The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

The second installment of Douglas Adams' famed five-part trilogy.
Picking up where The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy leaves off, Douglas Adams continues the adventures of Arthur Dent, Zaphod Beeblebrox and a morose little robot named Marvin in this, the second installment of his five-part “trilogy." Set in a science fiction fan’s dreamland of anxiety-ridden psychic elevators, diurnal anomalies and moderately edible towels, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe follows Arthur, Zaphod, Ford Prefect and Trillian on their continued journey through space and time and a persnickety little conundrum known as the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything.

Brilliant as it is, Restaurant is not a stand-alone read (or listen). Without a solid background in Hitchhiker as an anchor a reader (or listener) could find herself mighty confused as she attempts to follow Arthur, Zaphod and Trillian away from the huge supercomputer in which they once resided (you and I know it as planet Earth) in their Improbability Drive spaceship while Arthur desperately attempts to make a cup of tea at the precise moment the ship is attacked by Vogons. See what I mean? The plot is incredibly dense, and Adams dives right in — no exposition, no refresher course.

Listening to Martin Freeman’s (of the UK The Office fame) lilting, slightly beleaguered British accent, it’s hard to imagine a more perfect narrator for this audiobook (and that’s even taking into account Adams’ own 1990 version). Perhaps it’s because Freeman has an intimate knowledge of the material — he played Arthur Dent in the 2005 film version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.