"Hospital of the Transfiguration" is the pensive story of Stefan Trzyniecki, a directionless, despairing young doctor who takes a job at a provincial Polish mental hospital at the outset of the war.  There he confronts the absurdity of life through events that occur both inside and outside the asylum walls.  Many of the hallmarks of Mr. Lem's mature science fiction style are present in this melancholy work of realism - the penchant for metaphysical discourse, the command of technical details, the flashes of humor.

Thomas Swick "The New York Times Books Review"