Roadside Picnic (16) (Rediscovered Classics)

This was my first experience with Roadside Picnic, and I can see why it continues to be discussed decades after its original publication. The premise is fascinating, but what really kept me engaged was the atmosphere. There is a constant sense of mystery surrounding the Zones and the strange artifacts left behind, and the authors do an excellent job of revealing just enough information to keep you turning pages without explaining everything away. The characters feel believable, particularly the protagonist, whose decisions and motivations are not always straightforward. That made the story feel more grounded and human despite the unusual setting. The translation reads smoothly, and the paperback itself appears well made, with quality printing and a sturdy cover that should hold up well to multiple readings. NP: The book is exactly as pictured in the listing, so I did not feel the need to add another photo. The product page accurately represents what you receive. If you enjoy science fiction that focuses as much on ideas and human nature as it does on action, this is well worth picking up. It is a memorable read that gives you plenty to think about after the final page.

Aliens stopped briefly on Earth while on their way to somehwere else. They had a "roadside picnic" here. leaving behind high tech gadgets taht to them were trash. They made no attempt to contact earthlings and probably don't intend to return. That premise has the feel of a novel by Lem. But unlike many of Lem's works, this book has character, action, emotion, and a plot.

They came thirteen years ago and went forty-eight hours later, leaving shattered landscapes and strange debris in their wake. Who they are, and their reason for stopping on Earth, remain unknown — as are the exact purpose and function of these artifacts. Human scientists are hard at work studying these valuables, and are even making remarkable scientific breakthroughs with these devices, but are left unsure that they’re using these miracle devices even remotely as intended — or, as LeGuin puts it in her introduction, if they’re using “Geiger counters as hand axes and electrical components as nose rings.” While these six locations are now Zones of Alienation, guarded by military-police, a booming black-market subculture has grown around the young men calling themselves “stalkers” who sneak into the zones to recover these valuable alien artifacts. Braving the hazards of the Zone, many die short and nasty deaths trying to acquire artifacts. Others get tracked down by the police, while some others give up and move away to work in real jobs. Red Schuhart is one of these stalkers; employed as an intern by the scientists studying the Zone, he’s trying to live on the border between legality and outlaw, using his expertise to guide the Russian scientist Kirill in and out of the Zone. On one of these excursions to collect a “full empty,” the worst possible result happens. The embittered Red keeps going back into the zone, addicted to its dangers and thrill, yet hateful of its attraction and the emotional toll associated from all the dead friends and compatriots left in the Zone’s anomalies. But Red will keep going back, because the Zone has what he needs: a limitless supply of valuable artifacts, including a golden sphere which will make wishes come true. Roadside Picnic is not what you might imagine when thinking of a first contact story; the contact isn't between species, but between Red and the alien debris. This focus makes the story all the more human. On the one hand, we have the theme of humanity attempting to adopt these futuristic technologies, the human spirit to survive and better itself. On the other, we have the plight of the stalkers: bitter and poor young men who live in a lower-class ghetto beneath the shadow of the shiny scientific community. The scientists and the military have overtaken the city, and while those born there have various avenues of escape, most pursue the lure of the Zone and become stalkers. They’re not quite forced to go into the zone to survive, but do so in attempts to better their economic standing — part of the Strugatsky’s philosophical commentary, on capitalism and communism Yet Red never manages that upward mobility; later in the story, he’s still living in a run-down Soviet-style tenement and struggling to provide for his family. The value of the artifacts is supposed to be high, but while all the stalkers dream of cashing in and moving to Europe, most of them seem to die in the Zone’s many hazards or emerge too broken to continue smuggling. A vicious cycle, veering towards post-colonial literature in its depiction of the impoverished lower-class doing dangerous things for a quick buck; it’s a refreshing brand of irony to see this applied to what’s ostensibly Canada (the prologue mentions the Royal Armored Corps blockading the Zone, and refers to “over in Europe,” but leaves the exact locale undefined). This is one of the best books I've read all year. The translation was amazing, the prose crisp and clean and readable… and readability doesn't always go hand-in-hand with philosophical genius, as it does here. This was a book I couldn't put down, and I enjoyed every minute I spent engrossed in its pages. I wish someone would re-translate and re-publish more Eastern European SF — or at least more Strugatsky novels — because I’m enthralled with them after finishing Roadside Picnic.

