Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams Book Review

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Review Summary

The final installment in the Hitchhickers guide to the Galaxy. Athur Dent, stranded on a primitive planet, has adjusted somewhat to his situtation and has become a successful sandwichmaker. Everything seems to be going fine until a girl named Random arrives and tells him he's her father. Arthur tries to fit into the role of being a father, but Random is a cranky, willful teenager with a nasty identity crisis and things don't go exactly as planned. Meanwhile, Ford Prefect steals the new edition of the guide, and sends it to Arthur for safekeeping only to have it stolen by Random. Ford and Arthur must find Random and recover the guide before something really bad happens. All the expected chaos and humor is present, though the ending leaves you wondering if the answer to the question will ever truly be answered and if not, if it really matters.
sayruh, Resident Scholar

Detailed literary breakdown of Mostly Harmless

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%

Tone of book - cynical or dry-wit
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Tech./$$$/Info hunt Yes
Stealing/recovering/destroying - computer/database
Parody Yes
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Family relations Yes

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - unemployed
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - an organization
Age: - long-lived adults
Profession/status: - small businessman
Eccentric: Yes - obsessed
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Dumb
Physique - quite fatty

Setting
Terrain - Forests
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a futuristic society - big overbuilt futuristic city
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Planet outside solar system? Yes
Takes place in spaceship? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

Most similar books to Mostly Harmless
The Getaway Special by Jerry Oltion
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Numbers Don't Lie by Terry Bisson
Frek and the Elixir by Rudy Rucker
Milky Way Marmalade by Mike DiCerto

Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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