‘The Restaurant at the End of the Universe’ – Douglas Adams (Pan)

Just recently, I’ve found myself looking for books that will make me laugh. Not that my life is particularly miserable or anything like that, I just need a few laughs right now; even a couple of chuckles will do. Anything that will drown out the noises coming from downstairs… But anyway…

Terry Pratchett’s ‘Discworld’ books have helped me out here but I’ve still been left looking for anything else that will have roughly the same effect; which led me to Douglas Adams’ ‘The Restaurant at the End of the Universe’ (which was perched on a stall at Deptford Market, I had to buy it). As is the way with certain posts on this blog, it’s been years since I last read ‘The Restaurant at the End of the Universe’; I suspect I was about fourteen and with a face full of spots that meant I needed a good laugh… ;o)

I used to love this book, back in the day, and can’t believe it’s been so many years since I last picked it up. What was it like, reading it again (after a lengthy break)? And did I get the chuckles that I was after? Let me tell you all about it…

If you've done six impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways, the Restaurant at the end of the Universe?

Which is exactly what Arthur Dent and the crew of the Heart of Gold plan to do. There's just the small matter of escaping the Vogons, avoiding being taken to the most totally evil world in the Galaxy and teaching a space ship how to make a proper cup of tea.

And did anyone actually make a reservation?

‘The Restaurant at the End of the Universe’ used to be one of those books that made me laugh out loud at the silly names and the fact that Adams seemed ready to write literally anything down that would get a laugh out of his reader. I thought that after just over thirty years of not having read it, some of the jokes might have freshened up again and it would be that same book again. Reader, that was not the case.

For me anyway, ‘The Restaurant at the End of the Universe’ is a comfort read but not a lot else. The jokes and wordplay are familiar but now they’re missing that little bit of punch that made me laugh out loud while thinking, ‘did he really just write that?’ What’s slightly worse is that the jokes now seem to come across as a little forced and there’s nothing that kills it for me quicker than a comedic writer who is trying too hard. It’s fair to say though that this maybe isn’t the book’s fault as much as it is about me and what I’m bringing to the read over thirty years on. The book clearly hasn’t changed in that time, I have though. In that respect then. The jokes might hit the target better if you’re new to the book?

Having said that though, the plot worked better for me this time round. I don’t know if there’s enough there to hold the book up, seeing as the jokes were more often than not mis-firing, but I did get a kick out of the ‘big reveal’ which throws everything into a whole new light (or renders the events of ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ and ‘Restaurant at the End of the Universe’ utterly pointless, I haven’t quite decided). And Adams is great at giving us this totally alien setting and showing us how ridiculous it is through the eyes of Arthur Dent.

Was that enough though? Not this time. I’m glad I revisited ‘The Restaurant at the End of the Universe’ but most of that is because it confirmed that I need to be looking elsewhere for my laughs now. If you’re reading it for the first time though, I reckon you’ll love it.