It's hard to know exactly how to describe Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's Russian science-fiction classic Roadside Picnic in any way that can convey the haunting, oppressive, surreal mood of the novel. Made up of four sections, each separated by periods of time, the novel unfolds in a small town near an area called the Zone, which was left behind after an alien visitation unwitnessed by any humans - indeed, the only evidence of their arrival and presence was these leftover Zones, scattered around the globe. But in the small North American town of Harmont, where the novel unfolds, men known as "stalkers" lead expeditions into the area (some legal, some not) to retrieve the alien leftovers for profit. But what exactly are these leftovers? What was their original purpose? Study them though they might, the scientists have only barely begun to understand anything about these objects. "I'm absolutely convinced that in the vast majority of cases we're using sledgehammers to crack nuts," says a scientist at one point, illustrating how infuriating and bewildering it is to be so close to mind-expanding technology, but unable to know anything about it. And that all goes double for the Zone, a bizarre, nightmarish area whose outward normality belies bizarre rules, deadly traps, bending gravity, and more. These are areas in which normal rules no longer apply, where the very rules of science seem to no longer hold true. But why are these Zones here? Are they testing us? Are they windows into a larger world? Or, as the same scientist says, are they simply the refuse and trash of aliens who stopped for a roadside picnic on our earth, and saw us as ants and animals - not even worth speaking to? That's a bleak philosophical backdrop to a novel, but seems fitting for a novel written in 1972 Russia - after all, this is a culture known for its weary, laughing acceptance of all the cruelties of life, and Roadside Picnic is no different, American setting or not. Whether the book is a critique of the Russian system or an allegory for the corruption of capitalism or simply a science fiction story, I leave for each reader to decide for themselves; yes, there's a long history of censorship of the novel, but as Boris Strugatsky explains in the fascinating afterword, it was never quite clear exactly what was wrong with the novel, other than maybe its tone. But whatever the deeper meaning, Roadside Picnic ultimately feels like humanity coming to terms with its own insignificance, and trying to make peace with what that says about us. Are we just base animals, scrabbling for money and self-interest? Could we be more than that? All of this makes Roadside Picnic sound existential and crushing, I know; indeed, if you've seen Andrei Tarkovsky's film version of the novel, Stalker, you might expect something weighty and heady like that. Instead, Roadside Picnic is remarkably down-to-earth, engaging with its ideas through drunken conversations and private musings, all while living through its primary lead, a stalker named Red whose incursions into the Zone are tense, unnerving, and unsettling, all without much ever truly happening. Indeed, one of the things that makes Roadside Picnic so effective is the way it suggests so much without ever explaining anything, allowing the reader's mind to fill in the gaps of this world around the edges, while giving us an interesting, relatable, down-to-earth character we can empathize with. After all, all Red wants is to provide for his family, and exploring the Zone is what he's good at. I'm not wild about the ending of the novel in some ways, which seems like it comes from a different story entirely, eschewing the more existential and weirdly practical questions of the rest of the book for a quest for a mythical object which may or may not exist, but demands much. There's something fascinating about where the Strugatskys choose to end the novel, though, which ties into that larger question of what exactly we are as a human race, and whether we truly can overcome our limitations. It's a compelling ending, even if I'm not sold on the way we get there. But even with that, it's hard to really convey how much this strange, slight novel will stick with you, informing how you see the world and creating a haunting, grim world that you'll think about for a long time after you finish the pages. Its ideas, its worldbuilding, its imagination, and its characters all live and breathe, giving you a novel whose ambitions and ideas linger beautifully and whose classic status is justly deserved.

I picked up the paperback after hearing it was a must read for sci-fi fans. The idea is interesting. Aliens briefly land on Earth, then leave, with evidence and weird tech strewn over several "Zones" on Earth. "Stalkers" illegally enter these Zones, encountering many hazards in order to sell alien artifacts on the black market. Cool idea, and the scenes in the Zone are great. You can feel the danger, and the strangeness of it all. Roadside Picnic when in the Zone is brilliant. However, there is only 10 to 15 pages in Zone at the front of the book, and 20 to 25 pages at the end. That means 30 to 40 pages of the fascinating Zone, and the rest (of the 193 pages) out of the Zone. What happens there? Not much. People talk a lot, in their old timey 1950's way. Everyone smokes and drinks constantly, and women stay in the kitchen, so it does feel like a Mad Men era book. The writing is detailed, but possibly due to the translation, it's clunky at times and hard to "see" exactly what happened. There are a few good conversations between background characters on the psychological, sociological, philosophical implications of the alien visit, and while it's smart and interesting, it's hard to care when you just want to get back to the action and intensity of the Zone. Overall, worth reading for great ideas, but mediocre as a story.

