Review : The Martian by Andy Weir
The Martian by Andy Weir
Pages : 369
Genre : Science-fiction, Thriller
Stand alone
My Rating : 4.5/5
About the Book :
It started with the dust storm that holed his suit and nearly killed him, and that forced his crew to leave him behind, sure he was already dead. Now he’s stranded millions of miles from the nearest human being, with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive–and even if he could get word out, his food would be gone years before a rescue mission 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 get 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. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
My Thoughts :
It’s safe to say that Andy Weir’s The Martian offered something really different from my usual brand of reading (even though I’m quite the eclectic reader). I find the idea of being stranded on Mars, alone, absolutely chilling (let’s be honest here; scared as I am of planes, even reading about successful space travel makes me slightly uncomfortable!) but as a novel, it was also completely gripping. Once I started, it was near impossible for me to let go of the book.
From the first page, I got pulled in by Mark’s narration. His slightly humorous tone was perfect to contrast his claustrophobic setting, all while making very clear how precarious his situation was. I wasn’t sure what to expect from his time on Mars; would this be a fabulous adventure? The first encounter with an alien race? A weird horror fable? Any of those scenarios could have been fun, but none of them happened. The story doesn’t branch into horror and aliens and the like, yet it was still frightening how Mark was constantly in a life-or-death state.
One of the strengths of the novel was how realistic it was. The science and the technology were so detailed it felt almost like a memoir rather than a fiction. I can’t speak of how true-to-life these details were obviously, but it felt real to me. Andy Weir took me there and, even though I know next to nothing about space equipment, it was easy to imagine Mark’s environment and his actions.
While most of the narration is done by Mark’s logs, we also get to meet the people at NASA who are trying to bring him back alive, as well as his astronauts companions. I loved these moments. First because the characters were varied and interesting, and second because they offered a great contrast to Mark’s solitary life.
There’s already lots of talk about The Martian being adapted to the big screen (with possibly Ridley Scott and Matt Damon attached to the project) and I am absolutely excited for it. I’m pretty sure space travel isn’t in the cards for me, but it’s a pleasure to vicariously live through the life of fictional astronauts – especially when the result is as good as this. So if you have any interest for the red planet, solitary adventures and realistic science-fiction adventures, go : read it.
My bookstore offered a money back guarantee with this book. A friend of mine bought a copy and has loaned it to me. I hope to read it soon!
I love bookstores that do this! There aren’t many around here, but I got great recommendations this way.
I hope you enjoy reading it as I did!
I loved this one on audio! The narration was fantastic!