simont: A picture of me in 2016 (Default)
simont ([personal profile] simont) wrote2005-03-24 05:12 pm

(no subject)

I re-read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency the other day, and was rather startled to find what appears to be a genuine continuity error. In most books this wouldn't be cause for remark, but this book in particular seems so careful about its continuity the rest of the time (particularly given the nature of the story) that it was quite a surprise.

Sarah, the little girl we encounter being bored at a formal dinner at the very start of the book, has blonde hair when described by the narration, but when Dirk gets a description of her from Richard later on it says she had dark hair. Gosh, ooh etc.

[identity profile] cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com 2005-03-24 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps she had dark blonde hair. I've heard people claim that's a colour.

Or, was any great time-altering done between the two descriptions?

[identity profile] abigailb.livejournal.com 2005-03-24 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe Richard is not a reliable source? ;)

I heard recently that the sofa thing was based on a genuine incident, where, rather than time travel, some building work happened between sofa insertion and attempted removal.

[identity profile] ceb.livejournal.com 2005-03-24 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm saying nothing, just pointing at [livejournal.com profile] mpinna.

[identity profile] cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com 2005-03-24 05:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Though implausibility is a hallmark of time-travel side-effects in general and of douglas adams and dirk cjetjtlyy in perticular :)
zotz: (Default)

[personal profile] zotz 2005-03-24 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
In what way does the book state that the information's accurate?
aldabra: (Default)

[personal profile] aldabra 2005-03-24 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
We had that when we bought the house in Bristol. She said would we like her to leave the bed in the attic. It was only later that we discovered this was because it couldn't be got out of the attic without dismantling the bannisters (which she'd had to add at the last minute to get the retrospective planning permission sorted).

[identity profile] abigailb.livejournal.com 2005-03-24 05:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah. Yes. Hadn't checked to see where that was in the book...
zotz: (Default)

[personal profile] zotz 2005-03-24 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Someone can be certain of an erroneous position, though - many people have been convinced of the accuracy of hypnotic recall, when in point of fact it's very error-prone.