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Product Description
Book Description
'Deft and supple...a truly superb tale' Theodore Sturgeon
Product Description
Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those strange misfits who are compelled by some unknown force to venture illegally into the Zone and, in spite of the extreme danger, collect the mysterious artefacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the Zone and the thriving black market in the alien products. Even the nature of his daughter has been determined by the Zone. And it is for her that Red makes his last, tragic foray into the hazardous and hostile depths.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Roadside Picnic,
By David Brookes (Sheffield, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Roadside Picnic (S.F. Masterworks) (Paperback)
One of the best pieces of sci-fi fiction in the last few decades, "Roadside Picnic" tells the story of a Stalker, one of the few who dare to enter a zone of suspended disbelief that is the remnant of a possible alien visitation. Stalkers venture into the deadly realm for artifacts, which are sometimes useful, sometimes enigmatic, sometimes life-threatening, in order to survive in the oppressive, broken social climate surrounding the zone. Anybody who's ever played the video-game "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl" will recognise the very concise plot; those who've read "Nova Swing" by M. J. Harrison will have also come across one of the many pieces of fiction inspired by this short novel. The writing is terse and superbly descriptive, shifting from a first-person narritive to third partway through. The change is expertly handled by the Strugatsky brothers, who are masters at the hard under-stated personalities that frequent Soviet fiction - think the protagonist from "Solaris", if you've read it, and you'll know what I mean. Some have critisised the novel for being "too much sociology and not enough sci-fi", that is to say, not what they were expecting. However if you get exactly what you expected in a novel, you probably just read pulp or a 1960s comic book. "Roadside Picnic" is a beautifully written, inspiring read, with strong, desperate characters and a thrilling premise. The only downside is that it is perhaps too short: the potential for other aspects of the story to be played out - like the original of the zones, further applications of artifacts, scientific or unanticipated, or the continued stories of some of the characters - are put aside in favour of a delicious form of mystery that will keep you reading right up until the fantastic thought-provoking denoument. Unmissable.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Miracles,
This review is from: Roadside Picnic (S.F. Masterworks) (Paperback)
The scenario is that extraterrestrials have visited our planet, and departed without apparently noticing us. The place they visited (in Canada) has become the "Zone". What they leave behind is to us inexplicable, and makes the Zone a place of danger and possibility. The narrator makes his living as a "stalker" - an illegal guide through this weird landscape.
The tone of the novel is quite bleak (though not without humour) - never mind trying to understand the alien, we can't even sort out our own human mess. And yet the moving ending sees the cynical hero putting his trust in the miraculous to put things right. An extraordinary novel.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A really great story, perhaps a bit depressing,
By
This review is from: Roadside Picnic (S.F. Masterworks) (Paperback)
This was a really good book, probably one of the best that I've read. It's a bit sad that so much misfortune happens to the protagonist, but in the end he's got only himself to blame for it. I think the women are characterized a bit old-fashioned, they are basically living in a patriarchal society. Other than that, the story is really really good, the characters are made of flesh and blood, and the Zone is really weird and sometimes terrifying...
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