Reviews

Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy, by Stanisław Lem

Only show reviews with written explanations

mistermisslonelyhearts's review

Go to review page

adventurous funny medium-paced

4.0

adrianhon's review

Go to review page

5.0

Hilarious, profound, and confusing, often within the same 15 page short story. Hard to think of any author as unpredictable and exuberant as Lem, whether in sci-fi or not.

readingismypassion's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny informative reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

niezły rezolut z tego lema powiem wam

tombomp's review

Go to review page

3.0

I was enjoying the book a lot until about a third of the way through there's a sudden appearance of "Gypsonians" who are nomadic space faring stupid drunken thieves... They only appear for a page but it's enough that it completely soured me on it. I kept reading out of stubbornness and because of my positive experience at the start but afterwards I stopped enjoying the humour even though I could tell it was clever (and very impressively translated). Humour is difficult - you only need one misstep to feel completely disconnected from the person telling the jokes. Other people might easily be able to ignore one instance of racism but just for me it was enough to ruin it.