Roadside Picnic
Ratings242
Average rating4
Probably the coolest Sci-Fi bit of this book is the premise itself. It gets developed a bit but not a whole lot. The content of the book itself ends up being more about the (in)humanity of living in the real world. All the characters are imperfect, rough around the edges people and the book is mostly about them bumping into each other while trying to survive.
I read the “new translation” of this book, which has some interesting extra bits describing the circumstances of the book's publication. Hard to imagine what the version with all the “gunk” removed would have looked like – it feels like that's the whole book!
Probably the coolest Sci-Fi bit of this book is the premise itself. It gets developed a bit but not a whole lot. The content of the book itself ends up being more about the (in)humanity of living in the real world. All the characters are imperfect, rough around the edges people and the book is mostly about them bumping into each other while trying to survive.
I read the “new translation” of this book, which has some interesting extra bits describing the circumstances of the book's publication. Hard to imagine what the version with all the “gunk” removed would have looked like – it feels like that's the whole book!
I first heard of Roadside Picnic via the Backlisted podcast and as that was very recently listened to, I was aware of the premise of this famous Sci Fi classic and that it was at times philosophical and with that open to one’s own interpretation.
Unknown to humankind artefacts are being retrieved at great danger to themselves by individuals call Stalkers from a “Zone” that Aliens made visit to. The retrieved artifacts are then being on sold in a black-market situation. As this was written in times of literary censorship by the USSR, the Russian brothers who wrote this very good Sci FI have left a lot open-ended so that the reader can decide as to what is actually happening, what the artifacts are and the philosophy behind the book. Roadside Picnic is a wonderful title once I realised the meaning.
For those looking for their Sci Fi to be more operatic in style, this might not be for them. Nonetheless, considering this was first published in 1972 it has sure stood the test of time and as such is highly recommended.
I first heard of Roadside Picnic via the Backlisted podcast and as that was very recently listened to, I was aware of the premise of this famous Sci Fi classic and that it was at times philosophical and with that open to one’s own interpretation.
Unknown to humankind artefacts are being retrieved at great danger to themselves by individuals call Stalkers from a “Zone” that Aliens made visit to. The retrieved artifacts are then being on sold in a black-market situation. As this was written in times of literary censorship by the USSR, the Russian brothers who wrote this very good Sci FI have left a lot open-ended so that the reader can decide as to what is actually happening, what the artifacts are and the philosophy behind the book. Roadside Picnic is a wonderful title once I realised the meaning.
For those looking for their Sci Fi to be more operatic in style, this might not be for them. Nonetheless, considering this was first published in 1972 it has sure stood the test of time and as such is highly recommended.
