Week 14: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Listening to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was definitely a unique experience. It's one of those novels that I had heard of before quite often. All the mentions of how important towels are and the number 42 being the answer to everything, and I even watched the movie when I was younger! I had never given it much thought until listening to it this week, and it is hilarious!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy explores issues with our own human nature of trying to find purpose in things, an answer to our existence, of course through a very satirical (and hilarious) story. I forgot how quickly the situation of our main character, Arthur Dent, escalates. In less than 15 minutes of listening, he went from losing his house to losing his entire planet (and becoming one of two sole survivors). In fact, I thought it was very interesting that the story starts with such a clear allegory of Arthur being resistant to losing his house and later having his planet destroyed by the Vogons to arguably the same reason: they were on the way of constructions being made. This ironic foreshadowing is not subtle at all, but I thought it gave me, as a reader (listener?) a good idea of how this narrative would unfold. Also, an perspective on our existence is insignificant compared to the Universe (and all things).
The absurdist and satirical science-fiction setting of the story, to me, is a double-edged sword. It is a useful device to advance the plot and, although most of the "science" depicted in the book is either explained through paradoxes or dismissed altogether, it never feels unrealistic in the world of the book (and like I said before, it is HILARIOUS). However, at times I felt very confused as to what point in the story I was since our heroes travel through time and space several times throughout. The main plot also kinda devolved I listened further. I feel like I could have listened to only the first 6-ish episodes to get my head around the novel, but I was curious to see if Arthur would be able to go back to Earth, or at least have a sense of closure to the characters. The open-ended finale, although pretty cool, left me a bit unsatisfied. I imagine it would be easier for me to actually read the books instead of listening to it, or perhaps give it another listen/read further into the future. But, overall, I really enjoyed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy explores issues with our own human nature of trying to find purpose in things, an answer to our existence, of course through a very satirical (and hilarious) story. I forgot how quickly the situation of our main character, Arthur Dent, escalates. In less than 15 minutes of listening, he went from losing his house to losing his entire planet (and becoming one of two sole survivors). In fact, I thought it was very interesting that the story starts with such a clear allegory of Arthur being resistant to losing his house and later having his planet destroyed by the Vogons to arguably the same reason: they were on the way of constructions being made. This ironic foreshadowing is not subtle at all, but I thought it gave me, as a reader (listener?) a good idea of how this narrative would unfold. Also, an perspective on our existence is insignificant compared to the Universe (and all things).
The absurdist and satirical science-fiction setting of the story, to me, is a double-edged sword. It is a useful device to advance the plot and, although most of the "science" depicted in the book is either explained through paradoxes or dismissed altogether, it never feels unrealistic in the world of the book (and like I said before, it is HILARIOUS). However, at times I felt very confused as to what point in the story I was since our heroes travel through time and space several times throughout. The main plot also kinda devolved I listened further. I feel like I could have listened to only the first 6-ish episodes to get my head around the novel, but I was curious to see if Arthur would be able to go back to Earth, or at least have a sense of closure to the characters. The open-ended finale, although pretty cool, left me a bit unsatisfied. I imagine it would be easier for me to actually read the books instead of listening to it, or perhaps give it another listen/read further into the future. But, overall, I really enjoyed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
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