Inhabitated Island by Strugatsky Brothers

This month we are gathering to discuss a classic of Soviet science fiction, Inhabited Island by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Growing up in the USSR, the Strugatsky brothers began as young, idealistic writers who believed in the utopian future of humankind. They dreamed of scientific and technological progress, space exploration, and carried this hopeful outlook into their early works. However, as the years went by and the Soviet regime failed to deliver on its promises, the brothers became increasingly disillusioned with the ideology, and their optimism for the future began to fade. Their later books convey a deep sense of lost faith and an ideological void. Inhabited Island sits in the middle of their philosophical journey, allowing readers to witness this shift through the eyes of an idealistic protagonist who crash-lands on an alien planet ruled by an authoritarian government; an environment that clashes starkly with his beliefs and values.