A review by unrealpunk
The Futurological Congress by Stanisław Lem

4.0

I would never have guessed this book was written by the author of Solaris if his name wasn't on the cover, but I enjoyed it just as much.  This is way more of an absurdist work of satire, which I appreciate.  Blends together elements of 1984 and Brave New World with a bit of the unhinged chaos of Naked Lunch, plus some added cartoonishness.  It's not really about the plot or character building, it's just a bunch of crazy shenanigans, crazy ideas, and nightmarish but silly dystopian scenarios, thrown at the reader at an extremely fast clip.  Being  translated from Polish, it's amazing how well the wordplay works in English.  Hats off to the translator — WOW!!