Roadside Picnic

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Anyhow, I agree with Lem that the final chapter - while I sympathize with its ultimate message, "HAPPINESS, FREE, FOR EVERYONE, AND LET NO ONE BE FORGOTTEN!" - isn't the most successful of the book. It turns something that was fairly consistent in its harshness in a kind of dreamlike carnival of the deranged. In vogue in 60ies and 70ies literature, sure, but also a bit of an Achilles heel, as I feel the mystery and absurdity of life isn't best served with fairly straightforward mimesis of a mental meltdown in outré surroundings: it too easily turns into something cartoonish.

Is the weird truly the best form to portray the Wonder? Part of the answer to that is taste, obviously, but I think reality is strange enough as is, and it doesn't need embellishments to drive that home. On the other hand, Redrick Schuhart's mental fate isn't unrealistic given what he had to endure in his fictional life, so Boris & Arkady Strugatsky get a pass for that ending, easily.

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Full review on Weighing A Pig:

https://schicksalgemeinschaft.wordpress.com/2021/06/02/roadside-picnic-arkady-and-boris-strugatsky-1972/