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Summary: Psycho-fable a la Kafka
Review: As usual, Lem takes a dim view of the human condition. The protagonist naively attempts to find an honest man in "the building", an immeasurably dense nexus of bureaucracy and espionage. Turncoating proves absurd at sufficient depths of recursion. The desirability of escape is called into question.
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Summary: Memoirs of a Memory
Review: I had my copy of Memoirs Found In A Bathtub confiscated by my 9th grade french teacher in 1977. Hey, it was a 30 minute free reading period. I learned of Kafka's influences on this book ,and their shared heritage, years later. Searching for knowledge can be a treachorous endeavor. The authorities and experts can't always be trusted - especially when they no longer have paperwork to bolster their position.
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Summary: not a good book by Lem (who is a great writer)
Review: I'm a big fan of Lem but I have to admidt he has churned out some bad books. I have read all but two all of Lem's books and this is among his worst (along with Chain of Chance, Eden, the Investigation). Its boring, short, and no way worth [that much money] Instead start out with one of his 5-star books: His Master's Voice, Star Diaries, Fiasco, or Pirx the Pilot.
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Summary: A mind twister to burst your brain!
Review: Lem is a master, morphing the language to suit the story. If you are looking for a 'plot', you will be left reeling from twisted language. If you realize that it is all a political satire and watch for the many sub-plots, undertones and cross-currents, you will enjoy this book thoroughly! The translators have done an excellent job keeping the original intent intact.
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Summary: Discover Lem.
Review: Lem's writes a great story. But more than that, he is different, I think, because of...well, because of something else. Something occuring below the surface of the narrative. Something hidden...something coded? I don't know. It is some thought-provoking something that gets you to put the book down to consider something new, or perhaps reconsider, anew, something you thought you knew. Writers ought to attempt entertainment, I think. Of course, not every writer succeeds. But Lem does. Brilliantly, I should say. Moreso, though, Lem's work is made more thorough-going, more profound in effect, perhaps more three-dimensional, because of something powerfully nonverbal....some undiscovered, secret goings-on behind the words and phrases. Something at once present and indiscernable. Something, at times, even terrifying. I can't explain it. I can't talk about Lem's technique or his uniqueness in plain language. His achievement itself aspires to the nonverbal. Just read "Memoirs", or "The Futurological Congress", or the "Cyberiad", and see for yourself how, the story, or what it becomes, manages to linger long after the book has been closed. Lem has been lingering in my mind for years. Whatever that curious something is, though, a rarest of things, the thing you feel when you read Lem, but can't quite locate, I'm sure is something Lem the artist has somehow fashioned deliberatley. For this reason, I think, I can't say you should read Lem...but that you must.
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Summary: What makes the Building stay?The Antibuilding makes it stay!
Review: Like most Lem's works, "Memoirs Found in a Bathtub" defies ready classification. It is hardly a work of science fiction, unless you consider the inexhaustible amount of office supplies the Building goes through in the course of the novel. It makes do with but a rudiment of plot. And, of course, it is absolutely brilliant. "Pentagon 3" is a concrete bullet stuck in the teeth of the Rockies. Walled off from the rest of the world by three miles of rock, it served as civilized mankind's last refuge in the face of an alien paper-devouring agent that has reduced the global culture of the twentieth century to embers. "Pentagon 3" existed for seventy-two years until a slight shift in the volcanic strata burst its cement envelope and flooded the innards with magma, preserving building's contents for posterity. A millennium later, this derelict is excavated and explored. One of the more interesting finds happens to be an almost perfectly preserved wad of a substance called "papyr", which apparently served for recording data. "Memoirs Found in a Bathtub" is the perfect transcript of these ancient texts, humanity's only glance into the heart of a bygone age. The Building is a mysterious realm of double, triple, and quadruple agents, unmaskings and concealed microphones, infinitely meaningless passwords and rows of identical offices, containing no less identical secretaries. Here, everyone speaks in code, and every bit of sewage is hand-sifted in corresponding facilities. Don't be surprised to find metallic flies floating in your coffee: they're just trying to distract you from noticing the less obvious devices. What is the building's modus operandi? Has this ultimate Bureaucracy resorted to chaos, hoping that if documents circulate randomly, they will eventually reach the intended hands? Or is the Building completely and entirely infiltrated by the Antibuilding agents - and vice versa - so that everyone knows everything but has no one to tell? Or is there no Antibuilding at all? And what is our hero's Secret Mission? "Memoirs" is completely and entirely applicable to every aspect of life. It edifies and puzzles, brims with revelations and never fails to surprise. It is full of bitter cynicism and unmasked sarcasm. It is funny and bewildering. It must be read.
