Tag: Elijah Wood

Douglas Adams – Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency | Review

Title: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

Author: Douglas Adams

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 248

Rating: 4*/5

 

Douglas Adams - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Douglas Adams – Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

 

I’ve been looking forward to reading this for a while now, but I’ve been holding it back so that I’d have it to look forward to. I’ve not been enjoying reading as much of late and so I thought it was about time for me to pick this one up. I made a good call.

I’ve read Adams’ Hitchhiker’s books before and I’ve also seen the adaptation of Dirk Gently starring Elijah Wood on Netflix, but I also knew that the original book had a different plot to the series and so I had that to look forward to. I also feel like I’ve somehow gone full circle by reading the Hitchhiker’s books before listening to the radio show and then reading Dirk Gently after watching the adaptation. It makes a sort of “original book” sandwich.

The humour here was excellent and it’s what the book is really all about, but the plot itself and also the characterisation are spot on, if not exceptional. I also enjoyed reading the way that Adams wrote about technology, bearing in mind that this book was published before I was born. He future-proofed it pretty well. It had a joke about Excel that still works just as well today, which I think is a sign of how seriously savvy he was. This is definitely one worth reading.

 

Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams

 

Click here to buy Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.


Tao Lin – Eeeee Eee Eeee | Review

Title: Eeeee Eee Eeee

Author: Tao Lin

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 216

Rating: 5*/5

 

Tao Lin - Eeeee Eee Eeee

Tao Lin – Eeeee Eee Eeee

 

This book was a little bit like an acid trip. All sorts of crazy stuff is happening but, a bit like Alice in Wonderland, no matter how tenuous the links are between different parts of the narrative, it still has this sort of unshakeable force that permeates throughout it and keeps you reading. It doesn’t take long to finish it, and you could easily power through in a single sitting. It’s that sort of book.

Now, I would talk about the plot, but there isn’t one. Well, there is, but there also isn’t. Here’s where I refer you to the blurb: Confused yet intelligent animal attempt to interact with confused yet intelligent humans, resulting in the death of Elijah Wood, Salman Rushdie and Wong Kar-Wai… and a vegan dinner at a sushi restaurant in Manhattan attended by a dolphin, a bear… and the President of the United States of America, who lectures on the arbitrary nature of consciousness, truth, and the universe before getting drunk and playing poker.”

It’s like Burroughs meets Dali in a dream and they write a book together. If you have any interest in experimental literature, you need to read it.

 

Tao Lin

Tao Lin

 

Click here to buy Eeeee Eee Eeee.