Review Tuesday: In Print - So Long And Thanks For All The Fish by Douglas Adams

Book four in the Hitchhiker's Trilogy by Douglas Adams is So Long And Thanks For All The Fish. While the earlier books say they are about the travels of Arthur Dent across the galaxy with his friends, to me, this is the first book that really centers on Arthur's life almost exclusively and finally has him finding some happiness.

The tale starts with Arthur hitchhiking his way back to Earth. The strange part is that the Earth had been destroyed by the Vogons at the beginning of the first book. So what is this? The book toys with the concept of where this Earth came from and Arthur's place in the grand scheme of things.

Arthur meets a girl named Fenchurch, the immediately feel a deep cosmic connection that whisks them off their feet, literally as they fall in love and try to figure out what DID happen to the world on that day.

To my satisfaction, there were no answers to any of the questions posed. But Ford Prefect does show up in time to help Arthur and Fenchurch off the planet to find God's last message left for the galaxy. In that quest they actually trip over old Marvin, the Paranoid Android. He's bitter and better than ever, but gives up the ghost when he sees God's final message.

I will not give away God's final message because I found this book so charming that I would highly recommend it to anyone who has read the previous books. It's really nothing like the other books, more about human interpersonal relationships, and the concepts of serendipity, fate and destiny, although not spelled out that specifically. It's a quick read and well worth it, by my reckoning.