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Roadside Picnic
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Roadside Picnic
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Roadside Picnic
Audiobook7 hours

Roadside Picnic

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a "full empty," something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he'll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems.

Editor's Note

Stalker’s inspiration…

Strange & haunting, this Soviet Sci-Fi classic about the aftermath of an alien visit presents a smart & cynical view of the limits of human understanding.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 15, 2012
ISBN9780385367110

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Rating: 4.0111334048583 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A fantastic concept for a science fiction story, that advanced alien visitors stopped off on earth for a rest, leaving behind various bits of junk and technology while being completely oblivious of humankind, kind of how a family on a road trip might litter and enjoy themselves carelessly, oblivious to animals and insects. The resulting items left in various zones on the planet have strange properties, sometimes highly valuable, sometimes lethal, and a black market quickly forms, fed by expert scavengers called stalkers who lead dangerous expeditions to retrieve them. It’s a great tale and very well told by the Strugatsky Brothers, my favorite I’ve read from them.There are many aspects of the story that made me think of life in the Soviet Union (the story was written in the 1970s) - the suppression of information, beauracracy, spies/informants, an industrial wasteland (almost a premonition of Cherynobyl), indeterminate/random danger, and the black market... it all seems to come from the conditions the story was written under. You can read more into it, e.g. the idealism of technology benefiting man as maybe an echo of the dream of communism, which may be a stretch, or see what seems to be spelled out directly, which is the heart’s innermost desire for liberty and happiness. I interpreted the story as a veiled reference to navigating one’s life in the absurd, dangerous environment of communism, maybe fueled in this view by Tarkovsky’s Stalker which seems to amplify it, but in the afterword Boris Strugatsky, writing years later, said it really wasn’t criticism of the existing order, and his only headache was getting the work past censors over 8(!) years, as they objected to “immoral behavior”, physical violence, and vulgar expressions, not unlike the Catholic League of Decency’s power over film in the days of the Hays Code in America. It’s kind of hard to believe, particularly with the ending, which is so spine tingling and pure, but that’s what he said - and which others far brighter than me have reinforced. It’s not an anti-Soviet book, and the authors were not dissidents - that’s just a projection of mine.Regardless, it’s absolutely brilliant, tightly told, and works on a literal level just fine. There is action, a gritty antihero (“Red”), and mind-bending effects of the technology, including mutation and the dead risen from their graves. The idea of dangerous technology in the hands of flawed humanity resonates, as does putting man’s intelligence and importance in perspective - perhaps completely unable to even communicate to aliens, ala the situation in Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris, and picking up bits of their technology with no more understanding of it than an ape might understand a computer. There’s lots to love here, and it would be interesting to see another film adaptation that remained more true to the plot in the book.Just this quote, on religion:“The issue is that man, at least the average man, can easily overcome this need [for knowledge]. In my opinion, the need doesn’t exist at all. There’s a need to understand, but that doesn’t require knowledge. The God hypothesis, for example, allows you to have an unparalleled understanding of absolutely everything while knowing absolutely nothing...Give a man a highly simplified model of the world and interpret every event on the basis of this simple model. This approach requires no knowledge.”
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    a book with a soul.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    (original review, 2000)Just started re-reading this yesterday and am already gripped. It's truly unsettling in the most understated of ways. It reminds me a little of John Wyndham's work; it has a similar quality of matter-of-factness about it that somehow makes it all the more chilling.Pure literary gold...strangely put me in mind of "Stoner". You read and there is no way you can stop. Unless you need to go pee or drink a cup of coffee. Or you're really tired and go to bed. Or you've arrived at work and, seriously, you can't stand in front of class reading a random book; especially not on your smartphone. Other than that it's unputdownable.SF is a genre, comic books are a medium. There are SF comic books, and there are comic books in just about any other genre under the sun. If you're referring specifically to the Superhero genre of comic books, well it's debatable as to whether that's Science Fiction or not, but it's certainly an allied genre within the whole Speculative Fiction umbrella. Star Wars is SF, specifically the subgenre called Space Opera which is a soft SF genre, light on science, heavy on futuristic action and adventure elements.As for SF in general, I really feel I need to do more to venture outside my Anglo-American comfort zone. I've read a couple of works in translation which have been somewhat lackluster and that's put me off a bit. Having said that, I read Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers this week, and enjoyed it so much that I didn't put it down until I was finished. Also, I tend to buy books on impulse but have never found myself buying a translated book this way - there just doesn't seem to be that many, particularly for recent works. Consequently, although I could name a few old SF writers from around the world, I really have no idea who the Taiwanese equivalent of Adam Roberts is, for instance.NB: If only someone could write a book where one would feel afraid to turn the page.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Like another reviewer has already observed, I too wish I'd read this before the Southern Reach trilogy - but what's done is done -

