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)

Best of the best

This is a great book with a great reading. It is science fiction with a nonanthroporphic alien.

Listen to it or read it!

The novel is richer and deeper than the films. It asks an important question: why should we assume that an alien intelligence would be intelligible to us?

A vastly underrated work

This easily one of the best stories I have ever read. I could not but help put myself in the lead character's place more than any book I recall. Truly the most unique take on extraterrestrial life.

The narrator was fantastic. 5 stars all across the board.

Solaris and it’s Mysteries

I believe this starts off strong, there is a uneasiness in the first few chapters because the characters never reveal their full hand. As it goes on there are sections that explain the world and the studies done on it which take some time and it is admittedly easy to drift off. I understand there is a place for world building but it is a bit dense for me. It ends strong as well, and the ending conversations make me wish I loved the novel as a whole a little more. This is a solid work of literature but I find myself gravitating more toward something like Roadside Picnic.

Great reader

I wish someone would make a third movie of this story using modern effects. I'd love to see a faithful version of the ocean and the phenomena described. Excellent narrator. I will listen again.

Super retro but thought provoking

Lots of very old si-fi but tackles a huge number of philosophical issues and describes interesting perspectives.

A comment on negative reviews

I tend to read reviews before I buy a book if it's something I'm not sure about. I've been wanting to read Solaris for ages, so I didn't bother with reviews when this became available. If I had read the reviews, I might have skipped it. While many are positive, there are also a number of negative reviews with some pretty consistent criticisms.

In response that there are long periods of technical description that serve no purpose to the story: I can understand where that sentiment is coming from, but I think these sections are necessary and serve the story in the following ways. For one, they perpetuate the mystery of the planet. Whenever this would happen, I would try to imagine what they were describing. If you've ever stared out at the ocean in awe of the size and mystery of it, this is the type of feeling these sections evoke. It also acts as foreshadowing. The first part that describes the unique properties of Solaris also sets the stage for the paranoia and strange encounters the main character deals with when he first lands on the station. The following descriptions of strange phenomona on the planet hint at the bizarre circumstances on the station, etc. It's subtle, but for me it definitely shaped the way I thought about what was happening in the story. If it wasn't there, one might think this was a ghost story, or a hallucination.

In response to the criticism that the characters do not react realistically, or like scientists: While this is true at times, I think the reviewers are dismissing the environment that these people are in. Like I mentioned above, the characters are experiencing such bizarre events that the first thoughts one might have are that they are hallucinating or dreaming. Two characters have been living like that, the other is suddenly thrust into it. I don't think it's fair to criticize their reactions as being unrealistic when what they are experiencing is irrational.

Also, I wish I could give 6 stars to the narrator, Alessando Juliani. He gave a magnificent performance, especially with the wife, Harey. I'm always nervous when male narrators attempt female voices, but this was done masterfully.

This story is about humans trying to interact with something that is so utterly alien that we can't even understand how it exists. It's about relationships, specifically the complicated one between Kelvin and his wife, but also between humanity and Solaris. Can you even assign motives to such a being? Is it even alive? I was genuinely surprised by the finesse and emotional depth of this book. I was also frequently swept up in the majesty and fear of the living ocean as described in the book. It was a truly unique experience, and a real treat to listen to. If any of this sounds interesting to you, I can't recommend this book highly enough.

As good as it gets

If one could rate Lem's descriptions of the planet Solaris and its ocean as stylistic invention, I would have to give the author 5 stars. In Snuff, one of Terry Pratchett’s characters asks another who we presume is Jane Austen (personification) how she could be “a successful author if all the words in the language have already been invented and only their order could be different.” Well, that is kind of the magic of good writing isn’t it? Lem concocts words from those that are familiar but that is not his magic. It is how he strings these inventions into the strings of narrative and description that add a vision to and beauty of a story that I found hard to compare to anything that I have recently read or listened to.

I love science fiction. It is certainly in my top three favorite genres. I probably read more SF/fantasy than any other. However, I always feel the need to fall back to the classics of literature for a fix of human depth, love and relationships, three ingredients that seem to be less than fully satisfying in SF. They were not lacking in Solaris. For some readers, these might have been for them a central focus. If the book was at all character-driven, for me, it would have to have been for as much the character of the human protagonist as it was for that of the alien. And what is so incredible, we know almost nothing about this indescribable alien except for how it manifests itself in the form of the protagonist's deceased wife.

The relationship between the protagonist and his deceased wife/alien-embodiment is beautifully and tenderly rendered. The relationship is a fluid one. In the beginning it is one so adversarial our hero tries to kill her embodiment and later he is willing to die for her [sic]. Both the descriptions and narrative could be tumultuous and serene at the same time. It is this fluidity, including if not especially of that of the changes in the ocean of the planet, that continually adds interest, suspense and mystery to the story. It has been a long time since I have really cared about a character in a book. In fact, it was years ago when I almost stopped reading beyond the first book of the Game of Thrones because all the good characters kept getting killed off and it was downright depressing. How astonishing that I cared at least as much for the alien of Solaris as I did for its hero.

The story is as much a thrilling ghost story and gripping psychological drama as it is science fiction. One need not be a nerdy lover of SF to appreciate Solaris. The book is hauntingly elegant and intelligently written by any standard. It is the story of love, love lost and remorse. It is an exploration of our humanity and the failure at times to find it.

The dialogue was totally credible and, with its sense of time and place, made the story that much more believable. Lem’s descriptions totally transported me to the quiet and loneliness of the orbit above Solaris and its sentient ocean below. While its emotive range never really conjured up much in the way of wit or humor, the story plumed the depths of my soul for almost every other emotion. This is not a story fraught with gratuitous violence and excitement for the sake of what sells many books. And yet, the story is exciting from the very beginning. I did not want it to end. While one was left with more questions than answers, the ending was most satisfying. In fact, it was perfect.

This story is half a century old and still, it not only holds up well in contemporary SF, it stands up head and shoulders above much of what is written today in any fictional genre. This is a masterpiece. I could not recommend a book more highly.

Thus Spoke Lem

I've heard of Stanislaw Lem but never read his work until now. Solaris is 50 years old but could have been written last summer. With the exception of some basic terminology, it's just as fresh as anything written by my other favorites, Robert Charles Wilson and Peter F. Hamilton. Wow! Wow! and Wow! Brainy stuff for thinking people. Shout out to Alessandro!: BSG rocked the world, my friend!-- Thanks for some all too rare great television. You read the book very well, especially Snaut. Here's hoping for more Audible gigs.

Critics Love it

The critics love it. They say it is profound. They say it is beautiful. It explores the depths of human existence.It stands the test of time.

That is academia speak for it sucks big time. Someone a long time ago, who was high up in academia and who never read a Science Fiction novel in there life, deemed this a classic. All of his minions did not want to seem stupid, so they agreed.

Call me stupid, but I found this a long boring uninspired story. There were some interesting questions brought up, but nothing Heinlein or Asimov have not discussed. The difference being that Heinlein and Asimov are readable. If you are not into science fiction and you love the classics then you can read this love it and pretend you have read science fiction. If you are a true science fiction fan, who loves the wonder of Arthur C. Clarke's writing, you will be very disappointed. This can also be very frustrating. It is one of those books where the main character ask questions, but never gets answers. Everyone is always put off one hour. "Why do you pick your nose with your left hand". Answer "I can't tell you now come back in an hour." An hour later "I don't know why I pick my nose with my left hand, I must be crazy."

I am not trying to be mean, just feel it is my duty to warn others from wasting there money. This is my second and last Lem novel.

I put the narrator on fast play and he still sounded slow. He reads this whole thing in a somber whisper.