A Goodreads user

A Goodreads user asked:

How is the language/swearing in this book? His second book was so filled bad language that I had to stop reading it.

99 likes · like
4 years ago
78 answers

To answer questions about Project Hail Mary, please sign up.

Bret Schwartz Assuming you are enjoying the book, why would you stop reading a book you purchased because of "so filled bad language"? It's not like you are reading it out loud in a public setting. How many curses does it take before you put a book down? What about double entendres referring to graphic sex, is that ok....no curse words? What about a rape victim describing their terrible experience? What about Andy Weirs first book The Martian, did you put it down immediately because the first sentence was, "I'm pretty much Fucked"? Did you stop reading my question?

Closet Rebel What bubble do these swear adverse readers live in?

Robin Wow Bret, you're a bully. Did you know that?

Ricky Wow.... a lot of pissy people responding here. It's a valid question and places no marker of this readers intelligence, thicker spine, ability to read beyond children's books, or whatever else y'all wanted to compare them to that is beneath your superiority. Yikes
Thanks for asking your question. I have put down books due to gratuitous swearing or non stop sex talk as it just made the book, well, meh.

Nancy McFarlane No gratuitous swearing, just an occasional - and I mean very occasional - cuss word when something really frustrating and unexpected happens. Used in a way that seems pretty natural in today's world and a lot less often than I hear on television daily.

Michael It has some appropriate, non-gratuitous swearing. I decided to allow my 10-year-old sci-fi nerdy kid to listen to it with me while traveling. I don't mind it occasionally, and thankfully, this book did not overuse swearing. If it did, then I would have to enjoy the book by myself, like I did with Ready Player One. Good question. Thank you for asking. Questions like this help you decide what's appropriate for the audience with whom you intend to listen to it. And please ignore the rudeness of the judgy trolls.

Tracy Srail Andy Weir himself said in an interview that the character in this book compared to Mark Watney, swears way less and actively tries not to because he's a teacher of mid-size humans. He's trained himself to use "gosh darn" in place of words I'm sure he'd rather use. I will agree with others though and say that swearing by characters is not a reason to put the book down. It's a difference of personality/language/religion/self-interest and that difference enriches ones life no matter. I may not agree with all characters I read in books, sometimes I cringe, but I don't put it down because of it. In fact, I welcome the cringe; cringing and uncomfortable natures of characters brings you out of the comfort zone and as such I'm enriched because of it. A good book will do that to you and you would do yourself a favour to embrace that fact. ESPECIALLY with The Martian and Artemis. The Martian in particular has actually taught me things such as: Okay I have a problem, I don't need to solve it in order of biggest issue, I just need to solve each small part of the bigger problem and eventually I'll be able to solve the whole thing. At the very core The Martian is a self-help book; Humour, problem solving, and a bit of letting oneself get pissed off for a moment when things aren't working so well can help you get through pretty much anything in life.

Rick Coles Wow, if you can't read a book for some bad language I feel sorry for you. Do you just read children's books most of the time?

Ryland is a school teacher and even comments that he has trained himself out of swearing, so you'll probably be okay with this story. There are some scary scenes though, so make sure you have some warm milk before bed so you don't have nightmares.

Cara ignore the people being rude about this question. I had the same question so I clicked on yours. I'm only a chapter or so in and he is in a medical situation and naked at the start. He first describes a catheter in his "gentleman parts" but after it gets ripped out he does say the word penis. He also says that a particular food is better than sex. Because he's in a medical situation, and he's not describing things in a way to be vulgar, I'm going to continue reading personally. There are several times where the average person would say a swear word but he says something much milder instead and in his commentary, he questions it thinking he's really weird for saying something so mild. I can't think of the word he used but in muy mind I would consider it like a "gosh."

Todd "F" words - 4 total
"S" words - 5 total
"D" words - 5 total

Lars Erik Grambo Dr. Grace is even self-aware of his lack of bad words early in the book.
I guess Weir wanted to let us know right away that this would not have as colorful language as The Martian.
I'm fine with it either way, gosh darn it.

Carmen212 Most of the time he uses "gosh darn" or "what the heck" and it's quite funny because nobody I know talks that way. There is the very occasional "fuck" thrown in when his circumstances require it.

Amanda Imagine being a reader and being this easily offended.

*Edit: To the guy who commented about how I should be ashamed for "not answering the question in a useful way," I deleted your comment. But should you come back looking for an answer, here it is: If someone asks me a useful question, I provide a useful answer.