    This story in some ways made me just hum "what a long strange trip it's been" over and over, while at other times maybe I'd just shake my head at how impenetrable some of the plot devices and characters are - but never does this story let you feel very at home & that is what marks it as true science fiction for me - the reader is forced here to inhabit a foreign (post pseudo contact) world but will never be comfortable there !
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An unusual first contact story, although it is far more than that. The tension at the beginning and end is intense and extended. The characters are memorable. It is overwhelmingly dark, almost hopeless, almost. There is a similarity to Vonnegut, and he is even given a cameo mention in the story, but I found it very much like Philip K. Dick in its surprising quirky details and crossover into fantasy. PKD however is lighter in tone than these Russian brothers. I’ll definitely read some of their other works.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A rushed, hot-blooded, feverish, noir-soaked sci-fi tale of a humanity beaten into complete self-pity and nihilism by the realization (prompted by a disappointingly impersonal alien visit) that they just don't add up to much. It's fast-moving stuff, smart and sharp, and even though there is nearly no "beauty" in the whole book, it's at least an unforgettable story and an interesting philosophical perspective.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've been reading the weird translated books a lot lately. I heard there was a Tarkovsky film based on this book AND that Jeff Vandermeer is a fan, and I had to read it. So vivid and full of detail and character for such a short book. AND this mentions Vonnegut! The translation is lovely by Bormashenko. This books seems to have inspired some newer weird favorites like Vandermeer's 'Annihilation' trilogy and China Mieville's 'The Last Days of New Paris'. Glad to have found about this.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Cold War Era Soviet Science Fiction about alien visitations to Earth. Color me intrigued. This book was written in the early 70's by the Strugastsky Brothers. It was initially published as serials in magazines and the first English translation was published in the US in 1977. The book was censored and then highly edited in Soviet Russia, and an author approved version wasn't published in Russia until after 1990.Before the book starts, aliens have visited Earth and left 6 Zones around the world where they left detritus and artifacts and changed the landscape that makes it dangerous to humans. Red is one of a shady group of Stalkers who illegally go into the Zones to harvest and collect these artifacts, such as perpetual batteries and other technologies that now drive modern society. But the Zones also have traps and pitfalls that Red and other Stalkers have to confront. The scenes in the Zone were very exciting and trippy, but there was an expositional section in the middle that was a little slow for me.Overall, a very weird and interesting story. Somewhat reminded me of Jeff Vandermer's Southern Reach Trilogy with the forbidden lands and the mystery that surrounds them. Its been out of print in the US for many years, but a new translation was recently published with a forward by Ursula K Leguin 8/10S: 7/10/17 - 7/19/17 (10 Days)
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Interesting and enticing for the whole missing-information approach - but just didn't deliver the punch I was expecting.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a deeply creepy book, and incredibly evocative. The Strugatsky brothers do a remarkable job of driving you to infer enormous mysteries from a relatively sparse amount of detail on the written page. This book will stay with me for a long, long time.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    "Zones" have been found around the world which are presumed to have been locations of alien visitations. At least, that's the closest anyone's been able to describe what is thought to have caused the sudden appearance of areas of phenomena for which there are no explanations: corpses rising from the dead, tiny areas of extreme gravity, deadly substances which come out of nowhere and kill or eat parts of humans or animals who get too close, and artifacts humanity is beginning to be able to use but unable to replicate. One scientist thinks the zones are the remains of alien "roadside picnics". The zones are cordoned off and access granted only to researchers, but there is a lively trade in illegally obtained items stolen by "stalkers", who risk their freedom and lives in the hope of eluding innumerable traps, first in the zone itself and then from the police awaiting the stalkers - when they manage to get out. Most have died. Those who survive have deformed children who sometimes don't look human. The main character is a stalker named Red, a rough-and-tumble sort who's made numerous trips into the zone near his home. He's seen acquaintances disappear or die horribly, and he's spent lengthy spells in prison as the police try to break him of his stalker ways. Red's likable but also course, angry, and violent. He drinks a lot, usually to forget what's he's seen or is planning to do. He's under no illusion that what he does to provide for his family is absolutely insane. This is the first Strugatsky Brothers novel I've read, and it was marvelous. There's a madcap hysteria about it I didn't think I'd enjoy, but it pulled me right in. There's just no way to predict whether Red or anyone else will survive each page, and the mystery of the zones is obviously unsolvable, so there's no security for either the characters or the reader about what will happen. For some reason, it really works. