"Solaris" by Stanislaw Lem

Kris Kelvin arrives at the scientific research station which floats above the planet Solaris, built to study the curious ocean surrounding the planet, which is thought to be a gigantic living entity, and exhibits some form of alien intelligence through it's physical reactions and interactions with human visitors. The station's two remaining personnel, Snow and Sartorius, are behaving strangely, showing signs of fatigue and paranoia and inform Kelvin that the station's third scientist, Gibarian, a former colleague of Kelvin's, has committed suicide. After waking from his first night's sleep on the station, Kelvin is confronted by a physical manifestation of a long-dead lover, Rheya, who remembers little about how she arrived at the station. It is revealed that the other members of the crew have also received "visitors", manifestations of people from their past that are associated with deep and personal experiences (for Kelvin, Rheya committed suicide ten years previously after their relationship fell apart with which Kelvin associates deep feelings of guilt and regret). Attempting to escape from his visitor, Kelvin locks Rheya inside and shuttle and launches her away from the station, only to find that she re-appears the following morning with no memory of the incident. After learning what she is, via tape recordings made by the late Gibarian, Rheya, out of sympathy of Kelvin's situation, attempts suicide by drinking liquid oxygen, where she discovers that she is immortal and regenerates quickly after incurring damage. Kelvin eventually loses his fear and grows attached to the manifestation of Rheya and asks her to return to Earth with him, as part of his wish for a second chance. The station crew try to come to terms with their visitors and attribute their appearance as part of an unconscious experiment performed by the Solaris ocean, and one of the crew, Sartorius, develops a device for disrupting the neutrino field associated with the physical form of the visitors, enabling the visitors to be killed. Realising she cannot return to Earth, Rheya voluntarily allows Sartorius to use the device on her, ending her visits. Kelvin, Snow and Sartorius all come to terms with their visits in different ways and agree to remain on the station to continue their study of the ocean.

Solaris is an intelligent and thought-provoking novel and a really good read. A really enjoyed Lem's sophisticated treatment of the notion that communication or mutual understanding between humans and alien entities (i.e. the Solaris ocean) is essentially a flawed anthropogenic dream. The novel provides a convincing exploration of the emotions surrounding Kelvin's relationship with Rheya and his experiences with her as a visitor. I felt deeply engaged with his character because of this; this level of engagement is on par with the protagonists in "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Dispossessed".

Solaris, like all of Lem's books, was written in Polish and the English translation of Solaris comes from a previous translation from Polish to French. Apparently Lem, who was fluent in English, was critical of the English translation and wished for it to be re-translated (which never happened, or at least was never re-published). In general, I liked the writing, particularly in the complexities of the descriptions of the characters and their surroundings (i.e. the Solaris ocean physical phenomena) and found the "academic text" aspects of the novel really interesting, however there was a certain lack of poetic flair in the writing, for which I've read Lem was known for in his original Polish novels. What a shame I can't read Polish! (or speak it for that matter).