tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post4504810336059851846..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Damn your pseudo-science! Somehow this isn’t at all how I envisioned it. - Roadside Picnic by Strugatsky & StrugatskyAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-80752148162790628112012-08-27T20:39:47.015-05:002012-08-27T20:39:47.015-05:00Yes, among the best SF novels I have read, and amo...Yes, among the best SF novels I have read, and among the best written even more so.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-87858705873375862042012-08-27T19:08:05.522-05:002012-08-27T19:08:05.522-05:00Glad you liked the book --- I just read it this su...Glad you liked the book --- I just read it this summer, too, and found it a refreshing read, especially given its vintage! Good SF at its best.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05867704281786711908noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-72631499632332694632012-08-23T16:54:19.020-05:002012-08-23T16:54:19.020-05:00Yeah, this was a good one. The characters, the le...Yeah, this was a good one. The characters, the lead especially, are actually pretty good. The writing is nothing fancy but clean, never awkward, and it is structurally clever. So no real negatives - nothing to pretend isn't there. <br /><br />And then it has all this inventive weirdness that fires the imagination and may even mean something.<br /><br />So thanks again!Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-41253701633794193502012-08-23T14:07:13.235-05:002012-08-23T14:07:13.235-05:00Hey, great, and you're welcome! I'm glad y...Hey, great, and you're welcome! I'm glad you liked this. One reason it transcends my usual tepid feelings about SciFi is precisely that it seems to embrace the wonder of it all and relegate the science-fictiony stuff to the sidelines (I can just picture the Strugatskys at a picnic, seeing ants crawling over empty cans and bottles. cigarette butts, melon rinds and discarded food packaging, and coming up with the question: what do they <i>make</i> of these weird things?). So they normalize the weirdness. And in one of the novel's many admonitory themes, they also commercialize it. I just love this book, in large part for the very reason you latch onto - that it leaves the mysteries mysterious, including the mystery of what our own deepest desires might be if we were truly pressed to identify them.seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.com