5. Could the book instead have had multiple narrators, or be told in third person?

[John]

5. Kelvin narrates Solaris. Could the book instead have had multiple narrators, or be told in third person? How does having Kelvin as the sole speaker fit with the novel's themes?

[Zombie]

I liked that because it gave one perspective to everything that occurred, not an objective narrative, but a subjective one, which made the book more interesting to me to see it through that lens instead of more or less being presented with facts or different sides.

[Eadie]

I think just having Kevin narrate the story is better than two or three narrators. Learning about more than one experience would cause the story to be more confusing and would make less of an impact on the reader.

[Pip]

I was frustrated that we did not find out who the other visitors were, and the descriptions of the other characters were one-dimensional. So I would have preferred an omniscient narrator.

[Sushicat]

It fits the story that there was only one narrator, as it is so much about how we perceive things. I didn't mind that we never found out about the other visitors.

[Wolf]

The weird thing is, I read this book for a university course three years ago, and I had successfully made up Sartorius's "guest(s)". I was absolutely sure I would learn more about them, and I never did.

I agree that the perspective is part of the book's point, it couldn't be written from another POV. Well, it could, of course, but it wouldn't be the same book and I don't think I'd appreciate it in the same way.

[[deleted user]]

I liked the single person POV it was more immersive and added to the initial tension it also had more emotional impact than several narrators could have.

[Kristel]

It was good just the way it was.

I do want to say this though; in the audio, narrated by one man, he did an excellent job with making each characters voice distinct and even did a great job with Harre's voice.

[Jen]

I think it was perfect with one narrator. Part of the point was to make assumptions about perception vs. reality. Leaving it in the hands of one voice makes the issue muddier and allows those questions to be raised.

I liked the fact that we never learned who the other guests were.

@Kristel - I think the audio was great. He was very good and I'm very picky with narrators.