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yasmin_raev's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Infidelity
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Violence, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, and War
skywhales's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
another foray into classic sci-fi. even introduced by ursula k le guin! (the version i read was). burned through this in a day. this is definitely a book that i think only got the score that it did because of my personal reading biases. i've never claimed to be an objective reader but at least i have the self awareness to recognize that i am not an objective reader. and i did get the major thing i wanted from this book anyway.
i was fascinated by this premise as soon as i heard about it. the idea of humans basically being a blip on the galactic scale. the cockroaches in the rest stop of the universe. aliens who just stopped by and left a bunch of weird shit around that no one knows how to clean up. the Science Fiction in this book was good. the world it created was gritty but interesting. this book's tone is...mostly depressing, pretty much all the way through. which i don't usually love in my normal reads but i already knew going in that in lots of ways this would be a departure from my normal reads. and despite the extreme open endedness of it (another thing i don't usually enjoy) the ending was very poignant, and i believe it'll be the thing that sticks with me the most from this book.
i know you can't judge older books by the standard of the modern era or whatever but god the sexism was a MAJOR factor that impacted my enjoyment of the book. every woman being someone's girlfriend or wife or daughter and reduced to a meaningless sex object or (in the monkey's case) a catalyst for growth from the protagonist. dina's one personality trait was getting called a slut by men fifteen years older than her. a man apparently has a running joke about SAVING HIMSELF FOR AN EIGHT YEAR OLD. the usage of "young men" vs "girls." my expectations were low but this went lower. yuck.
most of the characters were relatively unlikable, but that added to the grim and generally crappy world they lived in and didn't really turn me off from the book, since this isn't really the kind of thing i'm reading for great lovable character design.
in general i think the actual, central "roadside picnic" was the best and most engaging part of the story. i might have liked this better if it had been even shorter, like novella length, because then maybe they wouldn't have gone into detail on all the shit i disliked (the fucking misogyny) and centralized the stuff i read it for in the first place. but my regular disclaimer: maybe i'm just uncultured.
i was fascinated by this premise as soon as i heard about it. the idea of humans basically being a blip on the galactic scale. the cockroaches in the rest stop of the universe. aliens who just stopped by and left a bunch of weird shit around that no one knows how to clean up. the Science Fiction in this book was good. the world it created was gritty but interesting. this book's tone is...mostly depressing, pretty much all the way through. which i don't usually love in my normal reads but i already knew going in that in lots of ways this would be a departure from my normal reads. and despite the extreme open endedness of it (another thing i don't usually enjoy) the ending was very poignant, and i believe it'll be the thing that sticks with me the most from this book.
i know you can't judge older books by the standard of the modern era or whatever but god the sexism was a MAJOR factor that impacted my enjoyment of the book. every woman being someone's girlfriend or wife or daughter and reduced to a meaningless sex object or (in the monkey's case) a catalyst for growth from the protagonist. dina's one personality trait was getting called a slut by men fifteen years older than her. a man apparently has a running joke about SAVING HIMSELF FOR AN EIGHT YEAR OLD. the usage of "young men" vs "girls." my expectations were low but this went lower. yuck.
most of the characters were relatively unlikable, but that added to the grim and generally crappy world they lived in and didn't really turn me off from the book, since this isn't really the kind of thing i'm reading for great lovable character design.
in general i think the actual, central "roadside picnic" was the best and most engaging part of the story. i might have liked this better if it had been even shorter, like novella length, because then maybe they wouldn't have gone into detail on all the shit i disliked (the fucking misogyny) and centralized the stuff i read it for in the first place. but my regular disclaimer: maybe i'm just uncultured.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Alcohol
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Pedophilia
leeyongjin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
mlewis's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Misogyny, and War
Minor: Pregnancy and Pandemic/Epidemic
kellyofcali's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I started out quite liking this, but as it went on, I sort of fell out of interest - it became a bit too twisty and I had a harder time following the writing over time. The authors seems to purposely obfuscate exactly "what is going on," which I did't mind always - they left space for imagining things which I think are too mysterious to really write - but also sometimes led to sort of boring confusion. Still, an interesting stylistic read in the sci-fi genre, for sure.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Violence, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death and Pregnancy
hauntedvamphotel's review against another edition
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, and Sexism
wizardc's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Gore, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War
ashleymg99's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Before I read this book, I had watched Andrei Tarkovsky’s STALKER (which was intriguing, visually delightful, but too slow for me) and my boyfriend is a fan of the games.
This is the cosmic horror novel of the 20th century -Lovecraft stans can fight me. There’s something so sinister about our extreme lack of knowledge about the Zone, and the nightmarish effects it has on the environment and the people in it.
My favorite part of the novel was in the chapter from Noonan’s perspective.Valentine’s Theory of the Roadside Picnic, and the ensuing discussion about the measure of intelligent life was fascinating to me. As I said, there’s something so intriguing and yet disturbing at the idea that these aliens are so far beyond our comprehension, that we are essentially bugs and birds that are examining the mess left by beings we can never hope to understand.
Valentine sees humanity for all its flaws, and in a world where aliens have visited us, he sees the insignificance of us - we are not worth testing, or training or observing. We are simply primitive animals, “using sledgehammers to crack nuts” - picking up alien space junk that we can never hope to understand the true use of, and adapting it for a more primitive purposes.
This is a short read, and overall I was pretty engaged, but there were some slower parts (particularly the beginning of Noonan’s chapter) that struggled to capture my attention.
This is a must read for any sci-fi, cosmic horror, or dystopian fans. Also, watch Tarkovsky’s STALKER - it’s written by the same authors and tells a similar story in the same universe, but is by no means an adaptation.
This is the cosmic horror novel of the 20th century -
My favorite part of the novel was in the chapter from Noonan’s perspective.
Valentine sees humanity for all its flaws, and in a world where aliens have visited us, he sees the insignificance of us - we are not worth testing, or training or observing. We are simply primitive animals, “using sledgehammers to crack nuts” - picking up alien space junk that we can never hope to understand the true use of, and adapting it for a more primitive purposes.
This is a short read, and overall I was pretty engaged, but there were some slower parts (particularly the beginning of Noonan’s chapter) that struggled to capture my attention.
This is a must read for any sci-fi, cosmic horror, or dystopian fans. Also, watch Tarkovsky’s STALKER - it’s written by the same authors and tells a similar story in the same universe, but is by no means an adaptation.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, and Alcohol
gilnean's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Excrement, and Pregnancy