/stalker/ - Stalker

It was a lot different than I expected. For example, I think it takes place in Canada or England since they mention a Royal military near the zone.

>>277
Yeah it's definitely Canada.

tfw no cheeki breeki, only aboot

I read and enjoyed it quite a bit, despite not normally liking books with ambiguous endings.
I feel that my playing of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games before I read it sort of changed how I imagine things in the book looking in my head even though I knew the setting was not in eastern Europe. Is the STALKER film worth a watch?

>>556
Look at the description of an "empty" sound like a familiar artifact to you?

Its not set in eastern europe but a lot of the characters are from there.

The movie is definitely worth a watch. I've been thinking about streaming a movie night for the board and showing that along with the tarkovsky documentary.

It's an art film though, so you really need to keep your mind open if you're not into that type of movie.

>>557
Ok, I'll give it a watch. I assume "the tarkovsky documentary" is a documentary about the zone?

>>558
Well, to my knowledge it's actually a portion of a documentary called 'Rerberg.' It highlights the Russian cinematographer Georgy Rerberg's work with Andrei Tarkovsky including 'Stalker.'

>>567
They were aware of the zones spirituality. They needed to do it justice.

I just finished reading it and I've been dying to talk about the ending.
spoilers below
I feel like Red always had an internal conflict for why he went into the zone. He knew it was for the greenbacks but he often wondered whether or not there was something that brought him back. There were so many times in the book he swore off the zone, but always ended up returning to the one place he hated.
I believe he always went back because of Kirill. After his death Red always blamed himself for the tragedies of the zone, and never quite let go of what Kirill was in pursuit of. But its not that Red is actually interested in a scientific breakthrough, its because he wants to pay respects to Kirill's wish along with justifying his death.

Once Red learns about the Wishgranter he immediately dismisses it. He doesn't want to believe silly legends but something in the back of his mind is telling him that he needs to, but he's always struggling with what he would ask it. The entire trip with Burbridge's son leaves Red wondering what he's there for, and whether or not his intentions are noble. He's there for the wishgranter, but why? What use could he have for it? What could a wretched man like him possibly want?

"HAPPINESS FOR EVERYBODY!"

After seeing Burbridge's son torn to shreds (and not batting an eye) Red calmly makes his way to the Wishgranter and although the reward of anything fathomable by man stands before him and all he can think of is "HAPPINESS FOR EVERYBODY!" this leads me to believe that Red was awarded with his one true desire: Knowing he is not a wretched man.

This also leads me to believe that the wishgranter is but another useless item forgotten by the visitors.

>>614
Originally it was for Monkey, his father, and Guta.

>The older stalker whose name I can't recall got his son and daughter that way
When does it say that? I only remember Buzzard talking about the ball when Red was saving him from the witches jelly. Red also mentioned that Buzzard had a wife before, but he beat her to death (which is why his kids resent him)

But when red says I haven't sold my soul to anyone. Its right here! isn't he lying? Red was known for being a loyal stalker that never left his companions behind, but in the end he let a young man die just so he could get the wishgranter.

>>617

This thread has taken an interesting turn. I think I need to re-read this book.

It's implied that Buzzard (Burbage?) used the golden ball to get his (unusually attractive and successful) son and daughter. He could just be lucky but why else would he have led so many people into the meatgrinder?

I don't recall Red letting Burbage's son die, I thought he ran ahead, not heeding Red's warnings about the meat grinder… But after reading previous posts about Red lying, maybe there's more to it.



Just for fun, what do you guys think the rattling napkins were?

>>631
I went back and found what you're talking about. I forgot about Burbridge's picnic service.

Well Red knows for a fact that the meat grinder deactivates for a bit after it has killed someone. During their trip Arthur accidentally steps in an anomaly and Red has to save him. During this event Red thinks about how he always tries to save his companions. No matter what, his instinct is to risk his life to pull fellow stalkers out when they're in trouble. Once they reach the Meatgrinder, however, Arthur runs ahead but Red could've stopped him. I think he even acknowledges this by simply taking a swig from his flask and watching as the young man is torn to shreds. I completely understand why he wouldnt help at thus point. He's risked his life way too many times and it makes sense that he would grow callous, but I still feel like that counts as him giving up and becoming just as bad as Ernest or Burbridge.

>>646

I re-read it this weekend and you're right. Red knew what he was doing and he knew what would happen to Arthur.

I'm still not sure what to make of the ending but I did notice something- The first time he describes the golden ball it's quite plain. Copper coloured, not gold and mentions that it looked like it would not be capable of glowing or dancing as per stalker folklore. Then as he gets closer, he refers to it as the "dancing, winking ball."

I suppose you could infer from that that this is a sign that the ball is activating or has activated and then that his innermost wish was already granted before he told the ball what he wanted.

I've never been much chop at reading into stuff so I'll need to think about it some more.