The Martian review
The Martian by Andy Weir
Rating: ★★★★★
I watched the movie a few years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I assumed I would enjoy the book just as much. And I was right! This book was absolutely incredible. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.
This is story of survival against all odds as Mark Watney, an astronaut on Mars, is left behind by his crew after a freak accident during their emergency departure leaves Mark injured and presumably dead. It’s only by sheer dumb luck that he survived (which became a theme throughout the book as well. While he’s clever, he also survives on luck as well as his own resourcefulness.)
Right off the bat, we realize just how screwed Mark is. He himself realizes this as well. In fact, the very first line of the book is “I’m pretty much fucked.” It seems as everything is working against him, and Mark has nothing but his brain and the collection of equipment for a Mars mission to help him out of this impossible scenario. This book really nails home just how smart and versatile astronauts have to be in order to survive in space and on other planets.
Mark is incredibly intelligent (obviously, if he was chosen to be an astronaut on a Mars mission), resourceful, creative, and hilarious. This book was primarily written in the style of Mark’s mission log book entries, and the author took full advantage of this. It could have easily become a very dull, dry account of everything, but instead, the author let Mark’s humor and wit shine through. Even though there were parts of the log book that were very science/math/tech-heavy, Mark almost always boiled it down into laymen’s terms so the reader could follow along easily enough.
Mark’s smart-assery and humor kept this book from getting to dark, and it was a method he used to keep himself from despairing as he was trapped all by himself on a barren, desolate planet that is a perfect death-trap. He is such a charming character that you can’t help but root for him and fall utterly in love with him.
This book was such a page turner. I stayed up much later than I should have to finish it, but it was totally worth it. On one hand, I didn’t want it to end because it was such an entertaining story. But on the other, I wanted it to end because that meant Mark was safely rescued and on his way home.
This book is definitely one that I would enjoy rereading in the future and comes with my highest recommendation for anyone who is a fan of dark comedy and extremely realistic science fiction.
