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10-16-2019, 08:08 AM | #16 | |
o saeclum infacetum
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10-16-2019, 08:12 AM | #17 | |
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10-16-2019, 08:24 AM | #18 | |||
cacoethes scribendi
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When I got to the end I assumed this monk was the same one that aided our ancient ghost engineer, but it seems not. In the second chapter he says of the horse: Quote:
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10-16-2019, 09:09 AM | #19 | |||
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10-16-2019, 09:16 AM | #20 |
Wizard
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Just a quicky to say sorry but I’m still reading so will be a bit late to the discussion. I’m having a flair up of arthritis in my neck, so can only read in very short bursts. But it’s fun so far.
I told myself not to read the discussion because of the spoilers, but have peeked anyway . It’s good to know some of the more confusing strings come together. |
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10-16-2019, 09:52 AM | #21 |
Wizard
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I loved this book! it is full of a really wacky (though sometimes dark) humour. It had something of the quality of a Dr Who episode or novel. I loved the cleverness of Adams' use of Coleridge and those interesting twists at the end.
There are also some quite memorable things in it. Chapter 19 was especially good and the argument that Art and Truth exist as mathematical constructs is certainly interesting if not (for me) compelling. That chapter and the final vision of Richard reminded me of the wonderful short poem by the Estonian poet, Juhan Liiv Music It must be somewhere, the original harmony, somewhere in great nature, hidden. Is it in the furious infinite, in distant stars' orbits, is it in the sun's scorn, in a tiny flower, in treegossip, in heartmusic's mothersong or in tears? It must be somewhere, immortality, somewhere the original harmony must be found: how else could it infuse the human soul, that music? Translated from the Estonian by H.L.Hix & Juri Talvet From the Poetry foundation app I noticed that Netflix has a Dirk Gently series but I haven't seen it. Audible has a dramatisation of the book which has mixed reviews. Is anyone familiar with either of these? Last edited by fantasyfan; 10-16-2019 at 09:58 AM. |
10-16-2019, 06:21 PM | #22 |
Snoozing in the sun
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The horse didn’t need scuba gear gmw - Reg took it and the Monk back to the planet they came from, which was the place he went to get the pinkish dust to cover his Greek suntan. And that planet was presumably the same one as the one from which the ghost had come originally, given that he had had an Electric Monk With him. Unless of course more than one had invented the Monks also.
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10-16-2019, 06:26 PM | #23 |
Snoozing in the sun
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fantasyfan, thank you for quoting that beautiful poem. I must look for more of Liiv’s poetry when I get back home.
I did have a quick look at the first episode of the TV series and turned it off after about 10 minutes. It might have improved but ... I understand that The Salmon of Doubt, Adams’ last book which was unfinished when he died, was to be the third book in the series. |
10-16-2019, 07:12 PM | #24 | |
cacoethes scribendi
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In my search for links between the two halves of the story I seemed to have made up one that didn't exist. When the ghost said: "So instead of checking it myself, you see, I sent out one of the Electric Monks." I thought: Ah, so that's where our monk came from (and probably why he was faulty and so on). After all, there was no reason to assume there wasn't some point in time that some place on Earth might not have a valley with pink dust. Edited to Add: There was a second reason to think that the monk (or someone) was around to see what happened 4-billion-years ago, the opening sentence reads "This time there would be no witnesses." suggesting that there was a last time, and that last time there was a witness. I've had considerable difficulty trying to make that sentence fit in, and the Electric Monk being "sent out" seemed like a possibility. Last edited by gmw; 10-16-2019 at 07:22 PM. |
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10-17-2019, 12:44 AM | #25 |
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I hate this -- even though I just read the book, I feel a compelling need to go back and read it again, knowing now where it gets to. That is not my usual reaction, I might add!
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10-17-2019, 04:34 AM | #26 |
Wizard
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I had exactly the same urge. I think this is one of those books that are quite enjoyable to reread particularly as one can appreciate the structural irony.
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10-17-2019, 06:55 AM | #27 | |
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It is very rare that I go back and reread a book immediately after finishing it, but in this case it was really worth it. Last edited by Bookpossum; 10-17-2019 at 06:59 AM. |
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10-17-2019, 07:01 AM | #28 | |
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But I just like the idea of reversing the logic of the software. |
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10-17-2019, 07:06 AM | #29 | |
cacoethes scribendi
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10-17-2019, 02:16 PM | #30 | |
o saeclum infacetum
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I liked this statement about the Electric Monk:
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I also want to reskim and maybe I'll change my mind, but I thought I'd point out two examples of things that didn't work for me. I found "The Door was The Way" heavy-handed in itself and the more so because of Gordon Way. And then riffs such as, "It was only his Belief that kept him going, currently his Belief in The Door" seemed overly obvious, especially in the context of, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." I don't see the point, frankly. Ultimately, and I need to reread the poems, too, I thought the Coleridge connection was strained and didn't serve much of a purpose. Was it just to set up the joke about the Person from Porlock? The payoff wasn't there. |
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