The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe-Douglas Adams

How I found this book: I read it immediately after The Hitchhiker’s Guide as it was part of the same volume.

Setting: Immediately after the events of The Hitchhiker’s Guide, and ranges from the end of the universe to the beginning of man on Earth. Darn that time travel.

Main Characters:

Zaphod Beeblebrox: President of the Galaxy, he is caught up in a conspiracy to find the man who really runs the Universe.

Zarniwoop: A member of the conspiracy, he contrives to get Zaphod away from the rest of the group in order to find the man who really controls the universe.

Trillian: Zaphod’s girlfriend, one of the last Earthlings in the universe.

Arthur Dent: One of the other last Earthlings, he is sent back in time to the starships that are unwittingly carrying his own ancestors to Earth.

Ford Prefect: Arthur’s best friend, he is sent back, along with Arthur, to pre-historic Earth.

Marvin, the Paranoid Android: The completely depressed robot of Zaphod’s, he pops up at different parts of the story looking for the crew of the Heart of Gold, who often leave him behind on their adventures.


Plot: Zaphod is separated from the rest of the crew as he is drawn into a conspiracy to find the real head of the galaxy. In an effort to thwart the plans of Zarniwoop, Zaphod goes to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Milliways, with the rest of the crew, in order to eat a good steak and watch the end of the universe as part of the big show. As they leave the restaurant, Zaphod decides to steal a ship belonging to a famous band, Disaster Area. What he and the others don’t realize is that the ship is part of one of their big stunts to be flown into the sun of some planet during their show. In an attempt to escape, Zaphod and Trillian are separated from Arthur and Ford, who are sent back in time to a spaceship from Glorgrafinch full of all their useless and idiot members of society. The ships crashland on pre-historic Earth and it is discovered by Arthur and Ford that it is these beings, not the ape-descended ones that were created by the designers of Magrathea, who are indeed the true ancestors of Earthlings.

Themes:

The man behind the man: Adams plays with the traditional ‘conspiracy’ theory, and shows that the universe isn’t really run by some evil consortium, or even Zaphod, (thank goodness), but instead by one, simple, kooky guy who seems to keep things running despite it all, even on attempts to control him. And I think that is perhaps as closest to a deity that Adams, and atheist, would ever get. Personally, I think it’s a fine image, and I have to agree, the universe is in fine hands.

Don’t be so proud of your heritage, you never know what you’ll find back there: Everyone has black sheep in the family, and sometimes we really hate to admit how embarrassing our own family trees are where exactly we came from. This has never been more exemplified than with the 19th century scientist and anthropologists who liked to portray human kind as the ‘top’ of the evolutionary scale on earth. While that may or may not be true, Adams laughs at this notion with the portrayal of our own ancestors as being the rejects that would develop into our own, commercialist, and perhaps somewhat useless society, (in particular I love the decision of using leaves for money, reflecting Adams own environmentalist sensibilities). While we would like to think we are the pinnacle of what civilization can be like, in reality…well we are perhaps just a big a bunch of screwballs as that bunch.

The end of the universe: However you believe the universe is going to end, you have to admit, having a restaurant there and watching it as a dinnertime show is a pretty unique and thrilling way to go.


Every book sucks somewhere: Much as The Hitchhiker’s Guide, Restaurant at the End of the Universe suffers from the episodic nature of the radio series it’s based on, thus smashing what appeared to be two separate story arcs into one. This causes a bit of disjointing between Zaphod’s quest and Arthur and Ford’s predicament on ancient Earth. This makes the story not flow nearly as well as in the first book, which seemed to be one complete story arc. This doesn’t mean the story isn’t funny and entertaining, but it isn’t quite as smooth.

Also, I felt a bit confused as to the whole point of Zaphod and the conspiracy finding the real ruler of the universe. What was the purpose in it? Was there any? This could be, like the

What did I like: This book, like it’s prequel, is hysterical, in the tongue-in-cheek manner of most of Douglas Adams books. It laughs both at our own tendency to look for conspiracies and our own high-minded view of our evolution. What I think makes the books so funny, in the tradition of British humor such as Monty Python is that the absurd happens in such a matter-of-fact manner that there is little need for a ‘straight man’, the entire story revolves around the fact that the universe is just an absurd place.

How would I rate this wormy book: I would only rate this book as a FAT WORM. It’s note quite as good of story telling as The Hitchhiker’s Guide, and yet it is still entertaining none the less. It’s a great book to sit and snicker at in some snooty coffee shop and let people give you dirty looks over it.