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This 1970s Russian SF novel is considered something of a classic of the field, and I can definitely see why. It's based on a fantastic idea, one that really gets under your skin: Thirteen years ago, aliens briefly visited Earth. Everywhere they landed, bizarre, destructive, inexplicable things happened. Then they took off again, giving no indication of why they'd come in the first place, but leaving the places they touched forever changed into something weird and dangerous, scattered with unfathomable alien technologies and equally unfathomable hazards. People go into these zones to scavenge for these technologies, but often they don't come out again. Or they come out changed. And creepy, impossible things continue to happen around them. What does all this mean? Nobody knows for sure, but one character speculates that perhaps the visitors' stop on Earth was no more than a roadside picnic, and these altered landscapes and abandoned miracles are nothing more than their discarded garbage and forgotten tools, and the careless tracks of their passing. Like I said, it's a fantastic concept.The story itself, which focuses mainly on one of these scavengers (or "stalkers") isn't very substantially plotty or anything, but it pulled me along nicely, anyway. The setting is a little odd, because it's not quite anywhere in particular, under not quite any political system in particular (an artifact, perhaps, of the restrictions the authors were under while writing in Soviet Russia). But while I found that a little distracting, it mostly works OK in the end. The one really sour note is the book's treatment of women, which is abysmal, even for the 70s: every woman in the story is either a sex object, or is ordered about like a servant, or both, and none of them have the faintest shred of a personality. Still, as annoyed as I was by that, I'm still very glad to have finally filled this gap in my reading of the genre.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Aliens came to visit. Aliens have gone. And what's left on Earth is basically a couple of piles of trash from these picnics. Wait, that isn't quite as rosy as it sounds - they're disaster zones, and the "trash" is dangerous as hell. Some think that meticulously retrieving and probing the mysterious artefacts and items would yield interesting scientific results. Some think that the zones should be left alone. Some think there's a black market out there for all the weird stuff. So in come the stalkers - people skilled in traversing the dangers of the visitation zones, some using their skills with permissions and proper gear, some taking the harder way and just going there on their own."Roadside Picnic" is a bit disjointed book - a series of episodes in and out of the visitation zone. Compared to the film "Stalker" that was loosely based on the novel, the story focuses a little bit more on the milieu and lifes and situations and feelings of individual characters, and doesn't really have as much direction. On the other hand, "Stalker" is a slow and meditative film, while "Roadside Picnic" is positively action-packed at times. The protagonist, Red Schuhart, also isn't one upholding all that solemn and contemplative narrative, and goes for a bit more of relaxation.Reading this book was part of my "oh damn, now that I have a tablet, I'll read all the ebooks I've wanted to read" challenge. Most of those books were from Project Gutenberg, but while Roadside Picnic isn't public domain, the book and its first English translation has been available on the web for a long time through official Strugatsky websites. Years ago, I even tried feeding the novel through text-to-speech. Never quite completed it, but now I did. Of course, I had to deal with the fact that the reader app didn't really like the *fascinating* HTML conversion, so reading experience wasn't optimal. It went okay, though.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A fabulous concept for a book. The stalker subplot is the highlight of the book, w immediate cash for items brought out of the zone. I thought the dialogue was a bit awkward, though that may just have been the translation in the pdf that I read.. Could have been 70's, could have been 1920's Russian sci fi. I would have liked more closure at the end also.I am interested in watching the movie also, but you know how that goes...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    For me, this book is not about who the visitors where, what they wanted and what they left behind. It is about human nature as seen by the response of people to this unique event and its consequences. It is about a small city where everyone is trying to get at everyone. Stealing, lying, double-crossing, killing for money and for survival. Even the most honest or innocent end up entangled in this mess.

