The Martian by Andy Weir
Synopsis
The Ares 3 Mars mission is forced to abandon their 31-day mission on day six due to a huge sandstorm. Unfortunately, a flying piece of debris hits Mark Watney as the crew makes their way to the ship. He's lost in the storm, and the five other members leave him behind, thinking he's dead.
Well, he's not.
Instead, he's stuck on Mars. By himself. With only thirty days of food and limited supplies and no way to communicate to back home. And the next Mars mission won't be there for four years. Plus, if anything breaks down, he's dead.
So he'd better get to work on figuring out how to survive.
Review
I first heard about this book about six months ago, saw the thousands of five-star ratings on Amazon, and bought it. It joined my "To Read" queue, but was repeatedly pushed back by library books with more immediate due dates. Finally, with the movie release coming up soon, I moved it to the top of my list and started reading it around midnight on Friday night.
Big mistake.
Suddenly it was 3 am and I made myself to put the book down so I could sleep. But then I woke up six hours later and kept reading. After forcing myself to put it down again so I could shower and eat and get some work done for a few hours, I stuck my Kindle in my bag, hopped on my bicycle, and pedaled over to a park to enjoy the sunshine... and keep reading. Then suddenly I realized it was cold and I was hungry again because time had passed, so I went and got some McDonald's (no shame) and sat there eating my fries and reading. I ended my thrilling and wild weekend by staying up late Saturday night to finish the book.
Yeah. Took me one day. It was that good.
The pacing of this book is fantastic. You have Mark's log entries from Mars, told in his sarcastic tone, and interspersed are scenes of what's going on back at NASA or with the other astronauts. But what really keeps this book moving is the science. That's basically the plot: Here's a problem! How is he going to solve it? Is it going to work?! Sometimes it does and you raise a fist and cheer!! Other times it does not, so how does he dig himself out of an even deeper hole?! WILL HE ACTUALLY MAKE IT HOME?!?!?! The tension in the writing is crazy and I had no idea what was going to happen. I had to resist skipping to the end to find out.
The thing is, it didn't feel like one of those characters where just EVERYTHING BAD HAPPENS TO THEM ALWAYS. These felt like very natural problems that someone would have if stranded on a totally inhospitable planet like Mars (I'm assuming, since none of us actually know). The author is a huge science nerd and that definitely shines through (he built a program so he could plot hypothetical orbital courses... For fun).
His science and math, by the way, are accurate. He figured it all out himself, and when something was a little off, actual astrophysicist people sent him corrections, which he fixed in the final version that went to print.
The main character, Mark Watney, is just great. He's sarcastic and optimistic and a crazy skilled engineer and botanist. He faces the challenges head on, and while he definitely has moments where he gets knocked down and panics that he's going to die, he gets right back up and figures out what he needs to do to survive--with a great sense of humor thrown in as well. His narrative is the other thing that keeps this book moving.
There are secondary characters too: the people at NASA, the other members of Ares 3 who had to abandon him. They all have to face very tough decisions about what to do about Mark and how they're going to get him home. They definitely weren't as developed as Mark, and some of them felt like they were just there to fill a cliché, but it worked. If anything, spending time building up secondary characters would have taken away from the main story. The important ones had enough development, everyone else served their purpose.
The big theme of this book is SURVIVAL and SCIENCE. But besides that, there's how to face impossible, horrible circumstances with optimism and a sense of humor. There's also the question of how much one human life is worth, and how far will people go to save someone in need. I like how Mark talks about how reaching out to help is something that you find in every culture and people across the world. It's something that unites us.
The only bad thing about this book was that I realized I will never be an astronaut because of all the math and physics and engineering (not to mention the pooping in a bag). But that's why I read books: to experience things I'll never be able to in real life.
In summary, an incredible, fast-paced, suspenseful, tricked-out science novel. Highly recommend.
Rating
I give this book 5 stars
Details
Genre: Science Fiction.
Sex: Characters briefly talk about having sex.
Violence: None.
Language: Lots and lots of language (the first line is: "I'm pretty much f-----d"). But don't let that stop you!
