Ping
Revisited this for the first time since I was a teenager. I was a little worried it wouldn't be the same book I worshipped at time time but it mostly holds up! I have a better appreciation now for the focus on coincidence and probability as a theme and not just a joke delivery system. Also makes the aggressive atheism more interesting, probably.
The only part that lost some shine for me are the characters, and especially Arthur. Why did Ford choose to save him? "Because they're friends." Yes, and why are they friends? I get you need an audience-surrogate everyman but he just seems rather unpleasant. Or maybe he's just extremely English and I can't tell that apart from sarcasm.
Revisited this for the first time since I was a teenager. I was a little worried it wouldn't be the same book I worshipped at time time but it mostly holds up! I have a better appreciation now for the focus on coincidence and probability as a theme and not just a joke delivery system. Also makes the aggressive atheism more interesting, probably.
The only part that lost some shine for me are the characters, and especially Arthur. Why did Ford choose to save him? "Because they're friends." Yes, and why are they friends? I get you need an audience-surrogate everyman but he just seems rather unpleasant. Or maybe he's just extremely English and I can't tell that apart from sarcasm.