A Soviet sci-fi novel about a group of scientists whose research gets sabotaged by mysterious forces that might be the universe itself.
The Strugatsky brothers wrote this in the mid-1970s and set it in a regular Leningrad apartment during a heatwave. A physicist named Malianov is close to a breakthrough when strange things start happening. Beautiful women show up at his door, old friends appear with bottles of wine, the phone keeps ringing with wrong numbers, and then his colleagues report the same kinds of disruptions. Something does not want them to finish their work. The original Russian title is “One Billion Years to the End of the World,” which gives you a sense of the scale they were thinking at.
On the surface it reads like a paranoid thriller, but underneath it asks real questions about whether the universe has a kind of immune system that kicks in when human knowledge gets too close to something dangerous. The Strugatskys were masters at writing stories that looked like sci-fi but were really about living under a system that crushes independent thinking. My retelling goes chapter by chapter, covering all 11 chapters plus the afterword.
So I picked up this book called Definitely Maybe by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, and I want to walk you through it chapter by chapter. Think of this as me retelling the story to a friend over coffee. No spoiler-free zone here. We’re going all in.
This is Part 2 of my chapter-by-chapter retelling of Definitely Maybe by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (ISBN 978-1-61219-282-6). If you’re just joining, check out the introduction post first.
This is Part 3 of my chapter-by-chapter retelling of Definitely Maybe by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (ISBN 978-1-61219-282-6). If you’re just joining, start with the introduction.
This is Part 4 of my chapter-by-chapter retelling of Definitely Maybe by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (ISBN 978-1-61219-282-6). Start from the introduction if you’re new to this series.
Chapter 4 is where Malianov finally talks to someone with a clear head. And honestly, after the chaos of the last few chapters, it’s a relief.
Chapter 5 is where this book goes from “something strange is happening” to “okay, what on earth is going on.” Buckle up.
If Weingarten’s story was disturbing, Gubar’s is something else entirely. Chapter 6 is funny, terrifying, and sad all at the same time. The Strugatsky brothers were really showing off here.
Chapter 7 is where the talking starts for real. Everyone is gathered at Malianov’s place, and they’re waiting for Vecherovsky like students waiting for the professor to arrive and explain the exam.
Chapter 8 is the heart of the entire book. This is where everything changes. And it starts with two men drinking tea in a quiet apartment.
Chapter 9 is where people start making their choices. And most of them choose to quit.
Let’s start with the thing that should terrify everyone. That telegram Irina got? “DMITRI BAD HURRY TO MAKE IT IN TIME.” It was signed by Snegovoi. But Snegovoi was already dead when it was sent. Nobody went to a telegraph office and typed it out. The machine just printed it. By itself.
Chapter 10 is the one that broke me a little. Everything has been building toward this, and now the pressure finally cracks Malianov open.
This is it. The last chapter. And the Strugatsky brothers end their novel exactly the way they should: with fire, cognac, and a question that has no answer.
If you thought the novel itself was intense, wait until you read what was happening behind the scenes. The afterword and translator’s note turn Definitely Maybe from a great sci-fi story into something much more personal and much more real.
We made it. Fourteen posts, eleven chapters, one afterword, and a whole lot of cognac and cigarettes later, here are my thoughts on Definitely Maybe as a whole.