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jhbandcats 's review for:
Roadside Picnic
by Boris Strugatsky, Arkady Strugatsky
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was written about fifteen years before the Chernobyl radiation disaster. It’s eerily prescient; the descriptions of the Zone and the approach to protecting people from the toxic area mirror the experiences of a nuclear disaster.
Considering this was written fifty years ago in the Soviet Union, it’s remarkably fresh and topical. Governments hush up anything that would look bad. Low level functionaries don’t care about the work - they just need a paycheck to support their families. This doesn’t feel like a Soviet society but instead feels very Western and contemporary.
Ursula Le Guin cites the authors’ “ethical and intellectual sophistication” in her Foreword. The lengthy philosophical discussion she uses as an example was unfortunately my least favorite part. Philosophy has never appealed to me, not even when the conversation is about visits from aliens. It’s because of this that I didn’t rate it higher, and I’m sure I’m in a minority in not liking that part. I just wanted more information on the Zone and how it affected investigators exploring it.
Considering this was written fifty years ago in the Soviet Union, it’s remarkably fresh and topical. Governments hush up anything that would look bad. Low level functionaries don’t care about the work - they just need a paycheck to support their families. This doesn’t feel like a Soviet society but instead feels very Western and contemporary.
Ursula Le Guin cites the authors’ “ethical and intellectual sophistication” in her Foreword. The lengthy philosophical discussion she uses as an example was unfortunately my least favorite part. Philosophy has never appealed to me, not even when the conversation is about visits from aliens. It’s because of this that I didn’t rate it higher, and I’m sure I’m in a minority in not liking that part. I just wanted more information on the Zone and how it affected investigators exploring it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Violence, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Classism