What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
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So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
SOLVED: Adult Fiction
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SOLVED. YA Sci-Fi novel. Scene where the protagonist remembers a painting in their childhood bedroom of animals having fun on a river raft, and feels bad for the animal who is towing the raft. [s]
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Dan
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Jul 10, 2022 08:16PM
I must have read this in grade school or middle school in the 1980s. Probably the book is from the 60s or 70s. I often remember this anecdote from the book: The protagonist had a painting in their childhood bedroom that showed a scene of animals having fun and playing music on a river raft. But one animal is swimming ahead of the raft, towing it. All their life the protagonist felt bad for this poor animal that had to tow the raft. But years later returning to their childhood bedroom, they notice for the first time that there is no rope attaching the swimming animal to the raft. It’s just swimming. A weight is lifted from the protagonist’s shoulders. What book was this??
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Do you remember if the MC is male or female?Approximate age?
I remembered this as well, and finally found it - it's in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams.“...Exactly. These rabbits were in fact on a raft, as were assorted rats and owls. There may even have been a reindeer.”
“On the raft.”
“On the raft. And a boy was sitting on the raft.”
“Among the rabbits in waistcoats and the owls and the reindeer.”
“Precisely there. A boy of the cheery gypsy ragamuffin variety.”
“Ugh.”
"The picture worried me, I must say. There was an otter swimming in front of the raft, and I used to lie awake at night worrying about this otter having to pull the raft, with all these wretched animals on it who shouldn't even be on a raft, and the otter had such a thin tail to pull it with I thought it must hurt pulling it all the time. Worried me. Not badly, but just vaguely, all the time.
Then one day - and remember I'd been looking at this picture every night for years - I suddenly noticed that the raft had a sail. Never seen it before. The otter was fine, he was just swimming along.
Huh. I don't remember this conversation at all. Which means that I have an excuse to reread the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, hah!(no that I really need one, mind you XD)
