Reviews

Memoirs Found in a Bathtub by Stanisław Lem

hanklyhank's review against another edition

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2.0

As a kid, I read and reread Lem's science fiction short story collection Tales of Pirx the Pilot. In fact, I'd say that book, along with Heinlein's Green Hills of Earth, really cemented my love for science fiction. To this day, I prefer that style - character and story-driven, with just enough tech babble to make it spacey. That was my only exposure to Lem, although I did know that he was a highly respected author in several genres.

Because of my love for Pirx, I really looked forward to picking up this slim novel. Thank god this isn't the first thing I read by Lem, though, because damn. This kind of dry as dust (ha) anti-bureaucracy allegory has become my least favorite kind of dystopian work. This short little book took me 6 months to read, because I'd pick it up, go ten pages, and then put it down in favor of something more entertaining.

Now, it's not hollow or pointless. There is plenty of there there. If you do enjoy this sort of Kafka nightmare fuel, individuals lost in twisting corridors of paperwork and location, unable to save themselves, unable to even understand why they are there and how to get free, well, there's a reason it's a classic of the genre. Lem is Polish, and paints the whole thing with a very Eastern European, cold war paranoid, Soviet doublespeak. It's effective, if you've got a taste for the style. I simply do not, in particular.

http://epicdystopia.blogspot.com/2011/04/memoirs-found-in-bathtub-by-stanislaw.html

isaacrubberducky's review against another edition

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3.0

I'm a huge Lem fan, but this is not his best work. Each story he tells is a fascinating thought experiment, and this is no exception. However, most of his books feel like they have a satisfying philosophical conclusion, even when they lack a narrative one. This one did not for me. Still a lot of good writing, but it doesn't feel well tied together.

awilderm23's review against another edition

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3.0

Are we not ourselves nature, nature without end? Does not the rustle of her trees echo in our bones? Is our blood less salty than the water of the sea that carve great caverns of lime and chalk, great skeletons beneath the waves? Does not the everlasting fire of the desert burn in our hearts? Are we not, in the end, a clamorous prelude to the final silence, a marriage bed to engender dust, as universe for microbes, microbes that strive to circumnavigate us? We are as unfathomable, as inscrutable as that which brought us into being, and we choke on our own enigma?

And so my future remained unknown to me almost as if it hadn’t been written down on a ledger anywhere

provaprova's review against another edition

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3.0

Moved to gwern.net.

cpritchett's review against another edition

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3.0

This is shelved as science fiction, but it's a bit of a stretch to call it that. If you're wanting some sci-fi, you'll be wishing the frame story was a book by itself. I'd recommend A Canticle for Leibowitz in that case. Not exactly the same, but it's a similar idea. That's not to say that this isn't a worth-while read. It's a dizzying, Kafkaesque nightmare for sure, but if you're into that sort of thing this one does it well.

thero159's review against another edition

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

1.0

johnnydemon's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

bahamyulala's review against another edition

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dark slow-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? No

2.0

valjeanval's review

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3.0

I think this would have been an awesome short story, but as a novel, I got a little overwhelmed by the protagonist's situation. I'm also pretty sure that a lot of the Wonderland madness going on in the Building as a clear parallel for the author's time and place that does not immediately translate to mine. I felt as frustrated as the protagonist trying to make sense of senseless bureaucracy, and I think it was an amazing concept. I just don't generally like to read to feel that frustrated. I felt like I was stuck in a Kubrick/Lynch crossover film with no end in sight.

I'm also not sure why the author bothered with the introduction. The introduction about the post-paperpocalypse world really grabbed me, and I was disappointed to not see it picked up at the end.

lbrook's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

3.5