Christian DeBaun Typically, people (not all) who swear have a slightly higher intelligence, and Mr. Weir wrote an intelligent book for intelligent people.

Citation:
https://www.npr.org/2021/01/27/961063...

I love some good, well placed invective - and in Hail Mary, it adds effervescence and piquancy.

It's funny how people who whine and mewl about "cancel culture" want swearing canceled from the very product they purchased. Circular firing squad indeed.

For a good clean read, I'd recommend "The Hardy Boys and The Mystery Of The Monastery And The Silent Monks".

Dex If you found that SF will "hurt" you're feelings then start reading romances or Bible instead. I read worse swearing books but that don't let me stop reading that book not even to start using curses in real life.
If you stop reading any book for some language in it then books is not for you.

Jan Hertsens Wait till this person actually READS the bible they've been thumping!

Spoiler: It has sex, incest, murder, genocide, rape and torture in it.

Paul Morton I'm not sure if this is a joke as the protagonist does literally use teacher swear words through out... like flip and gosh darn. But there is very little bad language, I honestly think the minute amount was put in just to highlight that the author could have included it if he so chose.

Oh and if people don't like reading bad language that's their business and really not for us to criticise.

Dylan McNamee Then this book is for you - there is an occasional actual swear word, but for reasons that would spoil the beginning, mostly he uses "oh fudge" or "gosh darn" instead.

Glen I'll throw my two cents in:

1) There is negligible bad language in this book (for reasons already stated in comments from others).

2) I am also put off by bad language in any situation, and would find it adequate reason to stop reading a book. And no, I'm not religious. I simply find bad language:
- offensive: an indicator of a lack of respect for the audience
- an indicator of lack of imagination
- lazy: reluctance to exert effort to find a more effective way of expressing oneself
- cheap: strong language can be useful for expressing strong emotion. Using it pervasively robs it of its value.

If you don't agree with this, I respect that. However, please be kind in your responses.

Arlene Not very much at all. Gosh darn, etc. Maybe a couple swear words in the whole book.

Daniel Linnell As for the book, it is pretty benign and can be tolerated by most I bet. It's also a brilliant book in my opinion. I loved it.

As for the toxic comments, live and let live people. Why the need to make someone feel like an idiot for not wanting to read something? It's not like the question called for censorship! I personally don't ever stop reading or watching anything due to content, but to each their own.

As a parent, I didn't allow my avid reader daughter to read The Martian due to language. I think it's tacky when I come across someone that can't finish a sentence without a swear word, and I certainly don't want to raise kids that speak that way.

Katie Scarlett This book has much less swearing. I can’t even remember much if any language. There’s about two pages mentioning sex in a humorous way and a few mentions of heroin. Honestly if it wasn’t for those references it would be a pretty tame book as far as topics go.

David Flaiz It was PG-13 at best (worst?).

Blake I found the minimal swearing in this book quite refreshing (I only remember a couple swear words). I get sick of authors using excessive swearing. It's usually completely unnecessary and I've stopped reading books for excessive swearing or sex. The book also had minimal sex in it (and nothing graphic).

Franco D This question seems immature. I absolutely agree with the answer of Bret Schwartz here below: "Assuming you are enjoying the book, why would you stop reading a book you purchased because of 'so filled bad language'?"

Rachel Gorham There's minimal swearing in this book compared to Weir's others. For reasons that become evident pretty soon in the book, the main character (ONLY character for much of the book) uses innocent pseudo-swears most of the time instead of actually swearing. I actually found myself thinking that Weir very cleverly made a book that adults will love that could also be included in high-school and maybe even junior-high curriculum without eliciting too much of a fuss from parents.

Lee Very little cussing, but many exclamatins of the gosh darn and oh fudge type. In fact, early on when Andy is experiencing memory loss, he's flabbergasted that phrases like this are coming out of his mouth and can't understand why :)

Karin If there is too much swearing, I stop reading it because otherwise I start using that language a whole lot more than normally. That said, I have never dropped a Weir book for this, but I did reduce my score for The Martian, NOT for the opening, which totally fit, but for the one character on earth who swore gratuitously. The second one lost a lot more for me for swearing because the protagonist really had a mouth on her, but I also didn't like her as much, either.

Heike There are definitely swear words used in the book. How much you find acceptable is probably a very personal opinion. Compared to Artemis it is much less, though.

Judy Can't we all just get along? People posting a sincere question deserve a sincere response. Anyone who thinks a question is absurd or does not reflect their values can just move on.

