The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul
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Review
Rating: 7
The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul is a story loosely centered around Dirk Gently, a self-described Holistic Detective. Trying to summarize the plot would be a futile exercise, but it proceeds in the unpredictable, off-the-wall manner characteristic of Douglas Adams.
This book was my introduction to the Dirk Gently novels, although I am a long-time fan of Adams’ better-known Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books. Tea Time has a highly complicated story with an element of fantasy that the reader must buy into to make the story work. For me this was no problem, and I think this is due in part to the contrasting ways in which the characters view these events. Dirk Gently accepts even the strangest of events as simply being the natural order of the universe, while the other main character, Kate Schechter, is completely bewildered by the unusual events unfolding around her. The characters are what keeps the story from collapsing under its own weight
The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul is a good read (and an even better title), although I still prefer the Hitchhiker’s Guide books. Whether they are truly superior or my opinion is tainted by the warm feelings of nostalgia I have from reading them in my youth is difficult to say. I should add that this book seems to have more of a “message” about life than the Hitchhiker’s Guide books, although it is fairly subtle and far from preachy. Dirk Gently is such an interesting character to me that it’s easy to recommend this book.
