The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

After two or more years (I honestly can't remember when I started), I've finally finished reading the fifth and final book in the Hitchhikers Trilogy. I'm a slow reader and took long breaks, which is why it took me years to read five books.

In any case, my dad told me that after reading them, I should report back to him, probably concerning the morality of them, etc. I know that was a long time ago, but I'm going ahead and doing that now. Hi, Dad. c:

SO.

My first thought about the series is that they are clever and marvelously written. To be honest, half the time I didn't know just what was going on, but the books were such a pleasure to read that it was all okay.

The worldview presented in the books was not a Christian one, but was also not meant to be taken seriously. While there were some gems of what one might call wisdom* that were uncovered by the odd perspective taken, for the most part, I learned to disregard any "truth" that seemed to be presented, as it was very obviously a goofy story told in a serious manner.

* For example:

“This planet has -- or rather had -- a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.”

The characters had loose morals, and there were certain scenes that I only skimmed, so I won't be recommending the series to children. The language was not commendable either, as it was not uncommon to come across words that I would much rather not hear (or read).

I should have said "certain usages of language were not commendable," though, because Douglas Adams' masterful use of the English language to create an enjoyable read is undisputed in my mind. He picks apart idioms, figures of speech, and conventional phrases and looks at them in a different light. This has actually affected my own writing a great deal.

Sometimes the books seem to become serious, but not for long. Adams has created a ridiculous, random, and enjoyable adventure that I'd recommend to any mature readers who already have a good grip on their worldview and morality and stuff. c: