Review: The Martian by Andy Weir
The Martian is one of the great success stories of self-publishing. Author Andy Weir self-published the novel in 2012 and after two years of outstanding sales online, Crown Publishing Group bought the rights in 2014. Not only that, Hollywood is going to turn it into a movie, which will be directed by the legendary Ridley Scott and star Matt Damon. Andy Weir’s experience in self-publishing is compelling proof that the publishing industry is entering a new era. If you write a great novel, you can publish it yourself and it will find its audience.
The Martian is best described as Apollo 13 meets Castaway. Astronaut Mark Watney is part of a manned mission to Mars. He is accidentally left behind after a major storm forced NASA to abort the mission and return the astronauts to their ship. His crew and all of Earth think he is dead. He must find a way to let them know he is alive and stay that way long enough to be rescued.
The novel is incredibly detailed and very realistic. It is in the tradition of Apollo 13, Gravity, and Red Planet. Weir must’ve did a tremendous amount of research not only on NASA technology but also the technical problems one would face if left marooned on Mars. It is perfect for hard science fiction fans. It is also refreshing to read a book that does not take place decades or centuries in the future. Weir doesn’t work to build fantastic technologies but instead builds a story around existing technology for what I like to call a contemporary innovation thriller.
For those without a science or engineering background, the technical explanations weigh down the story. It isn’t info-dumping but it isn’t all that exciting either. It got a little tiresome for me near the end. Watney’s isolation also limits character development. There is almost no dialogue and not very many internal monologues. Weir mixes in some chapter involving NASA and Watney’s crew but the bulk of the novel is diary entries from Watney’s mission log. Still, it is hard not to like the guy. Watney is funny and brilliant. Unfortunately, the entries are predominantly dry facts and explanations. He rarely expresses any feelings of anxiety, fear, depression, or any other feelings one would expect from total isolation. In fact, he has the same plucky positive attitude in the end as he does in the beginning. Nearly all of the other characters are stoic, expressing very little emotion or response despite their incredible circumstances.
For those more interested in human drama, this book will be pretty boring. I don’t know if Weir took the manuscript to publishers before self-publishing but I am willing to bet most would not be interested in something that reads like a technical manual at times. Often Hollywood and traditional publishers are reluctant to take on stories without human drama or rather the type that fits nicely into their moviemaking model. Most of them do not have technical backgrounds after all. It is an unfortunate reality of the modern entertainment industry.
Despite its shortcomings in the drama department, I believe there is a thirst for high-tech, realistic stories about space travel. The success of Gravity and The Martian strongly suggests Americans are hungry to take on contemporary challenges and suggests strong support for space exploration. Sadly, we’ve cut funding to NASA, placing the prospects of a manned mission to Mars in peril. A new unifying scientific goal could also help the recent skepticism regarding our government’s competence. Whether it is the CDC’s response to the Ebola virus, the nonsense at the VA, or the illegal targeting of journalists and political groups, Americans have lost their faith in their leadership to get anything right. The space program could change that. Apollo 13 and the shuttle disasters aside, the US space program made tremendous historical achievements. We all know the cliche: “if they can put a man on the moon why can’t they (blank)?”
In a way, The Martian takes on the lack of confidence in bureaucratic institutions. Watney manages to survive on Mars completely on his own, improvising virtually every task needed to keep him alive. NASA meanwhile struggles with bureaucratic red tape and their well-known aversion to taking risks or anything that would make them look bad in the public. In most cases, it is individual initiative on the part of astronauts and engineers on the ground that allows them to triumph. NASA deserves plenty of credit as well but there are obvious instances of mistakes or basic ass-covering.
Self-publishing allows such stories to break through and reach their targeted audience. Andy Weir’s The Martian is a triumph of self-publishing and the great potential of e-books and POD services. Where traditional publishers may not take a risk on such a specialized novel, self-publishing allows the market to decide. I am glad Andy Weir went forward with publishing it himself. It is an excellent read.
4 Stars.
J
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