Return from the Stars

By: Stanislaw Lem, Barbara Marszal - translator, Frank Simpson - translator

Narrated by: Scott Aiello

Hal Bregg is an astronaut who returns from a space mission in which only 10 biological years have passed for him, while 127 years have elapsed on Earth. He finds that the Earth has changed beyond recognition, filled with human beings who have been medically neutralized. How does an astronaut join a civilization that shuns risk?

©1967 Stanislaw Lem; English translation © 1980 by Stanislaw Lem (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

magnificent

Truly one of the best sci-fi novels ever written. The reader is good too. This is one of Lem's finest works, and that's saying a lot because the bar is high.

A slow one from Lem

As a Lem fan, getting a story that meanders around to make various points is something of a norm. This is not his best work in that regard.

As usual, there's something interesting going on in the background, but that seems less well handled in this case than other books.

Lem is also not known for the women he writes. This book is particularly painful in that regard, and it was frequently tempting to put down for that reason.

As someone that loves Lem, I'm very glad this isn't the first book of his I experienced.

Starts slow, then it gets intense

I'm a huge Lem fan and I always left this book aside. I decided to finally give it a chance only now.
The book starts slowly and sets you up for some less serious / goofy adventure in a not so distant future. By the time you start understanding more of the background of the characters and the world you realize that the story is so much deeper and intense. Lots of high quality sci-fi content worthy of the good ol' Stan. Totally recommend.

definitely recommend

fascinating, interesting, well written/translated and overall great book.

the story of a man, who returns to earth after 10 years on a faster-than-light space expedition. Over a century has gone by on earth, and everything has changed. He has a hard time adapting to the new society. Great narration, including accents! Female voices could be better.

guilt for dreams

After a long space voyage the hero and his surviving explorers return to earth to find a great change has over taken humanity.

Out of 10 stars I would do 9, only because...

The only 10 stars i would give is to Lem and Tolkien. i Only say 9/10 to respect the other works of Stanislaw that I believe are greater than this one. I fear the translation into the limited English language may have hurt this book. Time to learn Polish just to read Lem!

Slow start but returns to form

The beginning lost me on my first read as it came off as goofy outdated speculative fiction. However, when I revisited it the book returns to Lem's form with some heady sci-fi ideas accompanied by steadily rising action and an impactful end. Also the audio performance was right on point.

Some of the more emotional and intense scenes may also come off as odd but I think romance just isn't his strong suit.

I wonder if it made sense, even back then

The author is one of the greats, but this book is not for me.
Perhaps slight spoilers, but nothing too heavy.

The protagonist is an unhinged, selfish, unlikable prick. He constantly things he knows best EVEN when he himself says he doesn't know what's going on, refuses to ask any questions but rather keeps blundering through, and constantly has a need to be cryptic.

That last part is true for virtually any character sadly. They all feel like they... But oh, do they? YES, they absolutely do feel that... OH BUT NOW I GET IT! How could I not see this before?
I'm sure you see it too now, right? Yes, obviously, you do.

There are some redeeming qualities to the book. It has interesting parts and original ideas. In a way, I might be richer for having explored the concepts in the book, but it was not the most enjoyable listen.

The narrator often did a poor job in distinguishing between different characters, but was otherwise not bad.

Starts well but...

Any additional comments?

The opening sequence of the book describing the astronauts return to earth was genuinely masterful. Brilliant really. I have never encountered such a perfect evocation of cultural confusion.
After that I figured I was in for one terrific book.
Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. The main character is rather unlikable. Not always a problem in a book but in this case it seemed important to empathize with him. I found it difficult. Especially as the book quickly degenerated into a pretty tiresome romance. I gave up near the end.
Part of my problem with the book might have been the narrator's voice and inflection. I found it off putting and continually wondered if I would have been so irritated by the astronaut had I been simply reading the book. Who knows?
Whatever the case. This is no Solaris.