    I read Stanislav Lem's review about the book and I frankly believe his criticisms were unfair. I don't see a problem with the possibility that the visitors were benevolent and the whole thing was an accident. The point is that we, just like the people in the book, don't know, can't know and in the end it doesn't matter. The possibility that they didn't even notice us is enough. I also don't see the turn to fairy tale towards the end of the book. The Golden Globe had become a legend for the people in the book, but there is no reason to think that there is something special about it. In fact, the person that first found it doesn't seem to have any of his wishes fulfilled and when Red finally sees it he notices that it looks quite ordinary, another piece of visitor junk.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Sometime in the future, aliens have left scattered artifacts around. The Zones, or alien areas, are full of strange phenomena and mysterious objects. Stalkers illegally venture into the zone area and collect, and sell, these mysterious artifacts.This is a republication of a science fiction novel published in 1972. I am not a huge sci-fi fan, but I found this book hard to put down. It has an interesting plot line, moves swiftly and the characters are fascinating. Overall, I highly recommend this classic.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It was 1981 or 82 when I read a review in the New York Times movie section about this Russian film that was made a couple of years before and was then showing in Manhattan (probably the Carnigie Cinema). It was made by Tarkovsky and the film critic almost panned the film, "Stalker". She described it as an overly long 'walking' movie whereby the characters do little else but walk from one place and one scene to the next.The reviewer did present some of the story-line and it sounded pretty interesting to me. I had already seen Solaris and Andrei Rubelev and found both films to be quite memorable.If STALKER was made by Tarkovsky how bad could it possibly be. I never got to see the film until years later but that review stuck inside my head. Then, a couple of years later I was in a bookstore and happened upon Roadside Picnic. After reading the description on the back cover and then about twenty or so pages in I realized this was the movie I had read about. I really love this book; such a subtle "first contact" tale that retains its mystery. I eventually saw the film as well and include it in my favorites of all time. Then again, if a really good filmmaker wanted to make a closer rendition of the book I'd be all for that as well.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Aliens have come and gone. They landed, ignored us humans, and soon left. But where they landed, these Zones, they left artifacts behind, dangerous artifacts. Dangerous, because humans really have no idea what they actually do. But the humans, always curious, need these artifacts, to study and use. In the beginning of this book, Red is trying to work honestly, with the government, collecting these items. He has his past as a stalker, a person who illegally enters the Zone in search of artifacts to sell on the black market. He's trying honest work. But after a tragic run into the Zone and a family to feed, Red returns to his old ways. I thought the majority of this book would take place within the Zone - Red making his way, avoiding danger, and picking up left over alien artifacts. But the majority of this book takes place outside of the Zone between Red's ventures into the Zone. We get to see how the Zone affects Red, his family, and those in town around him. It's amazing and depressing to see how much this zone affects the environment and people around it - mentally and physically. We mostly see this world by way of Red, though we get another character's point of view half way through for a bit before going back to Red. Red's a hard man, which is understandable. Stalkers have to have a certain mind set. Red has what seems like a magical ability to know exactly how to navigate within the Zone. He has this fabulous Zone intuition - step there, crawl here, don't, for the love of god, touch that. It's how he survives.The ending is abrupt and may be unsatisfying for some. I have mixed feelings. There's a build up that really pulled me in, so for it to suddenly end, it was a bit unsettling. But the more I think about it, the more it seems like the perfect place for the story to end. What Red is about to do, it fits that we would not get to see that.ARC provided through NetGalley.