Roadside Picnic Summary and Reviews

Roadside Picnic
by ARKADY & BORIS STRUGATSKY

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Book Summary Information

Author: ARKADY & BORIS STRUGATSKY
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Import
Published: 2007-01-01
ISBN: 0575079789
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Gollancz / Orion Publishing Group

Book Reviews of Roadside Picnic

Book Review: Cuts us down to size
Summary: 4 Stars

The Big Idea of this classic science fiction story isn't revealed until almost the end. You get unexplicated hints all along the way, of course. They keep you reading, trying to figure out the puzzle. But the solution came rather late for me. There's too much preceding material, however artful. Shows how much our attention spans have shortened since the book was published in 1971. It's a cynical Idea, but it lingers as wry humor, the notion that visiting aliens were so uninterested in us that they simply picnicked and left. Cuts us down to size. I'm told it also has an anti-Soviet subtext, but I missed it, and I doubt it's essential to understand it. What sticks with me yet is the tragedy of the Stalker's daughter. It also cuts, and deeper, too.

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