Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Roadside Picnic

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky

6 reviews

e_l_k's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I picked up this book due to my increasing interest in the promise of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series (since the sequel comes out soon), as well as to start myself on some Russian/Soviet science fiction. I was not prepared for just how gripping this little gem of a story would be, how engaging the characters would be with their struggles to find agency and stability between an alien anomaly and the government trying to control it. I strongly recommend reading before investigating the history of its publication, dutifully reflected on by one of the authors at the end of this edition. The story holds up on its own without the background, but I gained a lot of respect for it and its authors after learning of their struggles to publish in an increasingly paranoid Soviet environment. Needless to say, there is a reason this book is now considered a classic.

Content Warnings

speir's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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sunn_bleach's review

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adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This'll be one of those books that I like more for the ideas than the content itself. "Roadside Picnic" is easily one of the most influential books of contemporary science fiction through the two pieces of media shouted-out on the cover. The Zone is fascinating, and I find myself dining on and thinking about the various horrific conceits in the novel. Many of the more insidious aspects are mentioned off-hand, as if the "traps" (how else to think of them from a human perspective?) have become mundane.

However, the book itself is... kind of boring. Perhaps this is because it's so short, at less than 200 pages for most modern editions. You have an initial foray into the Zone, but it's bookended by lots of talking and drinking with what felt like cursory examination of the weirdness that comes from the Zone. And I'm not convinced that banality is its own point; "Roadside Picnic" isn't a character study, as bolstered by Boris Strugatsky's own afterword. Dialogue feels mismatched, and chapters stop right as events start t move. For a book about the Zone and people's relationship to it, there's an awful lot of puttering about.

The high point is the conversation between Pillman and Noonan. The former's theory about aliens having the eponymous roadside picnic and leaving their trash for smaller creatures to obsess over is an absolutely fascinating postmodern outlook on man's purpose in the universe. The Strugatskys knocked those 10 or 15 pages out of the Zone's garage.

I'm glad I read this for the influence on some media that I adore, but it would be a hard sell to someone who isn't deeply invested in the history of Russian science fiction or just wants to get more out of the "Stalker" media.

Content Warnings