Utterlessly...Confusing

http://vimeo.com/13626700

The first time I attempted to read Solaris I was actually on a plane headed home from Alasaka a month ago and when I opened the book the first chapter was titled "Arrival", I thought, "How ironic is that? I'm not arriving, I'm departing at this very minute." and even more so for me was chapter 3 titled "The Visitor" because I was departing from my adventure in Alaska as a visitor to the state and to my family...and yet just trying to make these connections...I felt nothing but irony. Honestly, whether it was the book itself or a combination of the book and the upward motion of liftoff in the plane...after finishing the first chapter I feel asleep bored from the text and the mumbo jumbo of words on the paper.
Of course I tried again on my second flight...needless to say I feel asleep again after the second chapter. So I wasnt to thrilled about trying to read this book again over my break. Although I did get into the book a bit more and did not fall asleep after every single chapter, the most that I liked about this story was the plot line between Rheyna and Kelvin. Everything else felt like a repeat of Wallace Stevens. Confusing and Random.
I did however notice that there was the connection (other than my personal thoughts on confusion and randomness) that both the author of Solaris and Wallace Stevens seem to share the sense of starting with doom (Harmonium's darkness of death) and the confusion in the first few chapters in Solaris, followed by a sense of at easeness and then happiness despite the ending. Kelvin was not to say happy but content because he had exeperienced his love again and had fallen in love with her mirror image that his mind played. And in all I believe he needed that in order to get beyond her "first" death of suicide at which he felt at fault. He was able to believe in the FICTION sense of her that was in front of him at that time, even when he knew that she was not real. In the end he was awaiting her return because he in fact needed her. Just as Stevens portrays in his poetry the depth between imagination and reality, we can have both at one time! We just must be willing to distinguish between what is our imagination and what is our reality. Others do not need to know, only we do.

Like several others had discussed in class, I'm not a science fiction person and I must say that I am extremely happy that I have finished the book and do not need to read it anymore. There were several parts that made me feel like I was in a lecture class that was way beyond my level of expertise that I just couldnt bear to read on. But I endured and finished it this morning, in time to go to work and not think about it.
In an attempt to write this blog better though I did try looking at things online to try to get a better sense of understanding to everything I had read, and there was nothing I personally could find other than this video of a blue planet with a mist that moves and looks like the serpent in the sky here on earth, only more extravagant. It reminded me of the final chapters in the book before Rheyna disappeared.

On a last note, while I did not like the book, I am intrigued to watch the George Clooney movie to see if I really do understand this at all.