Alan Bird I, too, have given up on books that contained gratuitous profanity. I live in a world without it and have no desire to expose myself to it through literature. Good writers can certainly write good stories without it.
Having said that, I did finish The Martian despite the profanity because the book was that good.
The good news is that Andy Weir has matured in his writing and Project Hail Mary is virtually profanity-free. I like it better than The Martian and it is now one of my favorite books. It is a terrific story.

george erickson I really hate it when people say idiotic stuff like that.

kate unroe I feel like if you had to curse, being stranded on Mars would be a rather appropriate time to do so

Rachel You've already got your answer, but I know I noticed the swears in the Martian when I thought I could listen to the audiobook with my daughter. oops, I think this one would be ok, but I also realize I noticed them more when she's in the room (and I read this one silently ;-)

Vickie I agree with most of the answers on this page except for those implying that the questioner is a prude.
He occasionally uses a swear word under extreme circumstances, but there is not a lot of it. I personally am not offended by swearing, but I do think that some authors throw it in just to make their work seem more adult, which is unnecessary. Reminds me of when comedians started throwing gratuitous "F" words in their monologues to appear adult.

A well written book or a well written and performed monologue does NOT need to be filled with cursing to be adult or amusing.

And for those of you who think I am a prude, I personally use that word and others when expressing frustration or anger.

Iassen Donov No bad language whatsoever. Only adult language. The children's book section is elsewhere.

Seth Maybe try the hungry caterpillar instead? Or maybe some Dr. Suess? Something more your speed.

Tyler Hurst It seems pretty fvkcing tame, but my goddamn eyes may be seeing sh!t. While my asshole brain seems to enjoy all the "swears," I'm sure there are some motherfuckers who wouldn't enjoy this.

Jeff Shelton Look, all of us pull a few boners now and then, go off half-cocked, make asses of ourselves. So I don't want to be hard on you, but I just don't understand why people get so upset over language in a novel intended for adults?

Jürgen A. Erhard "was so filled bad language"

If you don't think that *this* is worse than an (occasional, or even frequent depending on the character speaking) swear word… then *you* are the problem.
That's my considered opinion.

Andrew Ryland is the antithesis of Mark in The Martian in that he almost never actually swears. It's mostly goshes and darns. There is one time where he drops a "Holy fucking shit" but it's to indicate just how jaw-dropping a certain event is. Goes right back to his TV-Y7 curses right away.

Douglas R Bloomberg I am not sure what you would consider a swear word. I did not find any.

Steven Piet In terms of foul language, i'd rank his books "Project Hail Mary" cleanest, The Martian, and Artemis worst. For completely other reasons, I would rank the three books in terms of enjoyment the same order.

It would be interesting to see it made into a movie, although Hollywood so often screws up books in the process. This would be a more difficult book to film than The Martian.

Dee F The protagonist is a grade school teacher. There's a lot of substituted cursing, except for a few particularly dicey situations towards the end of the plot.

Kurt N Most of the MC's expletives are the kind you'd hear a schoolteacher use "Goshdarn it!"

Every so often a real live swear word is used in the book, and when it does, it really hits. :D

Ruth He created a plot-related reason for this protagonist to avoid swearing.

Arimathea If you are referencing "The Martian", there is a cleaned up version available for grades 6-8. So many science teachers wanted to have their kids read that book but decided not to give it to the junior high school contingent because of the F bomb in the first sentence.

This book has some bad language but it's not excessive in my opinion.

Will Tuff C U Next Tuesday

Mario Not much swearing - but a lot of fisting...

Charon Wow. Some people are so conditioned by their culture that they can't even read a book because they fear "bad" language? I guess the whole "you know who" thing in Harry Potter is closer to reality than I thought ...

Jessie P This book actually takes specific pains to avoid it. The premise is the character is a junior high teacher and he has intentionally "subsituted" a lot of his vocabulary lol.

P.S. Everyone in this insane thread who seems to believe that readers are obliged to throw every personal boundary or preference out the window can seriously jump off a bridge YESTERDAY. What is wrong with you all?

colin board How much time is being wasted discussing naughty words? I thought the purpose of this forum was to discuss the book, I'd suggest the people who want to concentrate on bad language go back to their local book burning club and leave this to people with an interest in literature.

Krautinger You had to stop reading it? "Holy fucking shit." (*)

(* – Yes, that *is* a quote from "Project Hail Mary".)

Mark Tredecim The language in this book is reasonable and appropriate, comparable to The Martian. The language in his second book was not suitable for human consumption.

PRIYANSHU PRADHAN you are better off reading children's novel if a few cuss words give u heart ache...seriously?, like seriously?? good book wasted for a few cuss words...man.

