Resenhas - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Pati 15/01/2023

Uma continuação sólida, que não falha em fazer rir
Não é tão empolgante quanto o primeiro livro, mas só porque o primeiro livro da série é incrível demais. Ainda assim é uma continuação sólida, muito engraçada e é uma ótima opção pra quem gosta de ficção científica fritação de cérebro a la Doctor Who (a série inteira é).

DTK 04/03/2021

The Hitchhiker's Guide is on it's way to become one of me favorite sci-fi sagas, the author has such a talent with words and I find myself so delighted by his story, truly amazing book

Rick 11/01/2020

I might have been misled to state a problem in the first book and only now realised that it wasn't a problem, but a characteristic of the genre of the book.

The biggest problem I found in the first book was not that it was short, that was probably the consequence of the main "problem". The book was, as cruel as it might sound, pointless. There was a nice and well-written plot, but no end to it, because there was no higher purpose. And at the moment I was reviewing the first book of the franchise, I was expecting that the following books were not going to have the same problem. My expectations were in vain. The second book does not have a mission, a purpose, or even a desire felt by any of the main characters.

And the fact is, this is what was supposed (or expected, I should say) of this kind of book. See, the genre is comedy sci-fi. Douglas Adams decided to follow a comedy plot instead of sci-fi one... Sitcoms for example, they are slice-of-life, which means they're usually just the depiction of life itself, there's no evil to combat, no villain to fight against or big catastrophe to avoid. Because comedy is not sci-fi, is it. All in all, my bad. I have been biased, because in fact I had never read a comedy book and because of that I was led to believe all fiction books should have a higher purpose. Unfortunately the first book will continue to have a 4 star rating due to several minor flaws. So let's review this book, shall we.

4.5 would've been my rating, but GoodReads doesn't allow non-integer ratings, so 4 will have to do. This book is better than the previous one in several aspects and I should mention I also found it more mature, although I don't know if that's a good sign given that the franchise is comedy. I can see it as good sign as long as it doesn't mature enough to become drama or something else. Because that would be a big letdown.

The funny bits of this book are still funny, no surprise, but they do appear less often, and that seems to be because of how the book turned out to become more orientated to the story. The book is pretty much divided into two parts, one before and during the The Restaurant At The End of the Universe and after that. The first part is fun just like the first book; we learn a lot more from Zaphod and his unknown mission that he does not want to go on about, while all the other characters do mostly nothing, which is a a pity. Marvin has his own moment, it's true, but later on in the second part we realise how depressing those moments were, even to Marvin. The second half is way more interesting, and the comedy is less present, but it is mostly influenced by the absurdity of human stupidity. A lot of the story comes together - even though I wasn't expecting it to do so, and a there is a big discovery at the end of the book that just hits me hard, because after reading that part I genuinely didn't know how to feel, I was awestruck by the discovery but I'm still afraid nothing good will be done about that... As for the remaining chapters nothing bad happened, sure, but what I really fear is how this matter will be dealt with in the following book, I just don't want it to be dismissed like it was nothing, you know. In other words, I'm actually hoping the next book picks up the story - or rather, the story gets rewritten, where this book left off.

As for the characters, Ford finally got out of his shell - I missed him so much. This time he was exceptionally drunk and funny, and when needed he was talkative and helpful - mostly with Athur, who, on the other hand, only talks the necessary. Zaphod was great, and his story was just as amazing, although he didn't seem to have any interest in that, oh well he does give off that vibe of only enjoying the little things. Arthur and Marvin were very subtle, but their roles were fullfiled, which reminds me that the same didn't happen, again, to Trillian. I really don't understand what she's supposed to do. She has been known to have absolutely nothing to offer up to now, and has no personality of her own, no desires or likes / dislikes. She's blunt. It's like she switched personallity with Marvin, and now she feel nothing, while he could only process her dark side. Not exactly something I expect to happen in the next books, but it would be really nice to see Trillian engaging, taking part in the story, be something to Arthur, Dent, and even Marvin, because now the only thing she seems to be is Zaphod's mute sidekick. I am a huge fan of Naruto and I can't help but think that Douglas Adams has the same problem Kishimoto has. Inability to write female characters. The hurtful truth is that we have to deal with it, Trillian is most likely not going to do shit in the first 4 books, and suddenly do something in the final 30 pages of the last book. Been there, so I can safely assume I'll be already prepared for when the time comes.

Overall the book is well-written, as expected; there is character development for Zaphod, Arthur, and Dent - Marvin and Trillian did not evolve, but at least Marvin had a personality to begin with; the plot is even better than the previous book; and the book acquires more maturity without losing its acclaimed comedy side. It would be a 5 if Trillian was somehow important to the story, and if the plot, somehow, had achieved more.

Aline.Montavon 06/07/2011

Como assim 6 X 9 = 42????? Será que foi erro de digitação???