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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
This is one of the most hardcore books I've ever read. It's true tip-top eternal tier literature that I'm sure will long outlive us all. Every once in awhile you read one of these kinds of books and you understand why a classic is a classic. It's not hardcore because it's huge and impenetrable, as I expected it to be, given its reputation. On the contrary, it's fairly slight and clearly written and the plot moves quickly. It's hardcore because it's simultaneously one of the saddest, scariest and most disturbing books I've ever read. A very challenging combo. The very profound sadness of it overwhelmed me and I had to stop reading for periods of time, as did the disturbingness, which would sometimes stay with me for hours after I put it down. The fact that it's dealing with the incomprehensible, the deepest philosophical questions about the universe and our place in it and basic human yearnings, had my imagination in high gear, the world of Solaris I created in my mind was vivid, beautiful, terrifying and painful. I wept at the end. I'll never forget reading this book. If you're looking for something that attempts to engage with what our own minds cannot comprehend, suitable for this period in human history, then this book will move you.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Finished May 29th. “How do you expect to communicate with the ocean, when you can’t even understand one another?”
Phew! Very very sciency, with multiple page digressions discussing how the university circuit and various schools of science theorized about the planet and life on it and how the academic discussion expanded over centuries.
A real dense read. Made Annihilation and Roadside Picnic feel like magazines in comparison.
Enjoyed the more human elements and themed related to consciousness, something unknowable, the unconscious, first contact with an alien entity, and humanity
Phew! Very very sciency, with multiple page digressions discussing how the university circuit and various schools of science theorized about the planet and life on it and how the academic discussion expanded over centuries.
A real dense read. Made Annihilation and Roadside Picnic feel like magazines in comparison.
Enjoyed the more human elements and themed related to consciousness, something unknowable, the unconscious, first contact with an alien entity, and humanity
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
1) Nothing like finishing your book to find out there is a 2002 movie adaptation staring George Clooney lol
2) I can’t believe someone had to translate this
2) I can’t believe someone had to translate this
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh heck yeah! I had pretty high expectations going into this novel and I'm pleased to say they were met! Tarkovsky's Solaris (1972) is one of my most beloved sci-fi films of all time, so I just had to read the original source material. Our narrator is a psychologist named Dr. Kris Kelvin who arrives from Earth to the space station that is studying the planet Solaris. Upon landing at this interplanetary station, Kelvin quickly realizes that something has gone terribly wrong. The remaining crew of two people are acting strange and one person committed suicide. Things really get weird when Kelvin's late lover named Rheya, who died many years ago, suddenly appears at the space station...
Stanislaw Lem is a brilliant author. He manages to present really complex philosophic ideas in a very accessible way. Solaris explores "philosophical themes, speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe." For me, the most interesting aspect about this book is its exploration of a love affair that ended abruptly and the way the planet Solaris offers Kelvin a second chance at it. It is suspected that the planet's ocean is a sentient being that caused Rheya to appear before Kelvin. In other words, this book is a huge mindbender and Lem should be lauded for creating such a memorable and unique story.
So, who should read this book? If you're a fan of hard sci-fi, you should absolutely read Solaris. It has been named one of the most important science fiction works of the 20th Century for a good reason. If you're a fan of first contact stories, there is a lot to digest here. If you enjoy flawed and complex characters you will probably like Solaris. Overall, this book is flipping great! It is a thought-provoking meditation on what makes our memories, consciousness and love. 5 strong stars!
Stanislaw Lem is a brilliant author. He manages to present really complex philosophic ideas in a very accessible way. Solaris explores "philosophical themes, speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe." For me, the most interesting aspect about this book is its exploration of a love affair that ended abruptly and the way the planet Solaris offers Kelvin a second chance at it. It is suspected that the planet's ocean is a sentient being that caused Rheya to appear before Kelvin. In other words, this book is a huge mindbender and Lem should be lauded for creating such a memorable and unique story.
So, who should read this book? If you're a fan of hard sci-fi, you should absolutely read Solaris. It has been named one of the most important science fiction works of the 20th Century for a good reason. If you're a fan of first contact stories, there is a lot to digest here. If you enjoy flawed and complex characters you will probably like Solaris. Overall, this book is flipping great! It is a thought-provoking meditation on what makes our memories, consciousness and love. 5 strong stars!
Yet on the other side there’s something we refuse to accept, that we fend off; though after all, from Earth we didn’t bring merely a distillation of virtues, the heroic figure of Humankind! We came here as we truly are, and when the other side shows us that truth—the part of it we pass over in silence—we’re unable to come to terms with it! (pg. 64)
I have long loved the first Solaris movie and have meant to read this novel since Lem's death in 2006. Finally in 2024 I have read it, in one sitting, and wow. This novel, published in 1961 and so a little marred by age, is representative to me of what the genre of science fiction can do, how it can transport us so far from our known experience that we are able to confront those things we, as Lem says, pass over in silence, aspects of our reality and experience that we otherwise fail to articulate because we first fail to consider.
I can now appreciate Lem's dismissal of various sophomoric interpretations of this novel by critics and readers. Lem was a genuinely philosophical thinker who saw the potential of science fiction for such philosophical exploration and what he presents in this novel might not be so easily unraveled by those less experienced in inquiries along existential, epistemological and metaphysical veins. All the same, Lem wasn't interested in handholding, but in writing what ended up as one of the world's most profound and influential science fiction stories. Thinking is required for this one, and even if some elements of the story feel a little dated, its philosophical explorations are not and meaningfully intersect with various current questions of our current time.
I used the English translation by renowned translator Bill Johnston, both the text with audiobook (superbly narrated by Alessandro Juliani). This is the English translation most favored by Lem's family. While I cannot read Polish myself so to compare, Johnston's translation appears to be expertly done: fluid, natural and at times poetic without feeling as though the translation is taking liberty with the original text.
Took 20-30 pages to get me interested, but after that I devoured the rest of the book. It simply fucked me up. What a great novel.