_So Long and Thanks for All the Fish_ is the fourth book in the _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ "trilogy" and it serves as an elegant, touching coda to the plot and characters readers came to know over the course of the first three novels.

Arthur Dent, our everyday, normal protagonist of the series, spent the previous three books being dragged around the universe in his pajamas, constantly overwhelmed by aliens and things. In _So Long_, he is returned to his home on a parallel Earth not destroyed by the Vogons. Not only that, but he falls in love and finds genuine happiness.

The woman Arthur falls in love with is named Fenchurch -she's a somewhat mysterious girl who plays the cello and is just eccentric enough to want to know what happened to all the dolphins (they deserted Earth before the Vogon attack and established a 'Save the Humans' foundation), she also listens to Arthur's story and believes him. The love story that develops between them is truly sweet.

There are some beautiful passages in this novel, and Arthur and Fenchurch's love is both magical and whimsical. One passage that always takes my breath away occurs when Fenchurch teases Arthur by telling him that there's something wrong with her, and making him guess what it is. Eventually he narrows it down to her feet.

"Yes," he said, "I see what's wrong with your feet. They don't touch the ground." (p. 106)

After that, the two of them spend a lot of time flying and consummating their relationship in the air. At one point a little old lady sees them out the window of a plane. This actually cheers her up quite a lot.

"She was mostly immensely relieved to think that virtually everything anybody had ever told her was wrong." (p.120)

No, there aren't the zany over-the-top adventures in space and time that we all enjoyed in the previous books, but the story here is just as enjoyable and entertaining. Adams writes with his usual humorous observations and clever turns of phrase, and there are wonderfully weird characters, such as the man who lives in a completely inside-out house so that he can spend all his time "outside" and keep the world "inside the Asylum," where he feels it belongs.

Ford Prefect also appears, at first traveling around the galaxy continuing his field research for the _Hitchhiker's Guide_, but upon hearing that a parallel Earth has been set up via the dolphins' Save the Humans campaign he sets out to make his way there and is reunited with Arthur.

Marvin also returns one last time, and Arthur and Fenchurch go on a quest to find God's last message to creation and not only that, but they actually get to find it.

This is a beautiful ending to the _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ novels and I strongly recommend it. 5/5, one of my favorites. ( )

The fourth book in the Hitchhiker series is a somewhat charming love story, but the weaknesses in the prose and characters are still there. ( )

Ok so it isnt as good as the others, but it is still one of my favourites its funny witty and the story is so bizarre even thinking of it is making me smile. ( )

Wonderful image, that: dolphins executing one last simultaneous flip for us clueless humans ( )

Unlike many people, I didn't come to the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy via the radio series, I was a book fan right from the start.So, back in 1985 when Douglas Adams wrote another entry in the canon I was unfeasibly excited...And with So Long there wasn't any disappointment, its one of my favourite books, one I can go back to time and time again.It seems to me that Adams took the opportunity to experiment with some of his wilder ideas of what he could do in a book. One chapter starts with a single sentence which covers about 8-10 lines. The next sentence is something along the lines of 'go back and read it, it does make sense'! He knew that readers habits are such that in the heat of reading we'll even skip a sentence if it doesn't make any sense straight away. And of course, if you took the time to parse it, it did make perfect sense.And then there is a chapter that exists purely to pose the question 'This Arthur Dent, does he fuck?'On its own this book is the romance in the Hitch Hikers story arc, with Arthur finally meeting someone to love, with the help of Dire Straits.In summary, if you haven't read it, and you're familiar with Douglas Adams, then go and get a copy, and experience Douglas at his best. ( )