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Funny this is on the front page, as I just finished Solaris last night. But I honestly was not entertained by it. I found the character actions and dialog to be
by virgil_disgr4ce 5y ago
Funny this is on the front page, as I just finished Solaris last night. But I honestly was not entertained by it. I found the character actions and dialog to be strangely unmotivated and confusing—why are they doing and saying these things? Is it a cultural, time period or translation difference? Some of the ideas are definitely interesting—I mean, you had me at "sentient ocean"—and I appreciate the historic value of the idea that an alien might just be simply not understandable by humans. The descriptions of the vast, frothing, living architectures were vivid and memorable, but most everything else seemed surprisingly tedious. I haven't seen either of the film adaptations but I can't possibly imagine what the story would be since there's so little story in the book.
- myth_drannon 5y agoI think Tarkovsky's movie was the one that made the novel popular in certain circles and the article claims the same.
- Gravityloss 5y agoI don't know why Solaris is considered so good or famous, he has so many other, much better books.
- asthamatan 5y agoAs someone once wrote about Lem's heritage and making it into cinema: Solaris is the only one with enough sexual context to show to the viewer, other works just do not have enough of it. I'm just rephrasing this from memory. The audience may be different now and possibly can accept less sex (this is supposedly a new trend in cinema).
- telesilla 5y agoThey tried with the Futurological Congress but for me, the (short) novel was far more amusing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Congress_(2013_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Congress_(2013_film)
- bally0241 5y agoErrmm...The Cyberiad certainly has plenty of 'sexual' content, but it may be considered too bizarre or disturbing for a mainstream audience, especially the story of the HPLDs.
- Gravityloss 5y agoYes, I think it's the book with the biggest emphasis on romantic human to human relations. Maybe there could be an index - how close a story is to Romeo and Juliet? Solaris ranks quite high.
- sogen 5y agoSame, while good, I think it could have been better if it were a few pages shorter, as it seems to lose momentum in the last pages. The Cyberiad is better, full of short stories. Also a good one is the The Futurological Congress.
- emtel 5y agoI don't think Solaris is Lem's best book, although that is the conventional wisdom. I highly recommend Fiasco and His Master's Voice. Fiasco starts with quite a long intro vignette that has little to do with the rest of the story. If its too boring just skip it. (Although I think it's well worth reading).