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I was thinking about watching Tarkovsky's "Stalker", a movie take-off of "Roadside Picnic". However, I didn't much care for his version of Lem's great book "Solaris" and thought the Strugatskys' story might be a bit less turgid. It was surprisingly down to earth, at least as much as a story about discarded extraterrestrial artifacts can be. It's similar to Solaris in that the alien aspect provides a window on humanity. The translation from the Russian is very idiomatic. Well done.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Out of print in the US, I waited for two months for this book to come in from GB. Gripping novel but it ultimately falls apart at the end. Authors had a point, but I have no idea what it was. I will watch the Tarkovsky version now.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What a wonderful little book this is, one of the few written in the 70s that has not aged a bit. Here aliens visited the earth for a mere moment at some point, leaving behind a contaminated no-go area, full of mysterious artefacts and technological rubbish. "Stalkers" venture illegally into the "Zone" to gather as many of those objects as possible without becoming contaminated and die and of course sell them to the highest bidder. Red is one of those and for some years of his life we accompany him as he tries to make money for himself and his family. The story is sparse and slowly told but the rest, the time, landscape, social situation, environment, emotions are all told fascinatingly detailed. We will never find out what it is exactly the alien visitors left behind, but that is not what the book is about anyway. Red lives in this world and in his own way tries to work against the Dystopian society with a strong wish to make this world a better one, which, in the end, he just might.A fascinating story, written beautifully, at the same time sparse, controlled and rich in detail and full of emotions. Wonderful book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    what an astonishingly strange, beautiful and powerful little book this is. i've seen "stalker" many times, but hadn't prepared myself for quite how different - and diifferently good - the book would be. whereas the film is almost obsessivey about space and time stillness, the book almost has a discernibe plot, whilst also having the same sort of haunting "absence" that the film does at it's best. like the film i know it won't be to everyone's taste, but if you're willing to venture carefully the rewards are many and varied. very good indeed
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A thoughtful examination of what human beings really know about the world that surrounds us. Russian "stalker" enters the Zone to retrieve objects left there by the aliens, selling them on the black market. Subtle and mesmerizing writing. And although Tarkowsky's movie, "The Stalker," based on the book, does not resemble the original that much, together they provide a fascinating look into the problem of reality vs. fiction and how stories are created and told. Both, of course, provide an insight into the Soviet reality in the late '70s.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In the pantheon of Soviet era science fiction writers, the Strugatsky brothers are widely acknowledged to be at the top, and Roadside Picnic is one of their best works. The concept is simple. Aliens briefly visit the earth and leave again with no interest in meeting or interacting with the human race. Earth was simply a brief stopover in a journey who's purpose and destination is unknowable. The landing site is now an abandoned section of a town in Canada uninhabitable due to the contamination and dangerous debris left behind by the aliens. Space still bears the scars of whatever means of transportation they used to reach Earth. Scattered throughout the area are regions of super strong gravitational fields and regions of fierce electromagnetic discharges. The site is polluted with dangerous (to humans) contaminants and littered with technological marvels that defy understanding but were discarded with no more concern than an empty oil can or a soda bottle.The site of the Visitation has become an internationally controlled research institute, but the locals enter the site illegally to collect the alien artifacts for a thriving black market. Everyone, every company, every nation wants access to the discarded technology and are willing to pay dearly for what the stalkers (those who risk their lives to enter The Zone and retrieve artifacts) can provide. Redrick Schuhart is such a stalker. A mere boy at the time of the Visitation, he has grown up to become one of the best stalkers working the area. He is skilled and cautious, able to infer the nearby presence of a region of enhanced gravity by its effects on the air currents. Suspicious of everything, his sharp eyes can detect the subtle dangers in a cob web.In a