Book Review: And Another Thing

And Another Thing (Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy Trilogy, Book 6)
Eoin Colfer

Let me start this review by saying my dog apparently thought the book might be delicious.  She tried to eat it, and I hadn't finished yet-- reading, not eating.  She chewed the front cover corner when I set it on the coffee table.  I should have known better, previously she had licked that table and given me a look that asked, "This doesn't taste like coffee, what gives with the deceptive name?"

Another note about the book's exterior before we plumb the depths of the content within.  I like the little blurb on the back that offers an explanation of the title (yes, the title does appear in a different context within the book, page 271 if you're looking for it).  I read the back cover in the store while picking the book up and thought, "oh, this is going to be good!"  It was raining that day, and I took the book from the store to the hair cutting place (I hesitate to call it a barber shop because it isn't and I hate to call it a salon because I don't look like something that should be going into or out of an establishment called a 'salon').  I thought there would be a wait and I could start to read.  There wasn't, did I mention it was raining that day?  Seems people are hesitant to get coiffed on a cloudy day. A little precipitating dew wasn't going to hurt my 'doo so off I went.  Then I went next door for a take-and-bake pizza, book still in tow.  Still no waiting, and I was heading back to my ride in no time.  Which reminds me, a long time ago I thought of my first car as a Vogon ship- it wasn't a particularly pretty thing but ran well and did the job for many years.  Regardless, as I approached my car I almost dropped the book.  It was raining you know and dropping a new hardback $25 book outdoors, a book you've waited years to read-- OK, waited years thinking it was going to appear, then having all hope dashed when the author of the book's predecessors died unexpectedly, then waiting maybe a year or so when hearing that someone else was going to write the book and wondering so much how THAT was going to work out you went out and read one of HIS books and thought it was OK but how the zark was this guy going to pull off DNA-class wordsmithing?  I mean seriously, do you think its a coincidence the fundamentals of life on planet earth is arguably encoded in something called DNA, need I say more?  

But where was I?  Oh yeah, I almost dropped the book.  I bobbled it and caught it, still balancing pizza and thumb wresting my keys to get the little door unlocker fob in position so I could push the unlock button (now which one is it again?) and get out of the rain.  The whole time I was thinking "whew, I don't want to bang up this book before I've had a chance to read it".  Then my dog ate it.  Just a nibble really, but still.

So where's the book review you say?  Well, that's kinda it, up there. See, this book was so set up, against an incredible body of work, and waited over for so long, what could you possibly say in a review?  I know what Eoin would like to read; that it was fabulous, spot on, such a worthy tribute to Douglas that it brought both tears of laughter and joy at the same time it brought a slight catch in the throat with the sadness that quiets the giggles when you remember what has been lost.  Maybe all those things happened, but its probably better to say its a fine book, thank you.

I read this book a little differently than most I read these days.  First, it was an actual paper (and apparently flavorful) book.  I usually read on an eBook reader.  That takes some getting use to, all that page flipping and holding without cracking the spine the wrong way- really, there is a bit of an art to holding a book, like holding a violin correctly without even playing  a note.  I set the dust jacket aside before hand, I didn't want to damage it (nice art work by the way, very nice).  I also read this book in bigger chunks.  Normally I don't sit down for hours at a time reading a book.  Maybe I should.  I tend to lay down and read for an hour then fall asleep.  For this one, I dug in.  Sat up on the couch (OK, pleasantly reclined with throw pillows positioned just so is probably a better description) and set out to read for hours on end.  At least two.  Then I'd take a break, maybe a pee, then back at it!

I had to focus.  As the page melted away and the story unfolded in my mind I was brought back a bit to those days of reading the first three books in the series (yes, I've read the others too, but we've had enough tangents now, haven't we?).  Authur's voice in my head hadn't changed, Trillian had grown up a bit though and seemed more mature, like a CNN reporter rather than a wanna-be MTV VJ.  Ford seemed to have slown down, aged in spirit but still capable, like Harrison Ford.  Zaphod was still putting on a good show but there was baggage now, a bit like Adam Curry.

The writing was Eoin, not Douglas.  It reminded me of Aritimis Fowl, I should have never read that book, it was months ago, good stuff in its own right, but now I could sense it in this book.  When describing Douglas Adam's writing to someone who hadn't read it (a travesty, both them not reading it and my trying to describe it) I described how Douglas could smoothly apply human characteristics to inanimate objects (The refrigerator lurked in the corner of Arthur Dent's home) and comment on huge human topics (nailed to a tree for suggesting people be nice to one another) and not get bogged down in either while coming up with novel concepts like spending a year dead for tax purposes or flinging oneself at the ground and missing as a method of flying.  And one nit, the guide entries in the 'originals' were complementary, not disruptive to the point where they even included a mocking of themselves interrupting too much.

OK, this has ran on long enough.  Suffice it to say the book is fine, but it did feel a bit like every character in the book knew Douglas was gone and they were in the hands of someone else now.  They bravely went about their parts, but I kept wondering if that tear in the corner of Trillian's eye was from laughter or sadness.