So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish.

Douglas Adams

ISBN 0-671-52580-8.

“… This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything.

“Sadly, however, before she could get to a phone to tell anyone about it, the Earth was unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass, and the idea was lost, seemingly for ever.

“This is her story.”

And so also began the first of the trilogy of four, except for the omission of the word “not.” (That one was “not” her story.)

And it is. She is Fenchurch, (she was conceived in Fenchurch station, no details are given), and Arthur falls for her immediately. The volume begins with him arriving from somewhere via flying saucer, then trying to hitch himself back home. He is finally picked up by Fenchurch’s brother, but loses track of her, then finds, then loses gain several times throughout the book. (She lives at the site of the cave where he spent five years a million years ago; he discovers it by “accident.”) At length they get together, become an “event” and end up by hitching a ride (very publicly) off to that planet where God’s last words to the creation are in 30-foot letters. (Which place is concessioned much like the Grand Canyon.)

Though they go to a lot of trouble to keep the Message secret until the end, “Sorry for the inconvenience,” or whatever, is appropriate for the series, but no blockbuster. “Yes, that was it,” says Fenchurch, whose mind has been cracked (we’re not told how, why, or when) ever since just after realizing “The Question,” just before the Vogons vanished. (Must have been a CIA plot or something.) Even Marvin gets to see the message before he expires, having (through various malfunctions of time travel) lived to be 37 times the age of the universe.

Other things happen in the middle. Much of Arthur and Fenchurch’s courtship is spent flying (we learned how to do that in the last book). This grows into a publicity problem. They fly (by plane this time) to California (which is well characterized) to meet Wonko the Sane. He lives in an inside-out house. The inside (outside) is the insane part and he never goes there. He thus always stays outside (in). He used to work with dolphins before, trying to learn their language and such (which they, in their great wisdom, prevented him from doing) before they all disappeared. Wonko also got one of those “So Long and Thanks…” bowls just like Arthur did on their departure. If you listen to it, you’ll hear something….

This was a much cheerier book than the third. Wonko, just the Same….