What do you think extraterrestrial life would be like? What
would it be like to try and communicate with it? Clearly, Stanislaw Lem has
given it a lot of thought in his book, “Solaris,” which is the science fiction
story we’re talking about today, Obscurists.
***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***
What I love about this book:
“Solaris” is a weird story, and I love a good, weird story. Ultimately it’s a story about first contact, but how Lem goes about first contact with an alien species or—in this story’s case—with a single vast sentient entity is he throws out pretty much all of our expectations. If we ever do make first contact with an extraterrestrial form of life, I’m sure the supreme frustration of attempting it, like in this book, will be true to life.
The sentient ocean of “Solaris” is one of those few exceptions to my prohibition on unknowable characters—rarely do I like them. Typically I ascribe this quality to malevolent or at least unscrupulous characters, but the living ocean of Solaris just is.
For an old sci-fi novel, “Solaris” not only does atmosphere very well but character too, which is often not what the genre is known to focus on, typically those elements get sacrificed for big ideas. I should temper that praise, though, mainly I found Dr. Kelvin and his “visitor,” to not spoil too much, to be the most compelling characters in the story. The atmosphere and setting are always uncanny, so there is no higher praise from me—I love uncanny settings like I love a good haunted house.
What I don’t love about this book:
There is a listlessness to this book at times. It sometimes feels like things are just happening to happen and then to be discussed by the characters. A lot.
While I find its peculiarities interesting and the characters engaging, the plot isn’t, well, much of anything. It can be summed up as; an odd planet with an odd living ocean is visited by waves of baffled scientists, who remain baffled after studying the planet with great interest and vigor. One day our protagonist visits Solaris and is likewise baffled. The end.
So we ultimately start and end in the same position, and while the marking time in place might be interesting and compelling in its own way, the story doesn’t progress anywhere.
There are also themes of self-harm in this book, so if that’s going to be a problem, I’d suggest skipping this novel. I believe those themes are legitimate things to talk about in a story, and even some of my favorite stories bring it up, but still, not my favorite bits of any story.
***The Spoiler part of this review***
***Ye be warned to turn back now***
The quick and dirty synopsis:
Dr. Kelvin, our main character, arrives at Solaris Station, which researches primarily the vast living ocean present on the planet Solaris. Right from the jump, things are weird. One of the crew, an old mentor of Kelvin’s, had killed himself right before Kelvin arrived. The two surviving crew members of the station don’t seem all that broken up about it.