Arkady Strugatsky (1925–1991)

This was an OK read--it probably would've been rated a lot lower if it were of a more substantial length. As it stands, it is more of a novella.

I don't know if there were things I didn't understand due to it being Russian literature, or if perhaps the translation was a bit weird, but there seemed to be a lot about this novel that just didn't really click. There were little comments and what seemed like jokes, but I sincerely didn't understand them or think they were funny.

I do appreciate that this was probably a radical novel in the context of Soviet Russia. I enjoyed the setting and a lot of the writing was beautiful, even if it was about fairly disturbing scenes.

Overall, I'm glad that I read it because there are some solid ideas explored, but it wasn't something I would necessarily recommend.… (more)

This classic Russian science fiction revolves around an alien contact from space 30 years prior to the story. The MC is Redrick, a stalker, who goes into the Zone where the aliens landed and left to retrieve detritus for the Research Institute and for the Black Market. In the first part he is collecting for the Institute until an accident ends his job; the second part is 5 years later, he's married and has a mutant daughter and working at night collecting for illegal sales; the third deals with a side character playing both sides of the fence and the last is back with Redrick on a major final trip into the Zone.

The third section is very theoretical, discussing why the aliens may have come and what their visit means to the earth. The rest is the actual events dealing with living and surviving in the area. Very interesting and thought provoking concepts but not a joyful read.… (more)

I went into this totally unfamiliar with STALKER as a videogame or film. I also went into this with no prior exposure to the Strugatsky's, though I've read some other russian science fiction and fantasy translated to English. Unfortunately by folks with much more objectionable politics than the Strugatskys. A dear friend, intimately familiar with my reading preferences over the last two and a half decades, sent this to me thinking I would like it.
And they were not wrong. Its steeped in that unique blend of fatalistic optimism that oozes from certain aspects of soviet society. The characters aren't likable as heroes, but likable as real human being behaving in ways consistent with their backgrounds and environments. The treatment of the alien visitors that could care less about humans, our world, or our resources is visionary for the time, and humanity's response to the event feels all too accurate. The fact that they were writing and getting some of the underlying themes and ideas here past the soviet era censors is inspirational, and the fact that other than Ursula K. Leguin and a few others the giants of the genre at the time in the West ignored them feels criminal. Almost as criminal as many of the characters!
I've already picked up several more novels by the Strugatsky's and can't recommend this highly enough to anyone looking for a bit more cerebral, more literary scifi.… (more)