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Summary: As sparkling as Catch-22
Review: MEMOIRS is Lem at his funniest. While the political/philosophical agenda is inherent in the setting, this is a laugh-out-loud, shake-your-head in wonder kind of novel. It even includes a deliberate punchline guaranteed to please Lovecraft fans. Where a novel like HIS MASTER'S VOICE may be more "serious" and "important" than this one, MEMOIRS is more easily enjoyable as a lingering reading experience. Caveat lector: once in, never out. General K, is that you?
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Summary: Beware of the Complexity
Review: Not for the casual reader, this devilishly complicated book will have you stumped in the end. So unless you wish to re-read it (in order to finally figure out what it was all about) don't bother with this one. But for those of you searching for that rare book that leaves you wondering and puzzled for days, weeks, years... well, this is it. From the brilliant mind of the best Polish sci-fi writer comes a satire and a comment on those wonderful societies of ours (take your pick: socialism, communism, etc.) and the methods of their tyranny. The plot is simple: An innocent, foolishly loyal aspiring agent enters his new occupation only to find out that those in power have plans of their own (which he just can't discover). Searching the confines of a "Building", a futuristic military-like establishment hidden underground, he seeks his mission, his purpose and the meaning of his existence. Ultimately, all those disappear before his eyes and turn into code. This skillfully written tale where not one word lacks meaning or purpose (or does it?) attempts to understand methods of population control. Could it be that political systems have, are and will rule their population through skillful semantics-control? (think NEWSPEAK) Lem posits that political rhetoric color not only our judgment but also our ability to perceive the world around us. Concentrating on the cold war tension between the US and CCCP, Lem explores systems which convert all their resources and their entire populations to one task: the destruction of the enemy. To accomplish their goal, they convert the minds of their subject. Much like a child who learns to adhere to the principles of society through the careful teaching of parents, teachers, TV, and others, a member of these societies learns to relinquish to his superiors the ability to judge his surrounding. The Building's plan is simple: Through a carefully planned mission, our hero learns to loose trust in himself, loose his ambition and the ability to choose how and to whom to be loyal. He learns that he is a tool. He discovers that his only responsibility is to the Building, and that the Building alone can think for him, tell him what, how, and why to think. He learns that he is a part of the Building and that his duty is to serve a predetermined function which he himself can't alter. He learns that he can only make sense of the insane world around him, if he unconditionally adapts the strategies of his surrounding. In the end, he discovers that a system like the Building has developed into a new life-form (who smiles and leads a life of its own), an organism whom we humans must ultimately serve and whose survival we must guaranty if we ourselves wish to live on. If you can deal with an unorthodox plot (if there is one), and like your books heavy on ideas, this is the book for you. Otherwise, stick with Jordan or Simmons - they're good, too.
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Summary: A mind twister to burst your brain!
Review: One of my favorite books. If you're looking for a quick read or action, shop elsewhere. It's almost unbelieveable that something that twists language so much could translate so well. He's a genius and my opinion of his writing increases with every book I read by him. If you liked this try _The Investigation_.
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Summary: I'll add my vote to the pile
Review: One of my favorite books. If you're looking for a quick read or action, shop elsewhere. It's almost unbelieveable that something that twists language so much could translate so well. He's a genius and my opinion of his writing increases with every book I read by him. If you liked this try _The Investigation_.
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