Synopsis
The Ares 3 Mars mission is forced to abandon their 31-day mission on day six due to a huge sandstorm. Unfortunately, a flying piece of debris hits Mark Watney as the crew makes their way to the ship. He's lost in the storm, and the five other members leave him behind, thinking he's dead.
Well, he's not.
Instead, he's stuck on Mars. By himself. With only thirty days of food and limited supplies and no way to communicate to back home. And the next Mars mission won't be there for four years. Plus, if anything breaks down, he's dead.
So he'd better get to work on figuring out how to survive.
Review
I first heard about this book about six months ago, saw the thousands of five-star ratings on Amazon, and bought it. It joined my "To Read" queue, but was repeatedly pushed back by library books with more immediate due dates. Finally, with the movie release coming up soon, I moved it to the top of my list and started reading it around midnight on Friday night.
Big mistake.
Suddenly it was 3 am and I made myself to put the book down so I could sleep. But then I woke up six hours later and kept reading. After forcing myself to put it down again so I could shower and eat and get some work done for a few hours, I stuck my Kindle in my bag, hopped on my bicycle, and pedaled over to a park to enjoy the sunshine... and keep reading. Then suddenly I realized it was cold and I was hungry again because time had passed, so I went and got some McDonald's (no shame) and sat there eating my fries and reading. I ended my thrilling and wild weekend by staying up late Saturday night to finish the book.
Yeah. Took me one day. It was that good.
The pacing of this book is fantastic. You have Mark's log entries from Mars, told in his sarcastic tone, and interspersed are scenes of what's going on back at NASA or with the other astronauts. But what really keeps this book moving is the science. That's basically the plot: Here's a problem! How is he going to solve it? Is it going to work?! Sometimes it does and you raise a fist and cheer!! Other times it does not, so how does he dig himself out of an even deeper hole?! WILL HE ACTUALLY MAKE IT HOME?!?!?! The tension in the writing is crazy and I had no idea what was going to happen. I had to resist skipping to the end to find out.
The thing is, it didn't feel like one of those characters where just EVERYTHING BAD HAPPENS TO THEM ALWAYS. These felt like very natural problems that someone would have if stranded on a totally inhospitable planet like Mars (I'm assuming, since none of us actually know). The author is a huge science nerd and that definitely shines through (he built a program so he could plot hypothetical orbital courses... For fun).
His science and math, by the way, are accurate. He figured it all out himself, and when something was a little off, actual astrophysicist people sent him corrections, which he fixed in the final version that went to print.
The main character, Mark Watney, is just great. He's sarcastic and optimistic and a crazy skilled engineer and botanist. He faces the challenges head on, and while he definitely has moments where he gets knocked down and panics that he's going to die, he gets right back up and figures out what he needs to do to survive--with a great sense of humor thrown in as well. His narrative is the other thing that keeps this book moving.
There are secondary characters too: the people at NASA, the other members of Ares 3 who had to abandon him. They all have to face very tough decisions about what to do about Mark and how they're going to get him home. They definitely weren't as developed as Mark, and some of them felt like they were just there to fill a cliché, but it worked. If anything, spending time building up secondary characters would have taken away from the main story. The important ones had enough development, everyone else served their purpose.
The big theme of this book is SURVIVAL and SCIENCE. But besides that, there's how to face impossible, horrible circumstances with optimism and a sense of humor. There's also the question of how much one human life is worth, and how far will people go to save someone in need. I like how Mark talks about how reaching out to help is something that you find in every culture and people across the world. It's something that unites us.
The only bad thing about this book was that I realized I will never be an astronaut because of all the math and physics and engineering (not to mention the pooping in a bag). But that's why I read books: to experience things I'll never be able to in real life.
In summary, an incredible, fast-paced, suspenseful, tricked-out science novel. Highly recommend.
Rating
I give this book 5 stars
Details
Genre: Science Fiction.
Sex: Characters briefly talk about having sex.
Violence: None.
Language: Lots and lots of language (the first line is: "I'm pretty much f-----d"). But don't let that stop you!
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