Scan barcode
sunn_bleach's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity, Sexism, and Pregnancy
eachz's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Violence, and Alcohol
linnybear's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
tl;dr it's fine I guess? read Lem instead
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Fatphobia and Sexism
Minor: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Pregnancy
frazzzzle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Misogyny, Violence, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity
helloits_sam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Ableism and Misogyny
renicula's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Death and Violence
yasmin_raev's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Infidelity
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
4.25
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
- 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
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.
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Alcohol
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Pedophilia
leeyongjin's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail