Funny this is on the front page, as I just finished Solaris last night. But I honestly was not entertained by it. I found the character actions and dialog to be strangely unmotivated and confusing—why are they doing and saying these things? Is it a cultural, time period or translation difference? Some of the ideas are definitely interesting—I mean, you had me at "sentient ocean"—and I appreciate the historic value of the idea that an alien might just be simply not understandable by humans. The descriptions of the vast, frothing, living architectures were vivid and memorable, but most everything else seemed surprisingly tedious. I haven't seen either of the film adaptations but I can't possibly imagine what the story would be since there's so little story in the book.