The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

There are a lot of unanswered, nonsensical components to these books that I find rather confusing simply because Mr. Adams is clearly a rather clever man who does not seem likely to be careless about the details of his plots.  Why did the eagle show his wings to Gently?  How did the refrigerator god come to be?  Is it all only for a desire to have quirkiness?

As I got to the final chapters of this book, I started getting more and more fearful that I would not receive a decent ending with satisfying a-ha's and revealing wrap-ups, and I was somewhat correct in this dread.  I accepted it in the first of this series because I thought of it as a story to be continued, but the same approach was taken in Tea-Time, where the ending felt rushed and overly simple.  For all of the work put in to previous chapters to create a very successful build-up with strong characters, it's surprising to find the close in both cases to be rather puny.  It seems a bit like the characters I've come to like so much have been denied something they so very much deserve.

Nevertheless, I still like these books.  I find Adam's writing style very enjoyable (his personification of objects is delightfully adorable), and his characters to be quite genuine (as by now you obviously know).  I'd like to see more of Dirk Gently if I could.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Charmingly British...or Britishly charming...through and through.  Douglas Adams' writing, per usual, is expertly playful with lots of wit and clumsily likeable characters.  His simple writing style contrasts a somewhat intricate plotline that twists and turns to keep your mind alert.  In simple terms, this book is the Monty Python of novels, with a bit of The Third Policeman thrown in.  Ghosts!  TIme travel!  Horses!  Poets!  Recommend!

And now onward to the second part, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.