paperback, 325 pages
English language
Published Aug. 9, 2005 by Pan Books.
One Thursday lunchtime the Earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that moring, this seems already to be more that he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the galaxy is a very strange and startling place.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is now a major motion picture from Touchstone Pictures, starring Sam Rockwell as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Mos Def as Ford Prefect, Zooey Deschanel as Trillian, Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent and Bill Nighy as Slartibartfast. John Malkovich and Anna Chancellor play new characters developed especially for the film by Adams himself. This film tie-in edition of Douglas Adams perennially popular novel includes an Afterword by Robbie Stamp, Executive Producer on the movie and a close friend of Douglas Adams. He explains how after twenty-five years the film …
One Thursday lunchtime the Earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that moring, this seems already to be more that he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the galaxy is a very strange and startling place.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is now a major motion picture from Touchstone Pictures, starring Sam Rockwell as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Mos Def as Ford Prefect, Zooey Deschanel as Trillian, Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent and Bill Nighy as Slartibartfast. John Malkovich and Anna Chancellor play new characters developed especially for the film by Adams himself. This film tie-in edition of Douglas Adams perennially popular novel includes an Afterword by Robbie Stamp, Executive Producer on the movie and a close friend of Douglas Adams. He explains how after twenty-five years the film finally came to be made, and describes how the cast and crew were assembled. Also included are exclusive star interviews, as well as movie stills and on-set photography from filming.
This combination of Douglas Adams' classic novel with behind-the-sences information is for all those who have been brought to Hitchhiker's by the brilliant film adaptation - as well as for those who have loved it in its radio, novel and television incarnations. --back cover
Plus you'll understand many more pop culture references!
No soy aficionado a las novelas de ciencia-ficción ni tampoco a las de humor especialmente, pero sentía curiosidad por este título desde hacía tiempo por su aura pop de culto y tenía ganas de comprobar cómo mezclaba ambos géneros.
En términos generales logra ser ágil y entretenido, aunque más al inicio y al final y menos por en medio, cuando se ocupa de ampliar los horizontes del universo narrativo (literalmente, recordemos que va de viajeros espaciales). Algo de esperar, en tanto que Douglas Adams era quizá guionista antes que literato y... ya se sabe lo que pasa con la sacrosanta norma de que el principio y el final enganchen y sorprendan.
Me gusta su manera muy personal y arriesgada de usar los deus ex machina (algo ajeno a la historia que aparece de repente y resuelve los problemas, ejemplo desde Aristóteles de lo que no hay que hacer) para insinuar …
No soy aficionado a las novelas de ciencia-ficción ni tampoco a las de humor especialmente, pero sentía curiosidad por este título desde hacía tiempo por su aura pop de culto y tenía ganas de comprobar cómo mezclaba ambos géneros.
En términos generales logra ser ágil y entretenido, aunque más al inicio y al final y menos por en medio, cuando se ocupa de ampliar los horizontes del universo narrativo (literalmente, recordemos que va de viajeros espaciales). Algo de esperar, en tanto que Douglas Adams era quizá guionista antes que literato y... ya se sabe lo que pasa con la sacrosanta norma de que el principio y el final enganchen y sorprendan.
Me gusta su manera muy personal y arriesgada de usar los deus ex machina (algo ajeno a la historia que aparece de repente y resuelve los problemas, ejemplo desde Aristóteles de lo que no hay que hacer) para insinuar que nuestras vidas avanzan y dan vuelcos casi siempre a partir de cosas absolutamente imprevistas y de que el mero hecho de que existamos es materialización de una improbabilidad loca. También me gusta su acercamiento a la inteligencia artificial y la relación amistosa que pinta entre humanos y ordenadores. Por ahí conserva su vigencia.
Pero su estilo, entendido en un sentido más amplio, no me agrada tanto. Hay destellos líricos puntuales, pero confía excesivamente en el uso del disparate para hacer gracia. Es un tipo de recurso que en la tele funciona muy bien, pero en literatura a mí se me hace pesado y me inspira caducidad en el texto (o sea, que no quiero leerlo más de una vez).
Reitero que nunca me ha cautivado la literatura pop, subcultural, de entretenimiento, de género o de quiosco si esto conlleva de alguna manera falta de capas o el centrarse demasiado en un concepto o idea reconocible y machacarlo. Creo que Guía del autoestopista galáctico consigue desmarcarse de eso en parte, pero no completo.
Vamos, que está bien. 3 estrellas.
I had no idea! I’ve read the Hitchhiker’s books before, and I knew it was performed for radio, but I always thought the book came first.
As for the radio version, the Primary Phase is a delight. The voice actors are all top notch, especially Stephen Moore as Marvin the Paranoid Android, and the writing was so ahead of its time for the 70s (and the 80s and 90s, for that matter). I would easily pay 30 Alterian dollars a day to listen to this again and again.
The book doesn't go into entirely too much detail than the movie portrays. Still an awesome story worthy if reading if you haven't, but you'll want to save your time if you've watched it already.
Most of the fun stems from its unpredictability. There are also some hilarious quotes in here. But, besides its gags, it doesn't have a lot to offer. The only theme to it is that (human) life is largely insignificant. But it's only explored superficially. Especially when rereading, the book can become somewhat of a bore.
