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frasersimons 's review for:
Solaris: The Definitive Edition
by Stanisław Lem
A psychologist is sent to a long established space station with the goal of helping to discern something about an alien presence.
A kind of quintessential setup for science fiction, but this is the absolute perfect execution. It’s a layered story that builds thematics and numerous conceits to both convey what it’s like to attempt the problem or puzzle of unraveling this mystery at an emotional level, while building to a larger point that science fiction usually ignores; especially in regards to alien life and communications, first contact, etc.
It’s hubris to believe we could throw ourselves in tin cans through voids and expect that the scientific method and even the very reasoning process could be adequate in the task of truly attempting to understand something actually alien. Not something anthropomorphized or metaphorical, or some other device or method to relate to something fundamentally unknowable.
The book has no interest in fulfilling genre tropes or providing prescriptive answers, nor does it even provide a “likeable” character. It is purposefully isolating, it’s form meeting function. There’s a fair chunk of hard science in here from time to time, and I can see why some people would not care about that part. But the book is very short and I found that section particularly interesting, though I am a complete layman in the area.
It made me feel like the main character, provoked some thoughts I don’t think any science fiction book ever has, and it is one of the rare books that acknowledges, or rather highlights, that there are some things every person simply must reckon with, less it destroy them. Now, or later.
Quick note: I was warned off the other translations, with this audiobook and an ebook being the only ones that the author thought was adequate. I followed along with the other translation softcover I have and it is quite different. The prose and construction is quite a bit more complex in this version, and there is more nuance. But I didn’t think, from what I saw, that the other translation was too bad, either. I’m not surprised plenty of people thought the original one was completely fine.
A kind of quintessential setup for science fiction, but this is the absolute perfect execution. It’s a layered story that builds thematics and numerous conceits to both convey what it’s like to attempt the problem or puzzle of unraveling this mystery at an emotional level, while building to a larger point that science fiction usually ignores; especially in regards to alien life and communications, first contact, etc.
It’s hubris to believe we could throw ourselves in tin cans through voids and expect that the scientific method and even the very reasoning process could be adequate in the task of truly attempting to understand something actually alien. Not something anthropomorphized or metaphorical, or some other device or method to relate to something fundamentally unknowable.
The book has no interest in fulfilling genre tropes or providing prescriptive answers, nor does it even provide a “likeable” character. It is purposefully isolating, it’s form meeting function. There’s a fair chunk of hard science in here from time to time, and I can see why some people would not care about that part. But the book is very short and I found that section particularly interesting, though I am a complete layman in the area.
It made me feel like the main character, provoked some thoughts I don’t think any science fiction book ever has, and it is one of the rare books that acknowledges, or rather highlights, that there are some things every person simply must reckon with, less it destroy them. Now, or later.
Quick note: I was warned off the other translations, with this audiobook and an ebook being the only ones that the author thought was adequate. I followed along with the other translation softcover I have and it is quite different. The prose and construction is quite a bit more complex in this version, and there is more nuance. But I didn’t think, from what I saw, that the other translation was too bad, either. I’m not surprised plenty of people thought the original one was completely fine.