western science fiction novel, we would be treated to a panoply of technological marvels and adventures explained in detail and carefully defined. The Strugatskys don't work that way. The mystery always remains. Terminology flashes by and the reader is left to work out the meaning for themselves. The technique can be disconcerting and frustrating, but it is effective at maintaining the sense of ever present danger. Everything can be deadly no matter how innocuous it may appear.Another hallmark of the Strugatskys' work is the bureaucracy of the research institute. Red Schuhart struggles not just with the dangers of The Zone, but with the corrupt and petty bureaucrats and soldiers who administer the area. The novel is a thinly veiled commentary on the corruption of power in the Soviet Union and the struggle of a common man against that bureaucracy. The government and the institute supposedly exists to exploit The Zone for the betterment of all. Instead it creates a gritty, cruel world of criminals within the populace as well as the government where everyone is competing for the lucrative benefits to be had from The Zone. It's Red's desire to wipe away this dystopic society which results in his final act of the novel. His final wish is to create the better world that was promised, but never created, by the government.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very good, thought it might have lost something in the translation. It hasn't.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A fascinating examination of the idea that if Earth were to host an alien culture for a while we may be no more to them than the animals and the birds that run and hide when we stop our cars for a roadside picnic. The translation is good, and there are some moments of hilarity as well as a nice line in realistic dialogue.Overall a thoroughly enjoyable read, a novel of ideas with a genuine heart. The ending is a little weak and lets down the everyday grimness of the rest of the work, but that's a minor failing, and perhaps more to do with the requirements of fiction than any failing on the part of the authors.Something here for those who like their science-fiction to be a little less anthropomorphic than the run-of-the-mill space operas and the like. There were echoes of Philip K Dick throughout, particularly in the focus on ordinary, everyday working people stuck in impossible situations. All in all a book that anyone who claims to love science-fiction should really add to their list of things to read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I first watched the film “stalker” and was intrigued to listen to the book. I listened to it over the course of a few months and just like the film, it was very difficult to follow and fairly minimalistic. However, my favorite part of the book is the metaphor of “a roadside picnic“. It makes the visit make a lot more sense and proposes a lot of interesting questions behind the origin of the visit.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Zone, the Zone, the Zone... A roman-noir that reeks of existentialism and brilliant one liners. Schuhart, the proverbial stalker comes to life in an overwhelming manner until you almost feel his pain and sympathize with his long rants about being left out in a dog-eat-dog society. A book that enthralls with many mysteries such as the meaning of the "visit" and the significance of what was left behind in this intergalactic picnic.
    Not so much a story about aliens, but about feeling alien in the very same city that saw you grow. Camus would be proud!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Classic Russian sci-fi, well worth a read.

    Was this the basis of the movie Stalker by Tarkovsky? It all seemed so familiar when I read it.

    It also does that thing that Russian books do, in that they affect you differently, to say it without being cheesy, they seem to have more soul? Like they are written from a different place inside a human. If I could have my life over I'd have liked to have been able to read Russian. I'd have also liked to have gone there in the Soviet days with that language inside of me..

    We've been polluted by so many years of propaganda that I fear we will never, ever, understand why Russian culture (not politics) seems so deep on an emotional level when compared to ours.

    But there you go...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A sci-fi story wrapped in a classic Russian novel. My experience is that Russian novels are weak in action but strong in philosophical dialog. And this story lends itself to a lot of dialog. The result leaves the premise ripe for different interpretations, but this was enjoyable. The novel's translation is a little rough, but still quite readable.