He basically took Lem’s story, took out most of the elements that Lem was focusing on (alien contact) and shifted the focus on the wife and love angle, which in the novel is not a focus in any way.

Which is fine! He took an existing story and saw something else in it and made it into something different and new, keeping the setting the same. That happens all the time with the creative process, right? No problem there.

This is why the author didn’t like the movie though. From his pov the movie title implies that it’s the same story as the novel, but it’s very different. Whether you hold the same view or not, surely we can appreciate that position. He probably initially thought the movie was going to mirror the book and got disappointed when it became a love story instead and something much simpler. As an artist I can relate to that.

So yeah, Sodenberg made his own point and ran with it and that’s fine. Creative freedom and all that. As long as we acknowledge that the point of the novel was completely different and that the movie is not a faithful adaptation or anything close for that. It’s not meant to be a faithful adaptation though so it doesn’t fail in that regard. but some people trip up here due to the same title and setting, so they assume the book and the movie tell the same story. I think this is also another reason why the author was a bit miffed, being an eccentric creative type