation comedy known to created beings . . . Adams is irresistible."
--The Boston Globe -- Review

Review
"The looniest of the lot."
--Time

"A MADCAP ADVENTURE . . . ADAMS'S WRITING TEETERS ON THE FRINGE OF INSPIRED LUNACY."
--United Press International

"The most ridiculously exaggerated situation comedy known to created beings . . . Adams is irresistible."
--The Boston Globe

From the Publisher
Arthur Dent is out of his bathrobe, in love, and wondering why the dolphins said...So Long and Thanks for All the Fish. Was the earth really demolished? Why did all the dolphins disappear? What is God's final message to His creatures? Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, and the new voivoid gang are off (by commercial airline) on a wacked-out quest to answer these truly unimportant questions.END

Customer Reviews

How Arthur Dent sheds the bathrobe and finds true love
So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish, the fourth book in the Hitchhiker's "trilogy," is a much different read than the books preceding it. Gone are the skips and jumps from one galaxy and time to another, the almost constant evasions of certain death, the madcap hilarity that ensued whenever Zaphod, Ford, Trillian, Arthur, and Marvin got together (or split up), and the maddening pace of a well-told tale going happily along with little care whether or not the story ever approached an appropriately witty conclusion. This is basically the story of the young lady who figured out the secret of happiness just seconds before Earth was destroyed by a Vogon fleet preparing the way for a hyperspace bypass. It is also Arthur Dent's story. Sure, we got to now Arthur fairly well in the first three books, but he does spend an inordinate amount of time saying things like: What?, I don't understand, Is it possible to get a cup of tea? and That's it then, we're all going to die. Once you get him out of that well-traveled bathrobe, Arthur Dent turns out to be a real person-a little weird, of course, but real, rather complex, and surprisingly interesting nonetheless.

The story opens with Arthur's return to Earth. I know Earth has already been destroyed, but that's just a minor detail. Why and how Arthur returned is something of a mystery, but he is amazed to find that his home planet not only exists, but that no more than six or eight months have passed since he left suddenly eight years earlier. His readjustment to life back home makes for good reading, but what is really important is that hapless Arthur Dent soon falls in love; it happens at first sight, even though the enchanting Fenchurch is quite unconscious at the time. Lucky enough to accidentally meet her in a more lucid state, Arthur's rather feeble attempts to tell her how and why he is powerfully drawn to her surprisingly meet with some success. Then the type of thing that can only happen to Arthur Dent (or me, in all likelihood) separates the two soon-to-be lovebirds for some time. I found the description of Arthur's dysfunctional romance with Fenchurch to be as touching as it was humorous. Their entwined fates take them on a journey of discovery which culminates in their discovery of God's final message to Creation. Those who want the type of nonstop action found in the preceding books may be somewhat disappointed here. The pace is much slower, but the character development is rich and winsome. Zaphod fans will be disappointed by his total noninvolvement in this book. Ford makes only a glorified cameo appearance, while Marvin makes a brief but quite memorable return. I myself have a special affinity for this novel; unlike its more humorous predecessors this one seems important and meaningful. Additionally, you have to be happy for Arthur's unprecedented feeling of happiness in a universe he can verifiably assert to be quite off its rocker.

Fabulous! Brilliant! (and sweet, too)
I've read the whole series, and though I never thought anything would beat the first one, I was wrong. So Long rounds out Arthur's character a bit, making him seem like less of a clod and more like a, well, man, though all of his delightful quirks are still in place. The absolute funniest scene of the series is in here (I won't spoil it, but you'll know it when you read it...think biscuits), and there's a love story to boot. In my opinion it was nice to see a little less of Zaphod and absolutely NONE of Trillion, who I couldn't stand, and though Arthur is clearly the focus Ford gets his fair share of limelight, though I do wish Marvin had been featured for more than the page or so he was on. All in all, this a great book, perhaps more slowly-paced than the rest, but it makes up for this in charm. I highly reccomend it (and I suggest anyone who likes this book skip Mostly Harmless).

Different, and superior to the rest
This book, the fourth in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy, is, hands down, the best. You probably wouldn't think that were true from reading some of the reviews on this page. However, I was astonished and amazed by what this volume had to offer.

For starters, if you read Douglas Adams just for the zaniness and offbeatness of it all, you may be disappointed by this novel. While those elements are not absent, they are severely toned down for this installment. The amazing thing, though, is that Adams manages to mix in his humor at all with a very touching romance and somewhat serious quest of rather epic (rather than episodic) proportion.

The best part about this novel is that it virtually almost entirely features Arthur, and that's it... at least out of the main characters. Ford shows up a bit, and Marvin is in the last chapter, but Zaphod and Trillian are missing, but don't worry, it hardly matters. Adams more than makes up for it by introducing a marvelous character named Fenchurch, who becomes a love interest for Arthur. A love interest for Arthur? Yes, you heard me correctly.

This book, in my mind, establishes Adams as a serious heavyweight. The levels of humor, romance, irony, wonder, and adventure are consistently high throughout, and one never detracts from the other. Besides, we finally get to take a really good look at Arthur (who had been shortchanged in the last two books), the most human character I believe I have ever encountered anywhere, and we get to see a bit of the earth, which Adams makes us realize is rather a funny place in itself.

Do not miss out on this book. Please. Read it for Arthur. Read it for Fenchurch. Read it for the Rain God. And definitely, definitely, read it for the most wonderful love scene ever written. Besides, if you make it to the end, you'll be rewarded with God's final message to His creation, written in letters of flame thirty feet high (quite the tourist attraction). It's worlds above all the others.