Reviews for Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

The average rating for Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-04-17 00:00:00 Suresh Duraisamy The concept of putting as many ideas as possible in as less book space as imaginable worked well for the hitchhiker, but in this case, it was too much, no I mean, less. It could have been an epic milestone like the ingenious hitchhiker series, but it is simply too short and too densely packed at the same time, it´s a miracle how this is even possible. The characters and main plots could have been used for one much longer or two short books and it would have been a masterpiece again. More details in the descriptions, probably some more explanations to the reader or another side plot, infodumps, longer dialogues, it would all have been possible if Adams hadn´t tried to distill it to the absolute minimum. I got nervous the closer I got to the end because I couldn´t imagine how all those should culminate in a believable, understandable and satisfying ending. Especially the end was really unsatisfying, so much came out of nothing, interesting ideas weren´t described in detail and everything felt quite half-baken with too many questions left unanswered and too much confusion for the reader. And I am someone who reads multi k page series with loads of settings, characters, and connections that can be understandably described by the author without a permanent "what, where, when, why, how?" like in this case. Adams' intention has been to make as many and as complex subplots, connections and associations as possible to let them explode in an epic culmination point, but it didn´t get speed and just hit the fourth wall a tiny little bit without producing more noise than contrived harrumph to let the embarrassing moment pass by. It feels as if there should have been a second half before the sudden ending. Don´t get me wrong, it´s still a good, philosophical book full of innuendos, connotations and some good laughs, but don´t expect the same quality or the same entertainment the more famous galactic fun brought to your mind. Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:

Review # 2 was written on 2008-11-05 00:00:00 Michael Bryant I still don't really understand how the ending of this book worked, and trying to describe the plot would be like trying to build a submarine out of cheese. Instead, I'll just share some quotes from this book that I especially loved, because Douglas Adams is the only author in the history of the world who is capable of creating them. "'A horse?' he said again. 'Yes, it is,' said the Professor. 'Wait - ' he motioned to Richard, who was about to go out again and investigate - 'Let it be. It won't be long.' Richard stared in disbelief. 'You say there's a horse in your bathroom, and all you can do is stand there naming Beatles songs?'" "Richard stood transfixed for moment or two, wiped his forehead again, and gently replaced the phone as if it were an injured hamster. His brain began to buzz gently and suck its thumb. Lots of little synapses deep inside his cerebral cortex all joined hands and started dancing around and singing nursery rhymes." "On the wall was a Duran Duran poster on which someone had scrawled in fat red felt tip, 'Take this down please.' Beneath that another hand had scrawled, 'No.' Beneath that again the first hand had written, 'I insist that you take it down.' Beneath that the second hand had written, 'Won't!' Beneath that - 'You're fired!' Beneath that - 'Good!' And there the matter appeared to have rested." "'Welcome, by the way, to my offices.' He waved a vague hand around the tatty surroundings. 'The light works,' he said, indicating the window, 'the gravity works,' he said, dropping a pencil on the floor. 'Anything else we have to take our chances with.'" "'Don't you listen to anything you say? The whole thing was obvious!' he exclaimed, thumping the table. 'So obvious that the only thing which prevented me from seeing the solution was the trifling fact that it was completely impossible. Sherlock Holmes observed that once you have eliminated the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.'"