Solaris

The Definitive Edition

By: Stanislaw Lem, Bill Johnston - translator

Narrated by: Alessandro Juliani

Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

At last, one of the world’s greatest works of science fiction is available - just as author Stanislaw Lem intended it.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of Solaris, Audible, in cooperation with the Lem Estate, has commissioned a brand-new translation - complete for the first time, and the first ever directly from the original Polish to English. Beautifully narrated by Alessandro Juliani (Battlestar Galactica), Lem’s provocative novel comes alive for a new generation.

In Solaris, Kris Kelvin arrives on an orbiting research station to study the remarkable ocean that covers the planet’s surface. But his fellow scientists appear to be losing their grip on reality, plagued by physical manifestations of their repressed memories. When Kelvin’s long-dead wife suddenly reappears, he is forced to confront the pain of his past - while living a future that never was. Can Kelvin unlock the mystery of Solaris? Does he even want to?

©1961 Stanislaw Lem. Translation © 2011 by Barbara and Tomasz Lem (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Few are [Lem's] peers in poetic expression, in word play, and in imaginative and sophisticated sympathy." (Kurt Vonnegut)

"[Lem was] a giant of mid-20th-century science fiction, in a league with Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick." ( The New York Times)
"Juliani transmits Kelvin’s awe at Solaris’s red and blue dawns and makes his confusion palpable when he awakens one morning to find his long-dead wife seated across the room. Juliani’s performance is top-notch." ( AudioFile)

Wonderful!

Classic sci fi from 1961 of the philosophical variety. Evolves throughout and keeps you thinking.

Sometimes you have to push through...

This definitely qualifies as one of the classics of sci-fi. A true fan of the genre should definitely read it. However, being a classic does not always mean it is an easy read, nor that it is above criticism.

As many others have stated, at times the book grinds to a halt as the Narrator reads from the scientific journals and historical documents he is reading to better understand Solaris. Some have pointed out the necessity of these sections of the book, for establishing the world, creating the background, helping to root the reader in the reality of the situation and keep us from thinking it is all a hallucination. There is truth in that point.

However, the problem is that this sections go on too long. I listen to books on my drive to and from work, it is a 40 minute drive. When that entire 40 minutes is spent listening to someone reading a scientific journal, giving scientific descriptions of the planets phenomena, that is too much. The story completely ground to a halt. I think the purpose of those parts of the book could have been accomplished in half the prose. Alternatively, those long, dry sections could have been broken into smaller pieces, with parts of the story interspersed between them. Tolkien did something similar in Lord of the Rings, establishing the reality of the world by blending the music, poetry, history, and literature of Middle Earth into the story, there is quite a lot of that between the covers of those classic works, but he broke them into small bits and made sure he never put the story on pause for so long that we would forget we were reading a story and start thinking we were reading a history book.

Twice, I forgot I was listening to a work of science fiction. Instead, I was asking myself, "Why am I listening to a fake science journal?"

Perhaps, what made it worse, was that listening to those parts I was thinking there were clues and pieces of a puzzle hidden in those textbook portions of the book. Thinking that when we got to the end I would see that they were all leading to something. But no, the purpose was to establish setting and background and root us in reality, nothing more.

Beyond that criticism, the story is interesting. It is everything I expect of good science fiction. It tells an engaging story of "what if" and it sets the mind to thinking about bigger ideas about humanity, who I am, my place in the universe, etc... And it does it in a way that doesn't feel like it is propaganda or forcing a point of view on the reader. It simply opens the door to thinking, questioning, and exploring life, humanity, society, technology or ourselves.

I struggled a bit with how to rate the story here. The performance was easy, it was top notch really bringing the story and characters to life and doing the best that can be done to keep long passages of science textbook interesting, easy to give that 5 stars. But the story... The long, drawn out passages really do make it hard to remain interested and engaged in the story. But, you can't take all of that away without losing a connection to this being a real experience and not a hallucination. With the sheer boredom I felt during those passages, I was tempted to rate the story 2 stars. Recognizing that there is a need for some of that, I think it could merit 4 stars. But ultimately, I settle in the middle.

But, I would say this: Despite my giving the story 3 stars, it is a must read for any fan of science fiction. Push through the hard parts, recognize that they are there to establish the setting and frame of reference to root the story, not really to push the story forward. And, for that reason, it is worth reading every word. So that you can appreciate how a great writer can actually touch us and make us sense, feel, and believe things are far more real than just words on paper.

Unexpected Discovery

Solaris, written nearly 60 years ago, anticipates to a certain degree, Kurzweil's conception, in The Singularity is Near, of a self-replicating nanobot goo. Like Kurzweil's thought experiments, the question about what is ultimately human is sensitively explored in the protagonist's love of an alien "guest"; the embodiment of a long-deceased lover. The narrative is pre9gnant with suspense, full of surprises, and the ending suggest a series might have followed.

Classic PhilosophicalWork

It's an absolute shame that this book is not a more widespread academic requirement in literature. This book is an absolutely brilliant counter-balance to the theme of "hard" science fiction. The characteristic of the story I like best is that the premise is astoundingly unique and can be reimagined in so many creative ways. A canonical setup orthogonal to the typical theme of the supposed genre of the book towards an enlightening philosophical journey.

Haunting, beautiful and engaging.

I listened to this some time ago, but it has kept with me. I will be listening again, I think. The pace and darkness is married with light and revelation in such a beautiful, consistent and heart-wrenching way that I savoured every moment. The narrator similarly became one with the tale, perfectly conveying it. I highly recommend this book, especially for those who want to understand why a book doesn't need to be fast-paced to be good.

Interesting Ideas, Odd Pace

The story had a lot of interesting ideas but I never felt that it went anywhere.

Memorable story, memorable performance

Solaris is an unforgettable story that has no equal in science fiction literature, and Alessandro gives a flawless reading of it. I'm surprised the ratings aren't better for this audiobook.

Slow and outdated, but poses interesting questions

After reading the reviews and seeing it pop up in several "Top Sci-Fi" lists I was excited to listen to this book.

I can understand some of the praise that this book has received, but I have some problems with it.

When you start to listen, you can quickly tell that it was written in the early 60s. The fact that the station is on another planet, but there are no computers as we know them. It is easy to get past this, but it gives a very nostalgic feeling to the story.

The descriptions of the structures and formations that occur on the planet's surface don't occur until the book is over halfway over. These are things that could have really instilled a sense of awe and wonder with the planet. Because they arrived so late, I was already starting to become bored with the story and remember thinking "if these are supposed to be so impressive why are they just now mentioned?"

Many of the ideas that the author proposes are quite intriguing. What does it mean to be alive, what kinds of life forms are in our universe, if we encountered intelligent life would we recognize it?

It is because of these points and discussions that I didn't consider this book a waste of time, but I don't rate this as one of my favorite books.

Excellent - but could benefit from an abridgment

I loved this book and the story was captivating. However I found some of the descriptive passages regarding the planet boring. I think a slight abridgment might help the bok be even better. In any case, the narrator was excellent.

Worth a listen/read

As a sci-fi junky I somehow never got around to reading this but have always seen it recommended and talked about. I love first contact stories and Solaris doesn’t disappoint in delivering that otherworldly unknowable alien that is so different from humans. The concept is genius and overall I enjoyed the story. The only bad thing I can say is there are quite a bit of over drawn out scientific explanations and backstory. If you love first contact books and can get through that then you will enjoy this book.