I read this and it was crap. So boring. Why is science fiction so bad?
>>24834374I really enjoyed One Billion Years to the End of the World until the leprechaun alien showed up at which point I put it away forever. Very disappointing>Why is science fiction so bad?Because the real world is so much more interesting than some gay fantasy bullshit
>>24834374STEMfags typically lack the sense of beauty. They're conditioned to see everything in utilitarian point of view, all their textbooks are matter-of-fact.There are only a handful who managed to escape from the cycle, like Carroll and Pinecone.
>>24834431I think you're right. The book had a good idea, or at least an interesting theme, but it was done in the most boring way possible. Same thing happened with Solaris. I think I’ve just given up on sci-fi.
I like sci-fi is as good as anything else, which is to say very little of it is good. I love it, personally.
>>24834374Why didn't you like it? It was psychological horror kino.
>>24834374Every time I read translated Russian books it feels like I'm experiencing a machine translation.
>>24834374>So boringyou are a chud and have no heart.you will never transcend samsara
>>24834374Didn’t finish it, but I liked how Red is depicted as a dysfunctional chain smoking loser who doesn’t fit in well to society, yet manages to have a loving wife and mutant child and a town house in his 20s, Vulture is even more of a drunk asshole and seemed to have an even better setup, boomers really did have that shit on easy mode
>>24834643You can’t call it easy mode, the dude watches his daughter lose her mind
>>24834644I only got to the part when he gets entrapped by Noonan and gets arrested, if that’s true then that sucks, but he was flying by the seat of his pants up until that point and made himself a pretty decent living despite acting like a retard and having his main source of income be artifacts he’s selling to fences way below their market value.
>>24834643Having a home, wife and children were basically a given for almost all of history up until the last 50 years or so. Judging a character based on modern salt and jealousy probably isn't smart.
>>24834374It's about a dysfunctional man struggling to get ahead, and who ultimately just wants to be a good person. It's not particularly deep, but it's the kind of book you can read in an evening and get some enjoyment.I think a lot of people fail to understand what actually happens at the end and it leaves them thinking "what the fuck did I just read?"**He approaches the wish granter, but after everything that has happened he has no idea what he wants his wish to be. He asks the wish granter to look inside him and decide on his behalf what he really wants. The wish granter determines that what he wants most is to be a good person. At that moment, his wish is granted and Red is now a good person. In the next moment he wishes for world peace, because he is now the kind of person who would wish for something like that. But his wish has already been granted, so there is no world peace.**
>>24834761Is that really what happens. All I remember from the ending was that the young man that Red was with gets torn apart by a gravity anomaly or whatever they're called and then Red proceeds to go insane. Also the imagery building up to the climax was weird as fuck in the best way possible. I think at one point both of them were wading in goop up to their chest.
>>24834787Yes, that is what happens at the end.On the path to get to the wish granter is an anomaly that essentially requires a human sacrifice in order to get past it. Red sacrifices the kid to get to the wish granter, but then he loses his mind. He feels guilty that he has lived a selfish life. In the moment, what he truly wants is to be a good man.When the wish granter looks inside him, it sees his guilt and his desire to be a good man, and THAT is the wish that is granted. Red asking for world peace occurs AFTER the wish has already been granted.
>>24834713I still think Red is a good character, I just think it’s a funny thing to point out how drastically different social expectations are now compared to the 70s, and I don’t think doing so detracts from his characterization
>>24834374goddamn you boy I wish I could find an actual physical copy of this instead of an ebook fuck your mother
>>24834374the only good sci-fi in existence is DUNC and pringles New Sun
>>24834643Internet gave women too many options and delusions of grandeur
>>24834879Fair, my bad
Is the old Russian movie any good? Faithful to the book at all?
>>24835042>Is the old Russian movie any good?Yes>Faithful to the book at all?No
>>24834445you might prefer more action oriented sci-fi if that's the case. Roadside Picnic is more about the atmosphere of dread rather than intergalactic battle scenes or time travel warps.
