Reviews

Solaris by Stanisław Lem

lukija's review against another edition

Aargh kun Goodreads antaa tälle kökkelön leffakannen. Kirja hyvä. Goodreads painosvalinta kannen osalta ei hyvä. Leffakannet ei mun juttu.

Ei liian lennokasta scifiä vaikka aika "kovaa" matemaattista viristystä "pehmeämmän" humanistisen ja psykologian materiaalin lisäksi.

Pohdiskelun paikkoja tieteen mahdollisuuksista/rajoista ja ihmisyyden rajoista. Mikä tekee ihmisen?

theano's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

szkalebina's review against another edition

4.0

wspaniałe, chociaż spodziewałam się więcej akcji i konfrontacji z. oceanem, ale może to byłoby zbyt oczywiste. nakreślenie świata i opisy "naukowe" są tutaj główną atrakcją.

samdalefox's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Solaris falls into the category of classics where I appreciate why it's a classic and think it deserves its status, but I personally didn't enjoy it very much. I did read it quickly in three sittings, so perhaps a slower read with more time for reflection would be suitable for this subject matter.

I think it's fair to describe Solaris as a book split into two 'parts'. The main part which follows Kris and his experiences upon the Solaris station, and the supporting part which constitutes long periods of exposition about the various scientific descriptions, theories, schools and progression of thought of the planet/entity Solaris. I was hooked in the first chapter but by the time

Spoiler

Rheya

appears all momentum slows to a glacial pace.

That being said, I found the hard science descriptions of Solaris, in particular the 'ocean' and the station's scientists 'experiments' were very interesting to read. I personally enjoy hard scifi, but if that isn't for you you will likely find the majority of this book boring. The theme of the book is undoubtedly a philosophical reflection upon the human condition; a complex and multilayered work about the fallacy of applying anthropocentric standards to an inhuman and ever changing universe and about the limits of human knowledge. While this theme was thoroughly explored, I personally don't think the relationship between Kris and

Spoiler

Rheya

or Kris's own inner thoughts and emotions embodying this theme were directly explored enough. 

Favourite quotes:

"Man has gone out to explore other worlds and other civilizations without having explored his own labryinth of dark passages and secret chambers, and without finding what lies behind doorways that he himself has sealed."

"Grastrom set out to demonstrate that the most abstract achievements of science, the most advanced theories and victories of mathematics represented nothing more than a stumbling, one-or-two step progression from our rude, prehistoric, anthropomorphic understanding of the universe around us."

"We take off into the cosmos, ready for anything: for solitude, for hardship, for exhaustion, death. Modesty forbids us to say so, but there are times when we think pretty well of ourselves. And yet, if we examine it more closely, our enthusiasm turns out to be all a sham. We don't want to conquer the cosmos, we simply want to extend the boundaries of Earth to the frontiers of the cosmos. For us, such and such a planet is as arid as the Sahara, another as frozen as the North Pole, yet another as lush as the Amazon basin. We are humanitarian and chivalrous; we don't want to enslave other races, we simply want to bequeath them our values and take over their heritage in exchange. We think of ourselves as the Knights of the Holy Contact. This is another lie. We are only seeking Man. We have no need of other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but we can't accept it for what it is. We are searching for an ideal image of our own world: we go in quest of a planet, a civilization superior to our own but developed on the basis of a prototype of our primeval past. At the same time, there is something inside us which we don't like to face up to, from which we try to protect ourselves, but which nevertheless remains, since we don't leave Earth in a state of primal innocence. We arrive here as we are in reality, and when the page is turned and that reality is revealed to us - that part of our reality which we would prefer to pass over in silence - then we don't like it anymore."

"The human mind is only capable of absorbing a few things at a time. We see what is taking place in front of us in the here and now, and cannot envisage simultaneously a succession of processes, no matter how integrated or complementary. Our faculties of perception are consequnetly limited even as regards fairly simple phenomena. The fate of a single man can be rich with significance, that of a few hundred less so, and the history of thousands and millions of men does not mean anything at all, in any adequate sense of the word."

"It was you who wanted this conversation not me. I haven't meddled in your affairs, and I'm not telling you what to do or what not to do. Even if I had te right, I would not. You come here of your own free will, and you dump it on me. You know why? TO take the weight off your own back. Well I've experienced that weight - don't try to shut me up - and I leave you free to find your own solution. But you want opposition. If I got in your way, you could fight me, something tangible, a man just like you, with the same flesh and blood. Fight me, and you could feel that you too were a man."

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm

caleb1714's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

montanasky's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

yasminedc's review against another edition

4.0

Interesting plot that kept my attention all the way to the very end

sokolov's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

tobyboston99's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

arborapollonis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

Not a big fan of this book, I found it tedious to read with its many exposition dumps that didn't really have any bearing on the plot. The central intrigue was interesting, though vague. I did fall in love with the concept of the Solaris ocean and I wish Lem had given us more information about it

Spoiler

but I also understand that the crux of the story is that the ocean is unknowable to human minds.