Summary by Goodreads:
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.
Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first.
But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills — and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit — he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
“I guess you could call it a ‘failure,’ but I prefer the term ‘learning experience’.”
My Thoughts:
I absolutely loved The Martian by Andy Weir. I want to start by talking about the humor of the novel because it was my absolute favorite part of the book. Mark Watney is thrown into a horrible situation where 95% of us wouldn’t survive, and Watney’s chances of survival keeps getting lower and lower as new problems arise. However, his sense of humor never falters. Although I was on the edge of my seat nervous for what was going to happen next, I still laughed out loud more often than not as Watney made pop-culture jokes, he mentioned Lord of the Rings (“The Council of Elrond. From Lord of the Rings.”) and “Star Trek”(“Damn it, Jim, I’m a botanist, not a chemist!” [If you get this reference let’s be best friends forever]), and had a potty-mouth at inopportune times (“Chemistry, being the sloppy bitch it is…”). If you’re not laughing, there’s plenty more instances throughout the book.
This book is very science-related. I didn’t understand half of the things Watney was saying; however, Weir puts in enough context clues and explains everything well enough that you actually can see what’s going on without the story having to be “dumbed down” in any way. Does that make sense? Reading this made me feel intelligent as if I was a rocket-scientist and could survive on Mars alone if I was in Watney’s position. Weir didn’t hold back on showing how intelligent people at NASA are and didn’t shy away from writing a scientific book that literally anybody could still read and understand. I have a newfound appreciation and love for science, botany, chemistry, space, etc.
I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading the novel. One thing after another kept happening, but it wasn’t too much. You know how some writers will write the most outlandish things and it just gets too be too much and too unbelievable? Well, in The Martian, there was plenty of shocking things, one after the other, but it never felt forced or unconvincing. It was the perfect amount of conflict that kept the story very realistic and believable . By the time the much-anticipated ending arrived I was choking on tears.
The story is mostly told through Watney’s “Log Entries” on Mars (which are absolutely hilarious. Mark Watney is truly my number one book boyfriend now) and is sometimes told from third-person back on Earth. I loved the way it was written because we got to see into the humorous, intelligent, problem-solving mind of Mark Watney, and we also got to see inside of NASA and how the problems were being solved.
This was a very well written novel that kept me entertained, feeling intelligent, and showed me that I’m allowed to read a book that isn’t romantic yet still have just the same amount of joy while reading. Now, please excuse me while I contact NASA and see if they’ll let me tag along on a journey to Mars.
“I can’t wait till I have grandchildren. ‘When I was younger, I had to walk to the rim of a crater. Uphill! In an EVA suit! On Mars, ya little shit! Ya hear me? Mars!'”
I recommend this book to…
…someone who enjoys humor and also problem-solving. Someone who enjoys science. I recommend this book to men and women who don’t want to read a love story or a fantasy novel, but something that could actually happen, something scientific and realistic. My gruff, screamo-listening boss recommended this book to me and then I recommended it to my girl pal with three kids. This book is entertaining for anyone to read (but it does have a lot of “F” words so maybe don’t give it to your junior high kid just yet.)
Comfort Guide:
Use of the “F” word over 10 times. Use of milder swear words lightly throughout. No violence or gory scenes, aside from one scene where man takes care of a wound but not graphic. A couple brief mentions of sex, but nothing explicit.
Info:
Author – Andy Weird
Published – 2014
Page Count – 369