7jane's Reviews > Solaris

I watched the movie once but fall asleep in the middle of it. Hope the book is more tolerable?

I loved the old movie, admittingly very low-paced in parts, ponderous, and definitely something that takes its good time to grow on you, but deep in meaning, emotionally haunting and beautifully disturbing.
I watched the newer one, which I did like, but I must say that it did not work for me as much as the original - I felt that the newer version has lost the deeper philosophical undertones, existential angst and nuances of the original one (even though I must say that I personally disagree with much of the underlying message, which is ultimately inward-looking and pessimistic - I was actually quite surprised when I first learned that Solaris had not been banned outright in the USSR, but allowed with only minor modifications).
I think that the majority will disagree with me in my strong preference towards the original version, but in any case I am pleased that you enjoyed the book - I haven't read it yet but I see now that I must read it too. I think I have read somewhere that the author of the book complained that the movie had lost some of the richness of the original novel, so probably the book is the deepest in meaning of the three options.

Ariya wrote: "I watched the movie once but fall asleep in the middle of it. Hope the book is more tolerable?"

I read this in my early 20s, and although it's not action-packed, more philosophical (or something), I liked it. But people have different tastes... to me the book held interest welle enough. :)

Fortunr wrote: "I loved the old movie, admittingly very low-paced in parts, ponderous, and definitely something that takes its good time to grow on you, but deep in meaning, emotionally haunting and beautifully di..."

Do read the book; it was quite beautiful and visual enough. I'm sure I would get new angles from it now when I will re-read it - it's been long enough for that XD