While very dated in its misogyny, smoking and technology, the inexplicable aliens trope feels modern.

I know works like Rendezvous with Rama were also published in the early 70s, but more familiar aliens that are easier to interact with are still more common in the genre, and going beyond the differently human sort of alien still feels revolutionary, or like playing sci-fi on hard mode.

Knowing that Roadside Picnic was written in The Soviet Union, it was also interesting to think about how this got through the political sensors, but when you understand that it is not set in Russia and can be portrayed as a critique of western decadence, things start making sense.

Red feels like an American hero going into the wilderness to seek his fortune. This could have been a western, about the last days of the true frontiers man.

I was able to get over the misogyny and anachronism by thinking of it as an alternate history rather than a future.

Red is a wonderful flawed character, I really enjoyed reading his story.

Roadside Picnic deserves to be considered a classic.