It’s obviously been way too long since I read these; I didn’t remember how much funnier this book was over its predecessor.  I snorted and gaffawed quite a few times.

Our intrepid and dysfunctional little group is still aboard The Heart of Gold and Zaphod is trying to work out the improbability factor of getting some lunch at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.  Arthur is losing his mind over his inability to communicate to the ship on how to make a decent cup of tea.  And it is this combination that serves to make the ship vulnerable to an attack from the Vogons; the Vogon captain really really hates to leave a job undone.  With an unresponsive computer and little else, really, to do with their remaining time; Zaphod agrees to try to contact his deceased father.

Once the smoke (literally) cleared, only Ford, Trillian, and Arthur were left on the ship…with three cups of a very fine tea.  And a note that said Wait.

Zaphod found himself in the publishing offices of Ursa Minor – where, if the reader cares to remember, is where The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy comes from.  And a thought nagging at him until he finally gave in and went to find Zarniwoop; a thought that, apparently, he left for himself.  As he wandered through the corridors of power, he ran into Marvin.  Which was fortuitous since Marvin was able to effectively stop the murderous Frogstar robots sent to kill Zaphod; not that anyone ever asked Marvin if he wanted to.  Unfortunately, the robots realized they might not be able to kill him so they transported the entire building to the dreaded Frogstar planet; which they might not survive.  Unfortunately, for the dreaded Frogstarians, they’ve never met anyone like Zaphod before and their containment efforts fall a bit short.

Zaphod does, eventually, rejoin his friends on Heart of God and finally gets the ship to take them to lunch; having left poor Marvin behind on Frogstar.  But although they do get to the Restaurant, they don’t seem to have Heart of Gold anymore so they have to steal a ship.  This whole passage was one long joke and I loved it.  The whole idea of commercializing the End of the Universe, everyday, twice a day for lunch, was hysterical.  And I just love how they jump from one disaster to another; the ship they chose to steal was designed for just one thing – plunging into the heart of the sun.

And over all of this nonsense is the idea that they still need to find out the Ultimate Question of the existence of the universe; they already have the Ultimate Answer, they just don’t know the question.  It’s possible that it exists somewhere in Arthur’s brain…possibly.

Escaping certain death in the center of the sun by using an unprogrammed teleport meant the group was separated yet again.  Arthur and Ford are still together and find themselves onboard a cryo-ship.  The ship had been sent away when their planet was expected to expire.  This…THIS…chapter was the funniest yet.

Trillian, Zaphod and Zarniwoop find themselves about to meet the man who really rules the universe.  And we are provided a terrifically timely quote (timely no matter what administration is in power): Who can possibly rule if no one who wants to do it can be allowed to?

This story was a pretty wild ride.  We still don’t know the Ultimate Question although Ford and Arthur met a caveman who seemed to know.  Zaphod still has no answers as to why he misled himself and mucked about with his own memories.  And I don’t remember where they left Marvin.   ~ Catherine Book

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