On the surface, this book was made for me. A biography of Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, as taken down by Neil Gaiman. It was like someone reached into my head and wrote out my wildest dreams. And look at that cover! I am so easily sold with a good cover, y’all. There is so much that this book could have been and yet it wasn’t.
I just didn’t feel this book. I appreciated Gaiman writing about Adams in the style of Adams in a way that wasn’t so much directly aping as it was loving tribute. I learned a lot I didn’t know – Adams wrote for Doctor Who! He was hilariously notoriously late with everything he submitted! – and those are fun dinner party facts, especially with my father. But for all that both Adams and Gaiman have defined my life as a reader, the book that combined the two managed to be downright dull.
I really wish I could earnestly recommend this but the low star rating when I checked it out should have been a warning. That it didn’t have a waitlist should have been a warning (granted this book has been published for a while). Also I liked the movie and find myself having to ardently defend it more than I would like (come on, Alan Rickman as the voice of Marvin? That was more perfect than him as Snape)
It might simply be that most people don’t lead terribly interesting lives with enough to fill a book, as simple as that. Unfortunately, Don’t Panic forgot its towel.
