The Frood

The Authorised and Very Official History of Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

by Jem Roberts

Hardcover, 464 pages

English language

Published July 16, 2014

ISBN:: 978-1-84809-437-6
OCLC Number:: 895000191

(50 reviews)

As a wise ape once observed, space is big - vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly so. However, if you look too closely at space, it becomes nothing but lumps of rock and sundry gases. Sometimes it's necessary to take a step back, and let a few billion years go by, before any of the true wonder and scope of the cosmos becomes apparent.

Similarly, the late 20th century author, humorist and thinker Douglas Adams was big - vastly, hugely and thoroughly mind-bogglingly so, both in physical terms, and as a writer who has touched millions of readers, firing up millions of cerebellums all over planet Earth, for over 35 years - and for nearly half of that time, he hasn't even been alive.

It would be ridiculous to pretend that Douglas Adams's life and work has gone unexamined since his dismayingly early death at 49 but throughout the decade since the last …

It would be ridiculous to pretend that Douglas Adams's life and work has gone unexamined since his dismayingly early death at 49 but throughout the decade since the last book to tackle the subject, the universes Adams created have continued to develop, to beguile and expand minds, and will undoubtedly do so for generations to come.

An all-new approach to the most celebrated creation of Douglas Adams is therefore most welcome, and The Frood tells the story of Adams's explosive but agonizingly constructed fictional universe, from his initial inspirations to the posthumous sequel(s) and adaptations, bringing together a thousand tales of life as part of the British Comedy movements of the late 70s and 80s along the way. With the benefit of hindsight and much time passed, friends and colleagues have been interviewed for a fresh take on the man and his works.

4 editions

Sean Randall reviewed The Frood by Douglas Adams

Review of 'Frood' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

It's been many years since I first heard the radio broadcast of this book. As a result of my initial experience with it, the characters' voices are fully-formed in my head, even when reading a book rather than listening. Naturally, this transcends the first volume, but I shall stick hereto for the benefit of my review.

It's also the case that, what I found amusing in my teens, now seems a little warn and overdone. Adams' repetition of certain phrases or the re-going over of certain points, for instance.

Two scenes vividly stood out for me during this reread: Eddie, singing his way to doom, was a scene from the radio drama which I found funny then and almost managed to replay in my head during this read. I love it dearly and it made me chortle to myself whilst washing a wine glass. The second one was Ford turning into a penguin, which is also linked to the drama (the vocal on that also amused me greatly).

Of course, a lot of my retrospection is linked to the radio. As a stand alone novel, the ending is poor and the characters may seem shallow without the radiophonic or televisual background flushing out their personalities. Still, I enjoyed rereading it and it opens the way to what is indisputably a treasured series.