I became aware of Roadside Picnic by way of the movie Stalker, which I in turn learned of as a fan of the STALKER video game series. The film Stalker was interesting, but seemed more of a Soviet-era filmmaking experiment than a proper story, so I was very much relieved to find that Roadside Picnic captures both a science fiction tale and - to a lesser extent - a sort of time capsule of the political and social environment as of its original writing. This new English translation also gives some extensive background information concerning the bumpy and winding route between the story's original conception and this new, arguably most complete edition. The story's protagonist is not a hero, but he is probably the most fundamentally "human" character I've encountered in a sci-fi novel in a very long time. The story unfolds over a considerable span of time, which might not work in some cases but is critical to creating the unique atmosphere of the Zone and contributing to its mystique. It is not a sci-fi "action thriller" in any way - there aren't battles with hostile extraterrestrials or journeys into outer space - but instead an alien encounter that would probably be much more likely than traditional sci-fi offers. If there is any shortcoming, it's that even with large print and considerable author's notes, Roadside Picnic is not very long. It doesn't necessarily need to be, as the story is told in a fulfilling manner at a fluid pace, but I would have enjoyed a little more character development. Other than that, I have no complaints, and it has actually prompted me to revisit the STALKER games that clearly drew a great deal of inspiration from the story without ripping it off.

Roadside Picnic is one of those books where, if you're not paying attention, you're going to miss the broader point. In Roadside Picnic, the world has been passed over by the Visit. Aliens stopped by, leaving behind a Zone of thousands upon thousands of trinkets to be studied, sold. Or to be utterly destroyed by. The Zone is a dangerous place, after all, and the visitors left no sign that they wanted to communicate with humans at all. But there are still people convinced that the trinkets were left behind to accelerate humanity's development, or something like that. The Zone can't be meaningless, right? Redrick is one of the stalkers--people who venture into the Zone to get trinkets to sell. This is technically illegal, but the money is better than working under someone else, which Red finds oppressive. To him, the Visit only matters insofar as it has given him a way to earn good money even between stays in jail. Like all illicit activities, traitors and double-crossers abound, until Red finds himself making one last trip to the Zone to find a magical sphere that, supposedly, grants wishes. Roadside Picnic is an interesting story. It's fast-paced, with great prose, and interesting characters. The Zone itself is fascinating. It's not over-described, but also not so vague you can't get a sense of what the place is like. While moody with themes of human impotency like a lot of Russian novels, the book is still phenomenal. I really loved some of the questions the book raised, like, why would aliens stop here? And if they did, why would they care about us? Do we really care about them anyway? Why would they leave behind so much trash? It's a super short book and worth the read.

This book lilts like a weather-beaten gravestone, sunk in a forest cemetery littered amongst the broken fragments of classic science fiction tropes. Originality shines through in the story line and voice of the authors (and translator—I read the 2012 translation). The plot laps in along the written words in understated waves, cutting into the psyche as silent and nondescript as a straight razor. The characters are displaced misfits revolving in orbital magnetism around demarcated zones. These “zones” are the site of past visitations from unidentified extraterrestrial beings. In the wake of these visits the aliens have left behind foreign objects that imbue strange physics of unknown purpose. An interesting premise that immediately goes off the rails when it’s revealed that nobody knows anything about the aliens; and that none of this is precipitating a massive invasion. The aliens came and went without saying hello, goodbye or cleaning up after themselves when they exited the planet. What’s left is their junk. Commence story. The science fiction elements in this tale are subtle and yet present in perfect form. There is no ambiguous allusion to the weird or otherworldly. Strange things happen that are not of this earth, but not in any kind of grandiose fashion. Yes, the planet and mankind’s destiny is forever changed, but not in the way that some Hollywood script might explore. Also absent are long diatribes mining over the murkier parts of dark science. This is not hard sci-fi. The focus tends to be more on the interpersonal relationships of the characters who live on the fringes of the alien zones and how their immediate, domestic lives are affected. Relationships, work, local politics all center around a black market of trade that has evolved and devolved based on the supply and demand of skilled human workers who can negotiate the dangerous obstacles in the zones and retrieve some of the coveted alien pieces for further study. There is no quest. Well, that’s not entirely true, but the story is not so much about getting the sacred “boon” to save the world as it is about what we happen to learn about ourselves in our quest to know and understand—everything. Lots of questions are posed and the actions of the characters feel almost like poetic gestures poised against the eternal esoteric void of the universe. I’ve seen some reviewers read a “faith-type” journey into this story. I also feel compelled toward this view, but not in any specific denominational sense. I felt that the protagonist was on a spiritual journey of some sort. Almost like a vision quest. He throws himself into the dangerous zones as if he is throwing himself at the universe. Daring to be understood. So much of the story is beyond the words and obtuse. Much is left to interpretation. Yet, things are not so abstract as to put off a straight reading. Very concrete events happen that can be tracked and followed. There just seems to be the perfect amount of an ethereal aura present that the story is transported up out of the gloomy-gray of the abandoned and ever-decaying zones, and lifted into an eternity of human existence. The experience is haunting and thought provoking. This is one of the few books I’d like to come back and re-read to see what I’ve missed and what other universal truths I could glean from the prose. And yet, it’s not because the writing is so complex or the ideas so foreign. This work contains significant bones, multi-layered in the simple genius that I long for in a masterpiece. Podcast: If you enjoy my review (or this topic) this book and the movie based on it were further discussed/debated in a lively discussion on my podcast: "No Deodorant In Outer Space". The podcast is available on iTunes, Tune-In Radio, Stitcher, Google Play Music, YouTube or our website.

