From the Bookshelf of EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club…

The Martian

Andy Weir

Start date: December 1, 2016

Finish date: December 31, 2016

Discussion: MODERN / POPULAR READS

Why we're reading this: Group Pick for Dec '16 - Modern Classic/Popular…more
[close] Group Pick for Dec '16 - Modern Classic/Popular

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MODERN / POPULAR READS

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What Members Thought

Dec 18, 2014 Ellie 9218 rated it really liked it

The story follows astronaut Mark Watney, who is part of a six person manned mission to Mars. A week into their month long mission, a severe wind storm of 175 mph winds requires an immediate evacuation and forces the research mission to be aborted. During the evacuation, Watney is hit with a piece of communications equipment, presumed dead by his crew, and is left abandoned on Mars.

With a very limited food supply, limited water, and no way to communicate with Earth, Watney must use his training a ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

May 31, 2015 Pennygale rated it it was amazing

Who couldn't love a book about a cussing botanist/astronaut with McGuyver skills stuck on Mars? ...more

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Jun 28, 2018 Amina Farha rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, space

Not sure what "dark/black humor" all these other reviewers are referring to. The humor was juvenile and not particularly funny. I have no problem with swearing or heavily technical descriptions, and I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't get past the general sense of immaturity. It was boring for large stretches, and not in a good way --i.e., it didn't have anything to do with empathizing with Watney's isolation and daily tedium, it was simply unremarkable.

Was also annoying that every ...more

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Oct 16, 2015 Summer rated it liked it

Shelves: kindle, 2015

Hoo boy, this book needed another round of editing. My first impression that Mark read like a 14 year old girl, but that's an unfairly gendered comparison. More accurately, he reads immature and juvenile, which clearly seemed to be the author trying too hard. If an author writes a solid character, as Mark mostly was, there doesn't need to be a gimmick to keep readers invested.

Pretty immediately (wasn't there a "Yay!" on the first or second page?), I noticed that Weir sounded like a self-pubbed ...more

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