It has all the tension of a thriller, all the science of a science fiction, all the character development of a great literary novel and it is an exciting audiobook. Red's frustration with the problems of living with the Zone and the issues it causes comes through very well in the narration. Forster keeps his voice in somewhat of a neutral accent but he conveys the toughness of the main character, Red. Roadside Picnic, although written by two Russian brothers, takes place in Canada.
Robert Forster does a great job narrating the book. It really is an amazing book that really must be read. The book prefigured many of the issues surrounding the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Stalkers who frequently run the risk of the Zones find they have severe mutations in their children born after they begin venturing into the Zone. The money to be made makes it worth the risk for these smugglers or "stalkers" to enter the Zone at night risking their lives. The trade in the black market for items smuggled out of the Zone is huge. No one except scientist are allowed into the Zones. Thirteen years later they are still being studied. There are also organic life forms that cannot be studied because they kill all who get near them. Some of areas of intense gravity that crush men and vehicles flat.
Some of the items in the Zone are powerful energy sources. Eventually world scientific organizations set up on the borders of the Zones and begin to study the visible and invisible. By the end of the day of the visit, the Zones are declared off limits.
In six areas of the world, they have come and gone, leaving only their debris or garbage behind. The premise of Roadside Picnic is that the earth has been visited by aliens. The afterward by Boris Strugatsky details the fight to get the book published by the Soviet censors. Le Guin is a fantastic explanation of how the book was received when first published in the 1970 s. The forward by renown science fiction writer Ursula K. It is also a testimony to perseverance on the part of the authors who wrote under Soviet censorship. Roadside Picnic is a classic of science fiction. Written by: Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Olena Bormashenko (translator)
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