Clever, outlandish, bizarre and for me an enjoyable fantastic read. There is a point in the story where Snerg slams the breaks and skids into a philosophical lecture, however perhaps that was a deliberate segue in order to give you the reader a moment to catch up. Brilliantly put together and throughout the book Snerg holds you in a state of ambiguous dread. If one wanted to argue that the story of ‘Robot’ was a critical examination of Poland’s communist government of the day, we’ll get a BA and tell your tutor. One wonders why this book in its day was totally ignored but the moment the writer dies (Snerg took his own life in 1995) he becomes a national treasure. Another fascinating read from the Penguin Classics Science Fiction Library. ‘Robot’ in 1973 by Polish writer Adam Wisniewski-Snerg and translated and published in English late 2021. I know it’s early but so far my favourite book of the year. She was obviously only existed because the author thought there had to be a love interest or maybe someone made him add her. And despite how much time the protagonist spends worrying about her, he really doesn't seem that into her. She barely speaks, she's mostly unconscious or missing, I think we're supposed to buy that the protagonist loves her, but if so then it's the most atrocious insta-love I've come across. It was more like I can't be sure this guy has ever interacted with a woman before. It wasn't sexist or misogynistic like you'd expect. I'm used to classic sci-fi and the amazing representation women usually get in them, but this was in a galaxy of its own. While some parts of it were incredibly cool, the overall piece was kind of a hot mess.Īnd I can't leave this without talking about the only woman character in this book. And basically, we follow a guy around, he's not sure whether or not he's a robot, he does some pretty bizarre things, he finds a doorway leading to a place where physics is kinda/sorta broken (the mystery part), then I guess he kinda/sorta solves the mystery (it was not satisfying), but not before we get like 50 pages of semi-philosophical, anti-communist, AND anti-capitalist ranting. But then there're 50 pages of boring, then we get to the intriguing physics mystery part. Like, I really wanted to know what happened next. There's a great scene where everyone's being shuffled through some sort of mission briefing conveyor belt? I dunno, it was really visually interesting and well told. What even was this? I'd describe this book as a physics mystery? The start of the novel was very intriguing.

Robot by adam wiśniewski snerg