A review by magicshop
Solaris by Stanisław Lem

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense 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

3.75

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

you should read this book if...
  • you enjoy very imaginative and complex sci fi. and i mean complex. things will go over your head at times for most people, so be ready for that too 😅
  • you're into solipsism and existential themes
  • you're prepared to deal with quite a bit of pervasive sexism and misogynoir

the good
  • ultimately a deep exploration of the human psyche and how it deals with grief, how it sabotages itself, lies to itself, and continuously hopes for the impossible against all odds. how can we be sure we exist  ― that anything exists? how can we explore the unknown without first working to understand ourselves and each other? and much more that'll definitely entertain you if you enjoy philosophy and psychology.
  • the concept/premise itself is undeniably interesting and attractive to anyone who enjoys space-related sci fi, and the book manages to deliver on it, albeit convolutedly (more on this further below).

the bad
  • cringe-worthy racism and sexism, especially the latter since it takes up a big part of the story. basically one very minor character is a huge stereotype of black women, and is perceived by the main character with clear repulsion and even disgust most of the time. another female character, who is quite important to the plot,
    Spoilernot only has no real personality aside from on-and-off self-hatred and suicidal intent, but actually ends up dying three times ― twice to suicide, and mostly in order to benefit the main male character's plot.
    do keep in mind that this is a book from the 60s and a degree of these elements is almost to be expected, but i still wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to avoid it like the plague based on this stuff alone.
  • the book is entirely about the plight of a bunch of white dudes stuck together in a space station. this combined with the above... i rest my case 🙄

the complicated
  • reads like a fictional textbook at times ― the pacing is really kind of.......Bad. lem switches between plot and long (and i mean long) scientific explanations about the planet at the drop of a hat, with no rhyme or reason, and you need a lot of patience and/or enjoyment of the subject matter to get through most of it (i was mostly the latter since i'm obsessed with space and alien life, but even then a lot of things went over my head for being far too technical with way too many made-up words).
  • the ending paragraph is a banger, but the ending itself was
    Spoilervery open-ended
    and kind of unsatisfying to me. i just personally needed more closure than we got, but that might be a me thing, so it doesn't go in the bad section.
  • the main relationship is between people around 10 years apart in age, which to me is not a problem in itself, except that
    Spoilerthe woman is a "clone" of the dude's girlfriend when she was 19, so he's basically dating someone who's mentally stuck at age 19 and has a different idea of who he is than who he actually is after growing up. that kind of irks me personally (it comes off as him taking advantage of her innocence and lack of knowledge at certain points) so i thought i'd put it here in case anyone else has trouble with that kind of thing.
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