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Roadside Picnic

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Roadside Picnic

By: Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Olena Bormashenko - translator
Narrated by: Robert Forster
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About this listen

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a "full empty", something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he'll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems.

©1972 Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (P)2012 Random House Classics Science Fiction Scary

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it's so good ir's worth buying twice. The performance is incredible and amazing. It breathes such life to the characters.

Read the physical book first and bought this again

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Great story and the voice telling the story fitted perfectly had me hooked from the very start

Best book in years

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First off, Robert Forster is a legend and it was a joy to listen to him in what was a somewhat unlikely choice for narrator. For fans of the movie, it might be a surprise that the movie only adapts one of the books lengthy chapters. That leaves a lot of new material that fleshes things out further. Very good listen.

Great!

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I've seen some reviews complain heavily about the narration, I was shocked to then see it was Robert Foster they were talking about. A brilliant character actor who turns the production into something like a one man play in parts, bringing the book to life in a way that, for me, was just an intriguing as the historic film (obvious there's a lot more going on the film than the book, and is a creative masterpiece in its own right).

Wonderful audiobook, a classic work performed magnificently.

A Treasure

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Like Raymond Chandler decided to write a Philip K Dick novel. Well worth a listen.

Don't expect Tarkovsky

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A brilliantly narrated, evocative and thought provoking story that I avoided for years because of the beautiful but tedious "Stalker" movie.

I now want to rewatch "Stalker", something that I never thought I would say.

Superior to the Beautiful yet Dull Stalker Movie

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Amazing book. Brilliant sci-fi story woven with deep philosophical questions for humanity that are still, if not even more, important today.

Awesome

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Really enjoyed this reading. The guys voice is very well suited to the vibe of the book.

Voice like a rusty boiler

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A thoughtfully concocted masterpiece that uses some fun and interesting narrative devices to guide a reader though several interesting thinkpieces, as well as at times frantic and powerful character moments

Thought provoking and exciting

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Boldly and succinctly transported into another world without unnecessary filling in of back story, and beautifuly read too.

I can honestly say that I was taken by every word!

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