dogslaw's rat den

Just some quotes from later on in the book that hit me hard. The Zombie dad and Monkey stuff was honestly entirely depressing and horrifying.

So my boyfriend recommended me this, right? This book was written in 1972 in Soviet Russia, so the original message was lost and rebranded as anti capitalist to appease the government. While I agree with some of that messaging, the fact that it was CHANGED is pretty depressing. Like I would've loved to see the first few drafts before the government made them change it!

I think some of it is very obvious; instead of taking place in Russia, this takes place somewhere in the west (probably the US or Canada as they mention Europe as an outside place as well). The one purely good person that is hyped up is Kyrill, a Russian scientist at the Institute who truly only wanted to go to the zone for science. Even in Red's delirious mind on the last few pages he thinks of this guy, saying he was amazing. All of the stalkers end up dying on their greed filled conquest to find the golden sphere for Vulture, and the richer capitalists are written as awful people (BASED-- EAT THE RICH-- but most of the stalkers dying is NOT).

I'd like to say that I didn't agree with the scientists either? Even Valentine, I saw him as completely full of it and very unaware of how other people work, no matter how right he was about how the zone worked. Actually I'm sure this was intentional from the authors, and was missed by the censors!

Okay beyond that, I'd like to talk about how utterly depressing the book is. Like specifically the tragedy of Monkey. How all the children of Stalkers are screwed up (tho Vulture's ended up just being so ethereally beautiful but completely empty, especially the daughter) is just so. AUGH. Truly the zone punishes you. It's a blight, yet Valentine was right, as much as Noonan wanted him not to be, the visit was just a silly little picnic. Even the golden sphere being left behind, looking discarded and not at all cared for.. we'll get to that later. Let me continue.. yes, Noonan, after seeing Monkey and the Zombie dad, really figured that the zone was evil and it was there to ruin families. He was wrong, it's even implied in the name of the book. The tragedy of Monkey and of the father was just like battery acid from discarded disposable batteries that some family brought while camping leaking into the environment and screwing things up. And that's even more depressing. And the fact that Monkey did act like a human for so long, for 8 years in fact, with her stories and playfulness. Now she's just a shell, acting just like an animal even. Screaming in the night with the horrifying Zombie that Red wants to keep there. How does Guta, his wife, feel in all this? Right after Red just got out of jail?

Now to the Golden Sphere, which you can see pictured up top. The line about it being just left there, not placed there, proves Valentine's theory (as fucked as it is, and as unaware and ignorant his views on humans are). And the fact of the matter is, we know it doesn't grant wishes. Vulture made that up, or someone did, and everyone chose to believe it. It drove Red crazy in the end, knowing he'd probably not make it back and knowing that he literally just sacrificed Vulture's son (which he did regret, but in his brain it was either Arthur or Monkey). All this for that giant discarded sphere that was just there, shining, in the middle of a giant quarry. Stalkers lined up, dead, pointing the way to it.