The Martian — Book Review
These are the adventures of Mark Watney, Space Pirate…
What’s it about?
A group of six astronauts, are performing their daily duties on Mars, when they get info about a massive storm coming towards them. It’s so bad that the commander decides to abort the 30 day mission, and head back home, to Earth. On their way to the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), Mark Watney, gets hit by a satellite dish that breaks off their Hab due to the crazy winds of the storm. The crew think that they’ve lost him, and with very little time on their hands, they decide to leave.
A few hours later, Mark Watney wakes up to a bunch of alarms going off in his space suit, to a clear Martian afternoon. And there begins his journey, to not only make contact back home, but trying to survive on the cold, desert planet, that is Mars, till rescue arrives.
The Experience
The Martian is a really entertaining book. Mark Watney’s day to day activities are recorded in the form of journal/diary entries. Andy Weir (author), does a fabulous job of making the book feel almost like a fictional autobiography.
Speaking of autobiography, 75% of it is Mark Watney’s amusing journal entries, and the rest is the narration of all the activities happening at NASA, where they’re working on getting him back home.
It’s the style of writing, and Mark’s character that make the book so entertaining. It’s filled by cheesy jokes, throughout. Some may not like it, but I found it hilarious. Take a look at these (don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything):
Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.
I used a geological sample container (also known as “a box”).
“Brought product to surface of Mars. It stopped working. 0/10.”
[11:49] JPL: What we can see of your planned cut looks good. We’re assuming the other side is identical. You’re cleared to start drilling.
[12:07] WATNEY: That’s what she said.
[12:25] JPL: Seriously, Mark? Seriously?
Stayin’ Alive…
Apart from Mark’s sense of humor, what I loved most is his never-give-up attitude. Think about it. You’re stuck on Mars, with food for just a year, and the next Mars mission is another four years away. You’re crew mates think you’re dead, there’s no way of telling NASA that you’re alive, so they think you’re dead, why should you even try? But Watney keeps on going. He has this problem-solving mentality. He breaks major problems like making food, extending the range of his rover, among others, into smaller workable problems and then goes on to solving the major problems as his daily routine.
There’s this point in the story where his Hab entrance blows up, killing all his crops, and half his food supply. He reaches a stage where he almost gives up. He makes a journal entry, abusing everything, from the Hab, to the Planet.
I’ll be done. No more getting my hopes up, no more self-delusion, and no more problem-solving. I’ve fucking had it!
But after a few minutes, he makes another journal entry:
Sigh … okay. I’ve had my tantrum and now I have to figure out how to stay alive. Again. Okay, let’s see what I can do here ….
And he gets back to work. It’s really inspiring. To keep pushing, solving one problem after another, staying persistent, and Live Another Sol
Should you read it?
Here’s the thing. The movie, misses out on plenty of events. You can’t blame the movie, they need to make an entire book into a 2h30min movie, without ruining the story. You have to cut out some stuff. So if you’ve watched the movie, I recommend you to read it. Why? Because it adds a lot of missing context. If you enjoyed the movie, you’ll surely enjoy the book, maybe more than the movie. I did.
And if for some weird reason you haven’t watched the movie, yet, great! Read this, and then watch the movie!
One of the reasons I decided to read it is because the book has about half a million reviews on Goodreads (600k actually)! And a 4.4 avg rating. Had to be read.
Rating (out of 5) : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
As I mentioned in my Ready Player One review, I’ll be comparing the book to the movie soon, in a post dedicated to compare book-to-movie and book-to-TV adaptations. Coming soon…
Thanks for reading :D
