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Sarah Canary Q4 – I read a story like that once, only instead of an ugly woman, it was a Zone, and i
This novel strikes me as having a lot in common with another novel we read long ago, Roadside Picnic, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. In that novel, people were entering a zone filled with objects left behind be visiting aliens. It was full of dangers, but also great promise, and many people elected to enter the zone in an effort to find God. In what ways are Roadside Picnic and Sarah Canary similar? Or are they too different?
Comments
That's an interesting thought and I shall be intrigued to hear what people make of it.
There's an enigma at the heart of both stories, so that's similar. But Roadside Picnic has a lot more on how the Zone has changed the world around it. That's both the wider world, and the impact on the lives of those who enter the Zone, and their closest people.
I felt that wider change was missing from Sarah Canary. Did any of the main characters really change as a result of Sarah appearing in their lives? They were put in interesting situations, and we found out about their characters from how they responded, but I'm not sure we can say that any of them really changed throughout the novel.
> I felt that wider change was missing from Sarah Canary. Did any of the main characters really change as a result of Sarah appearing in their lives? They were put in interesting situations, and we found out about their characters from how they responded, but I'm not sure we can say that any of them really changed throughout the novel.
Yes, I agree with that.
I agree the wider world didn't change much. The degree to which characters changed after contact with The Zone/Sarah Canary was mixed - some changed a lot, others not so much. I don't remember there being a lot of change in the characters in Roadside Picnic, either.
I do remember obsession In Roadside Picnic, several characters wanted to penetrate the zone and find this particular place where they felt there would be a connection with something bigger than themselves. And Sarah Canary had a similar effect on both Chin and Harold - also to a lesser degree on Adelaide, I think.
It seems, perhaps, that Harold did indeed find her first - by wearing the dress, an act that changed him profoundly, gave him new perspective. He touched the zone.