Ideal

Here we have a late edition of the work, and one of the Strugatsky's according to the cover is still alive in st petersburg that ancient city of Old Russia and center of an old order and culture..whenever we read a text especially by a writer who not only look inside people but at the outside world and this is quite difficult to accomplish in a literary text of 200 pages or less. The afterward is humble as he details as a literary person the bureaucratic travails of getting his works published, and I do recall hearing of him and reading newspaper articles in my youth, and he was the most famous of Russian writers next to Solzhenitsyn and I must remind western critics his books and ideas are actually aimed at all political systems. Much like shakespeare's tempest pr Huxley's Island the zone is not located anywhere anyplace, but are humans in general and what they are all about and why they are suffering the way they are. He has been called a communist, but this word is often misunderstood perhaps he uses marxism as a way to diagnose society, how people are alinated and what the problems are in current society rather than endorse any party. Although I dont pretend to speak for him..other titles for the novel are interesting Hard to be God, and the worse comment a writer likes is he thinks he's God and is capable of writing and thinking up a great society that no one else can, and I doubt he liked this title. Other comments on the afterward, regarding what the far left's ideal of agreat society, freedom, but can there be such freedom, or any kind of far left rule when on p 204 he states concerning the violence "comments concerning physical vilence" and the novel is about a stalker(sic) entering a zone and getting artifacts, and although alienation is apparent throughout this novel, and in his great forbear's masterpiece, Zamyatin's WE, the question is how do we really civilize people. In one passage midway through the book the character muses about aliens and invasions into children, and woman being prettied up like dolls, will that bring satisfaction to him, and a very humane remark about providing for children and his wife, and these are all things which are capitalist society does not bring I agree, but why blame the economy and why not put the blame elsewhere..he in no way takes these views..as a work of art it is impeccable, one of the hallmarks of science fiction, serious science fiction. On p 180 "Vultures..there are too many of them..that's why there are no clean places..the whole world is filthy..later on p 185 "begging for peace..water..memories..knocking one another.,jostling, mingling, intertwining..pity or hatred."..The whole world is a zone, and we I think are the first words of the declaration of independence, our experiences never quite jive, what the world should be, but the heart of this novel lies in stalker and violence, it would be interesting to see this Russian film, a novel evocative of all nations where this novel is actually located..

I had only ever seen the movie version of this story so it was significant surprise to find that the original setting for the story isn’t somewhere in the former Soviet Union, but in fact appears to be Canada. An even bigger surprise, and a most welcome one to me as Kipling fan, was to discover in Arkady Strugatsky’s afterword in this book, that the authors’ derived the word Stalker from the character 'Stalky' in Kipling’s Stalky and Co stories. Both the film and book have different but equally melancholic endings. However the novel might be said to have the ultimate happy ending, depending on what you believe the protagonist is actually thinking in the last paragraph…

Très mauvaise traduction… Mais l’histoire est géniale ! A acheter sous une autre édition !!!

The translation is rather clunky (clumsy wording, shifts in tenses mid-sentence, once even a change of the sentence's subject that renders a whole paragraph nonsensical). But I forgive all that because of an accidental pentameter on page 110 (complete with rhyme): "The risen dead have no place to return ... and that is why they're sorrowful and stern." I also enjoyed the descriptions of unpredictable physics and weird artefacts inside the Zone, and shuddered at the various "accidents" and ways to die in there (that totally go with my "descriptions of war can never represent war" argument). All in all, I'm really glad to have read this book. Still, I think that Tarkovsky probably picked out some of the best bits for his adaptation STALKER.