Book Review: The Martian – Andy Weir

Reviewing The Martian is not an easy task, for a series of reasons. The most important is that there has been a lot of hype around this book, therefore expectations from my side (and from other readers, I guess) were obviously high. This might explain why comments about it have been mixed, ranging from extremely positive to negative. Useless to say, this has just made me more willing to have a go myself.

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Now that I am through with it, I can safely say I am on the side of people who have liked this book. More, I have adored it. But I can also affirm I understand well why others might have not enjoyed it: it can be boring, too technical and dull, if you’re not a science buff (and Andy Weir obviously is one. Read this, where he talks about it).  But let’s go with order.

The plot is simple, and the title gives it away immediately: an astronaut (a likeable and funny guy called Mark Watney) on a Mars mission (Ares 3) gets stranded and left for dead by his crewmates on the Red Planet. Surprise, surprise, he’s alive, and he tries to find out in all possible ways how to survive until the next mission lands.  Ah yes, tiny detail: Ares 4 is due in four-year time, when all his supplies have run out since long. Don’t you find it fascinating? I did, and I read it in three days (er, nights).

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One of the things I have especially enjoyed is the way Weir talks about power struggles in NASA, because they seem realistic enough. And the whole Mars experience is amazingly well portrayed. Actually, a fun way to read the book is to  plot Watney’s travels on Mars maps, freely available on NASA website. I was lucky: I found out somebody has already done it for me here.

I won’t give away here how the book ends – I don’t like spoilers – and so I will avoid one of the two critical remarks I have about this otherwise great story. I will talk instead about the second one, which is related to the Chinese spacecraft NASA plans to use at a certain point. Weir writes a few pages here about Chinese officials discussing the option. What’s the problem? Well, I am not sure about the exact words two Chinese scientists working in a military-related organisation would have used in that context; but I am positive they would have not talked in that way (after ten years of living and working in East-Asia, mainly in China, you get a certain feeling about the way people think and express themselves). This was more the way an American imagines it. And that’s fine, don’t get me wrong, but it should have been handled, narratively speaking, in a different way. Like that, it simply sounds sort of fake.

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One interesting thing to notice about this book is that it was, in origin, self-published by the author in 2011. In 2014, Crown Publishing purchased the rights and re-released it. A good move.

What next? If you have liked, as I did, this amazing story, you may want to read something more about it. Here some links worth having a look. Some other book reviews (a positive one, a less enthusiastic one) and something about how realistic the whole setting is.

And get ready to see it on the big screen. Apparently, Ridley Scott has made a movie on the story, featuring Matt Damon that should be released some time soon. Can’t wait for it.

(Note: I received this book as an ARC from Random House through Netgalley.)

10 Comments

  1. Tammy

    Glad you loved it. I did too, and it was one of my faves of the year. I do want to go back and read the parts with the Chinese scientists to see what you’re talking about. When I was reading, nothing seemed unusual to me, but then I’m an American too, so I don’t have that experience you do.

    Reply
    1. Stephen P. Bianchini

      Hello Tammy, I have send it over to my Chinese friends (just to check out if it was just me – I’m European, after all, no matter how long I’ve lived in East Asia) and they confirmed my perplexity…but apart from this very minor point, I really loved this book. I hope Weir writes something else – the guy’s gifted for hard SF.

      Reply
  2. calmgrove

    This sounds an intriguing read, the sort of realistic what-if story one would hope from hard SF, with the added bonus of a well-plotted narrative (I’m guessing so from your hints).

    Reply
    1. Stephen P. Bianchini

      Indeed. One of the best I have read recently – worth reading!

      Reply
  3. lynnsbooks

    I loved this book – and I think the really clever part about it is you can get so many different things from it – which is clearly evident from your review. I’m not that big into sci-fi as a rule and I probably missed a lot of references that would fascinate others (i.e yourself) but I really liked it.
    Very entertaining. Interesting. And a great story teller.
    Lynn 😀

    Reply
    1. Stephen P. Bianchini

      Happy you liked it too – and you’re right, the guy knows how to tell a good story! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Paula S. Jordan

    Haven’t read it yet but I am intrigued, especially about the level of realism and attention to technical/scientific detail. I’ll look for it. Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Stephen P. Bianchini

      You’re going to like it, it’s real fun too.

      Reply
  5. sjhigbee

    An enjoyable, articulate and excellent review:) I also thoroughly enjoyed ‘The Martian’ and like you, really sucked up the more technical aspects of describing the nuts and bolts of his survival. I also felt there were strong echoes of ‘Robinson Crusoe’ in there…

    Reply
    1. Stephen P. BIanchini (Post author)

      Hello, many thanks for that. I look forward to watching the movie – with Ridley Scott as director and Matt Damon it promises to be great 😉

      Reply

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