Roadside Picnic

25 Feb 2012

Roadside Picnic - Boris & Arkady Strugatsky (ISBN-13: 978-0575093133)

I don’t go for a particular genre of books. I normally hear or read about a “good” book and just take a punt; it could be on any subject. I was alerted to this title whilst reading a magazine review of Metro:Last Light. They always have a little section in each review where they recommend various activities “to get yourself in the mood”. On this occasion the recommendation was this book. So off I went to Amazon and ordered myself a copy.

I was pleased that the book was only 145 pages long as I prefer a short read; something to get your teeth into but not too long that you lose interest. Despite all the very good reviews I was slightly disappointed. It was a very good read there’s no doubt about it but unfortunately if I don’t understand an ending, be that in any media, then I get disappointed and this book has a “leave it to your imagination” ending. I wanted a something specific and I didn’t get it.

I also found it difficult to connect with the characters and I felt that the authors didn’t explain enough in the detail I needed. For example the lack of detail around Red (Schuhart) and his family was frustrating especially regarding his daughter Monkey. The authors describe her as being covered “in coarse brown fur” but don’t elaborate on her story. Also there was lots of information about the Zone and its contents however not much in the way of detailed descriptions of the items which made it difficult to create a picture in my mind of what they were.

The title puzzled me for a while until the authors explained it. The scenario that extra-terrestrials have visited our planet, and departed without apparently noticing us is fascinating. That really helped in a way because it made up for the lack of detail in describing the Zone and its contents. In some ways the detail wasn’t required or maybe couldn’t be provided because you were meant to appreciate that these items were beyond explanation, something you had never seen before.