The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Average rating of 4.22.
Over 1.4M ratings.
Sci-Fi.
Regarded as one of the funniest books ever written.
And only 130 pages long!
I must admit that the length was the main reason I decided to read this. No way I wasn't gonna read such a critically acclaimed book which I would finish in just about 4 hrs. Boy was I overconfident.



Date started: 18 Aug
Date finished:27 Aug
Total: 10 DAYS
10 DAYS. 130 pages. WTF HAPPENED?!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Why it's a Fiasco
-Just a few days before this I had finished a book of 360 pages in about 3-4 days. Yes, my reading speed is not good but I should have been able to finish this in 1-2 days. So why did it take a lot more days? Because it's just a nothing story, except for the first few chapters everything else was bleak, stupid & not good enough to hold my interest & curiosity. I switched off my Kindle probably more than 100 times & looked to do some other things to pass the time. That's how these 10 days went, everyday I'd think that I will definitely finish it today but I kept delaying it. I should have put this in the dnf shelf & moved on but I don't like doing that & the page length of 130 was in my head the whole time. I wanted it to be over after only like 6 chapters, that's how dismal this experience was.
-Filled with pointless descriptions: Probably the main reason for the downfall of this book for me. You can't create a compelling enough plot if your book is full of descriptions of inanimate objects & other rubbish stuff. Here's an example of many such descriptions which drove me crazy:
“Its main console was installed in a specially designed executive, mounted on an enormous executive desk of finest ultramahogany topped with ultrared leather. The dark carpeting was discreetly sumptuous, exotic plot plants and tastefully engraved prints of the principal computer programmers and their families were deployed liberally about the room, and stately windows looked out upon a tree-lined public square.”

I DON'T CARE ONE BIT ABOUT THE TOPPING OF A FUCKING DESK!



-Underwhelming humor: Where is the highly praised humor that was promised? What was I supposed to find funny? The absurd names, terms for characters & objects? Seems like this book is using a sense of humor which was done & dusted a long time ago. Still there were 2 instances when I genuinely laughed but both the jokes in those cases had the element of surprise. Was that the plan? To bore me for hours & then drop a joke out of nowhere? Well played then. So other than those 2 instances I found the humor to be a big let-down. Would have liked it if the jokes were present frequently throughout.

I wish I could get back the time & energy I wasted on this bullshit. This book has thrown me into a reading slump from which it will be a struggle to get out of. Well lessons have been learnt. Don't underestimate a book of 130 pages, it can very well turn out to be a slugfest.