Lila Wesendonk I let my 10 year old read it, but I wouldn't let him read the Martian, for that reason.

Matt Kopans It’s kind of a running joke that the main character uses hokey non-swear swear words (darn etc)

J. Andre There isn't any swearing in this book. It's all "gosh darn" kind of stuff.

Sheri Stanford Wow, I was so relieved that this book of Weir's did not contain gratuitous cursing like The Martian did. I couldn't even finish that book because of the ignorant cursing.
Project Hail Mary is now a favorite of mine. I loved the relationships between Grace and Strat and also Grace and Rocky.

LightningTail97 Ignore the people being rude. There's nothing wrong with having a personal preference against swearing. I don't like swearing too much either, so I'm also looking for answers. Based on what people have said, it doesn't look too vulgar. 😊

Jennifer Main character actually jokes about this. Character is a school teacher with mild but scientific language

Rick Not particularly heavy on expletive language. Certainly much less than I hear on a daily basis at work.

Sarah Seabra I read both books in Portuguese, so I didn't notice the f-bombs. I think it was cut in the translation process, perhaps? But it's a little joke the Project Hail Mary does because when he's trying to figure out who he is, he notices he is against swearing and he even wonders if he has kids or is a puritan. It's worth reading anyway.

Glenn Bret, hey buddy, very aggressive. You are clearly not as clever as you think you are. You should have just been more blunt with your extreme opinion. I don't like gratuitous swearing either and I would waste my time answering your dumb personal questions about my reading tastes. I mean why do you think they don't like swearing? Anything else from you and I'm writing a dissertation to the Goodreads staff.

Daniel Lewis I grew up believing that certain words were a sin, that they were "curse words" or "swear words" it sounds like you had a similar upbringing. Let me put your mind at east. There are no words that are sins to say or read, assuming you are wanting to follow the bible that is.

Cursing as explained in the bible is not just wishing something bad to happen to someone but actually saying something like "may your descendants be whatever" so saying the word hell is not a sin, telling someone that you are going to make sure they end up in hell is. Do you see the difference?

Swearing in the bible refers to not swearing an oath, to allow your character as a Christian be the thing that people know, and know that you are telling the truth without having to swear to it. Swear as in I Swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth is the swearing the bible says not to do. If you take your child up to the front of the church and swear to raise them in the church, that is the swearing the bible says not to do.

Saying one English word for feces vs a different one is not now, nor could it possibly have ever been a sin.

Ann Perrone Silly judgy humans.
To answer: This is a book I'd listen to in a car with kids 12 and up. Especially if they liked Sci-Fi or Science.

Gaye Pietrocola There wasn’t enough (or any) for me to even notice. 🤔

Greg Potter There is little to no swearing in this book.

Mary Cunningham Sorry. Just responding to the Martian. Best opening line of a book ever.

Gbolahan I'll be better equipped to answer your question if you can answer mine: how is the language/swearing in The Martian?

Andi Kate Thank you for asking this question.

Sue I don't recall much at all.

James Baumann Almost none. And early on he drops hints and points out that the character doesn't cuss as a meta hat tip to those complaints about The Martian. To that point, every time the character says something like "Drat" it just took me out of the moment.

Scott Rhine he plays a teacher, so he keeps it pretty clean with verbals.

Val Neil The main character actually remarks about his lack of swearing early on in the book. I recall him swearing at least once later in the book. It stood out because he did it so little prior to that. I don't recall if there was any more after that. Language aside, it's an excellent book and you should absolutely read it.

Kevin Revolinski Honestly, I found the swear work-arounds even a bit corny at times. So when he dropped one single F-bomb, it really stood out. So I'd say this is pretty dog-gone safe for tender ears (eyes). Not that I care. In his 1000 situations I'd have filled the page with enough to make a drunk sailor blush. All cussing, all language, is arbitrary noise. (Saussure anyone?) So I can cuss in Turkish in the street and no one blinks or blushes. Except the Turks. It'd be a pity to try to protect oneself or kids from these random expletives. I once taught f-bomb laden The Things They Carried to unwilling h.s. readers (with a permission slip of course) and to see "nonreaders" sitting by their lockers glued to a book... well...

Oleh Compared to 'The Martial' the main protagonist is a nun - little or not swearing.

Garrett The main protagonist is statedly scrupulous about using profanity, so there is an extremely minimal amount. I only remember one instance of it in the entire book.

More questions about Project Hail Mary…

Image for Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary

by Andy Weir (Goodreads Author)

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions