A science fiction masterpiece by Stanislaw Lem
Leaving Warhammer and gaming behind again this week, I read Solaris which is a classic of Sci-Fi by Stanislaw Lem. Like many who have read it, I read a translated version.
From the Book
When Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface he is forced to confront a painful, hitherto unconscious memory embodied in the physical likeness of a long-dead lover. Others suffer from the same affliction and speculation rises among scientists that the Solaris ocean may be a massive brain that creates incarnate memories, but its purpose in doing so remains a mystery . . .
Review
The planet of Solaris shouldn’t exist. The orbit is wrong, the ocean shouldn’t be there and so humanity begins to explore it – and to understand the why.
When Kris Kelvin arrives the study of Solaris has already reached its zenith and – with no new findings in recent years – has fallen out of the academic and public sphere. But Kelvin is there for a different reason – there has been a death of the station on Solaris and he has been asked to visit to find out what has happened.
So begins a classic Sci-Fi novel – and make no mistake this is hard science fiction. There is a lot of explanation (a lot) and not a whole lot of story. The main thread running through is the Kelvin’s long dead love is visiting him on the space station (on the planet), and his attempts to remove her are not very successful…. especially as she appears to be flesh and blood and has all his memories of her.
Where did the facsimile of his love come from, what does she want and could the Ocean be somehow to blame? All good questions and we slowly get some of the answers. But in trying to build such a complex world in a short novel Stanislaw Lem spends a lot of time explaining the research and science behind the planet.
In fact I think almost on third of the book is Kris Kelvin reading through academic papers on the whys and the wherefores of the planet and it’s unique position in the galaxy… which is all very interesting, to the author.
But it’s all a bit dry and doesn’t advance the plot. It definitely shows a lot of thought went into the planet, and the ocean but Kelvin’s arrival and the lives of his fellow scientists feel secondary to the author’s interest in his own creation.
Verdict
Reading a ‘classic’ novel in a genre for the first time can be quite a fraught process. What if I don’t ‘get’ it and the millions of words already written about it. Does it need a second (or third) reading to get to the true nib of the story?
It’s clearly popular and there is a lot of well thought out world building and explanation, but I felt like a lot of it was just info-dump for the new world rather than an exploration of it or an ending for our characters. There was insufficient space in the book to do both and so it falls down a gap between the two aims.
If you are interested in older science fiction (published in 1961) this will probably be on your reading list and I wouldn’t stop you (not least because at 224 pages it’s a short example), but I just couldn’t bring myself to think that any subsequent read throughs were worthwhile – especially having struggled with the first.
Check out the full list of Book Reviews we’ve done on Woehammer here
We always encourage people to shop at local bricks and mortar stores, but if your friendly local book store doesn’t have this available, we have a UK Amazon affiliate link & a USA Amazon affiliate link for which Woehammer receives a small commission.
— Declan & Eeyore