Review: Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

Solaris is a classic science fiction novel By Stanislaw Lem that has been made into three different movies. Solaris is one of those mind-bending experiences that leave you wondering what is real and what is hallucination. When we meet our protagonist, Kelvin, he seems a perfectly ordinary kind of fellow. He is on a mission to join the crew on a legendary station floating over a world that is almost certainly a living organism.

When he arrives at the station, things are not as he expected. One man is dead and the other two are acting strangely. The book becomes a psychological thriller for the remainder (though “thriller” is perhaps too strong a word). But it does keep you guessing. Is he really seeing other people, are they ghosts, or is the planet manifesting them? Is the planet trying to communicate with them in some way, or are they all going insane?

This is not a quick or an easy read. The pace moves agonizingly slow at times, and there is too much exposition about the history of the station, the planet, and past explorers. The characters sometimes make awkward choices. The wonders of the planet are recorded in catalogue fashion as seen through the eyes of a text book. With a translated work, one is never quite sure if the pacing and awkwardness is due to the author or the translator. This version says it was translated from the French by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox. That means it was translated from the original Polish into French, then into English (Lem himself disapproved of this translation).

Still, Solaris takes you on a disturbing, almost psychedelic journey. In the era these men come from, the planet Solaris is the biggest mystery anyone has ever known, and people have been trying to make sense of it for over a hundred years. We feel that sense of mystery too, and we wonder where it will lead. It certainly seems like the planet is trying to communicate with them, but can a living planet and humans have anything in common? If two species are so vastly different, can communication even be possible without one or the other going mad? The question is not really answered in this book. It is only hinted at.

Star Liner

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