Review: The Restaurant at The End of The Universe

T h e C o o k C o u r a n t

Jon Rasche November 9th, 2005

THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE!

"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 which states that this has already happened." - Douglas Adams

The opening line: "In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move," pretty much tells the reader what to expect throughout the book: the unexpected. The unexpected is exactly what Douglas Adams specializes in during THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE. When a group of refugees running from a race of extremely anal-about-code aliens all get blown to separate areas of existence over and over again, it leaves a lot of room for the author to expand and invent. Douglas intends for this book to entertain and surprise the reader with its characters' encounters.

There are books that are genuinely excellent books, but they can easily bore the reader. This book, however, not necessarily an excellent book, will never bore the reader. Some books foreshadow and allow for predictions, while THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE is so bizarre and quick that one can only try to keep up. This fast-paced-sequence-of-events style makes the book that much more thrilling for me.

The book follows Arthur Dent, a middle aged Englishman who has difficulty with accepting what he sees, only wanting a nice cup of tea, the love of his life, and a nice relaxing chair by the fire; instead, he ends up rocketing around the universe with his love and a few others, narrowly escaping death on an hourly basis.

THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE focuses on other characters more than its predecessor: THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. RESTAURANT, for a large part of the book, uses the point of view of Zaphod Beeblebrox, the current president of the galaxy who recently took himself hostage and ran away from just about everything. Zaphod's lifestyle and personality reflects that of Elvis, Daffy Duck, and a college professor. These various personalities and personality traits all fit nicely into his two heads and body with more appendages than normal. Although, normality, as discussed in the book, is relative.

I believe, through careful analysis of the book's infinite absurdity, and finite sanity, that this book's message tells the reader about the unexpected.