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The Martian
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The Martian: Reviews by 2015-2016 Reading Challengers
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I gave this one four stars:I was expecting a softer science fiction out of this book, but I really appreciated the science that came with it. I don't have any higher level science education, so a lot of the details probably went over my head, but the information about chemistry, botany, and engineering made this feel more real, like you were reading something that really happened. I think the log format of the story helped contribute to the feeling of realness as well. I appreciated the parts about what was happening back on Earth, with NASA and the media, because the weekly CNN Mark Watney Report special is exactly what I predict would happen in a situation like this. I wish that Mark had shown more of an emotional journey - spending over a year on Mars in complete isolation with everything going haywire has to be more traumatic than that. My biggest complaint actually comes with the ending of this book, but I don't want to give away too much!
Cassandra wrote: "I gave this one four stars:I was expecting a softer science fiction out of this book, but I really appreciated the science that came with it. I don't have any higher level science education, so a l..."I gave it five stars because I couldn't put it down! I got the gist of the science, it was a lot at times, but the storyline itself was fantastic. But I totally agree with the ending!!!
I agree with Karen. Though some of the science was over my head, I could not put the book down. Read it in one night. I have nerds in my family, so I am use to talk above my head, so none of that bothered me in the least. I felt with the character of Annie that it allowed laymen terms to be used, and there was enough action, and normal speak going on that I could tell what was happening even in the most technical parts.
I have not seen the movie, but I can only imagine that this action packed novel was just perfect for film. Look forward to checking it out.
Currently entering a book hangover after finishing this one.I love science, and I love books so this was an absolute perfect book for me to read. If you do not enjoy in depth descriptions on scientific things, then you might find this book a tad dull at times. However, the story line and fast-paced reading is enough to keep anyone hooked. I really hope Andy Weir writes more books in the near future because he has a humorous writing style that actually made me laugh out loud in public like a dork. He created the main character, Mark Watney, to be a guy that women would gravitate towards because of his comedic personality. I also loved how he led Mark to have such positive outlook in one of the worst possible predicaments a human can be placed in. Overall, the rating is actually 4.5 stars out of 5. The only reason this isn't getting my full attention of 5 stars is because around the middle of the book it got a little confusing. It switched view points rapidly and I had to stop and re-read a page a couple of times to double check what was going on.
Now it's time to go watch the movie! :)
Four stars. Almost the most fun I had reading a book in 2015.
The Martian, Andy Weir
5 Stars
This book surprised me in so many ways! I expected a gloomy tale of desperation and hopelessness, instead I got hilarious comments, never-ending courage and technical details that made it all believable!
And I loved it! I’m not very into either chemistry or technical machinery. I thought it might be too much, but it made it perfectly believable and kept me rooting for him to find solutions.
This was just a great ride from the beginning right up ‘till the end. The humor really makes it a quite approachable book in the genre. So I’m doing it! The first 5 star of 2016!
Sorry for not actually saying anything in these threads until now - it never seemed like the right time to do so even when I had time to. I like to think that everything I could reasonably say I put into my review instead though. Though I could be wrong. :)I do like this book, though probably not as much as a lot of people do. It’s generally never not reasonably entertaining at least, and while there is a lot of science in there, it’s pretty much nearly all explained fairly comprehensibly and comprehensively while it’s been done. Frankly, the biggest problem with it is probably me – it would all make sense at the time, then a few sentences later it would just sort of slip off me and I’d be thinking “hmm...”. Then the other biggest problem is that sometimes the science becomes too overwhelming, but not in an “argh, I don’t understand!” way. More in an “ergh, there’s too much science concentrated into this small neighbourhood of words, and the whole thing’s become pretty procedural and “I did this, then I did this, then etc.” and I don’t know whether I like that” way. With all that said, for the most part there is something genuinely interesting and riveting about its meticulous methodical way of doing things and how it functions as much as an intellectual exercise as anything else, although Weir does like I’ve said manage for the most part to keep it involving. You can tell the man’s done his work for this, and while that doesn’t inherently make the book better or anything, it made it better for me.
On to Mark. Mark’s complicated, although in a sense he’s not all that complicated at all. I’ll admit that it took me a while to properly get to grips to him and for him to properly work for me. For the start of the book up to a certain point my feeling on him was that he was kind of an ass. An entertaining ass, admittedly, and hardly a particularly poorly-written character, but still an ass. To the extent that when you hear later on that he was chosen partly because he made the crew gel better and he’s always have a quip or a gag on hand I found it actively difficult to believe. He did grow on me in a sense even if he never really changes, which to be fair I understand. His “yay”’s never quite work, not even in a “he should be more serious” thinking, more in a “yay doesn’t fit with the rest of his style of speaking” thinking, but apart from that it’s not that difficult to interpret his personality as a coping mechanism, that he’s staving off negative thoughts and fears of disaster by putting up with it and getting through it and fending it off with humour and complaining about disco and pondering the ineffable mysteries of Aquaman. Not to mention that when things do turn bad, he generally tones down the humour, properly freaks out and worries at times, and then manages to bring himself down and figure out just what he’s going to do.
With all that in mind, the switches to different perspectives do come as a nice break. I’m not sure whether the sense of hurry and worry is properly conveyed enough throughout for my liking (same with the characterisation of everyone that isn’t Mark), and sometimes the regular injections of disaster do get a bit frustrating, but while it’s initially jarring and in cases never really stops being jarring (there’s the occasional third person past section focussing on Mark for some reason I could never quite understand) it does feel like it all necessarily justifies its existence. If nothing else it conveys the sense even more that Andy Weir does know what he’s doing and put in the work to make this all sufficiently credible. And you know what? Sometimes it was pretty fun and clenching to see the way everything intersected and how it all works out when Mark/NASA know something and the other group doesn’t.
All in all, though, it works. It really works. The book starts out good and for the most part it genuinely gets better as it goes along. The characters sort of impress themselves more and more on your mind – Mark, his Aries crew, and NASA a whole – as you go, and somehow they make it so that you care. Or at least I cared. I genuinely cared. When (view spoiler) So, yes, while I would certainly quibble with certain aspects of this book here and there, I am definitely happy I read this. You go Andy Weir, you (view spoiler).
Gave it 5 stars, the science went over my head so I skimmed it, but I enjoyed the story and was gripped enough to read it reasonable quickly.
I really enjoyed this book. I am a mechanical engineer, so I loved all the scientific and engineering details and didn't really have trouble following any of that, but I can imagine some people might not enjoy those bits as much as I did. The tone of the book is what makes it a 5 star book for me though. I love the way this book tells the story through the main character Mark Watney's log entries; it feels very personal that way. Watney's sense of humour is one of the things I liked most about this book.
★★★★★It's a story about an astronaut on a planet, how good can it be?
Turns out, pretty darn good. I'm not a space or sci-fi buff, and I haven't yet seen the film, and I'm pretty good about shielding myself from spoilers, so I didn't really know what to expect. I found the story surprisingly thrilling and quite often chuckleworthy. The prose is simple—which I appreciated, having just read Dickens a few days ago.
The Martian is just…well, it's just a fast, fun read, well worth your time.
I gave this four stars.This was an excellent book, and I'm not a science fiction fan. I'm also not a scientist, but I was able to follow the details of what Mark, the protagonist, was doing and why. While I didn't understand every single thing he did, the complexity of it and "tightrope walking" feel of it came through crystal clear. I saw the movie first, which I do not recommend doing (see it afterwards). The struggle for everyone - Mark, NASA, the Chinese, the Hermes crew - was much clearer and more developed in the book. The only reason I gave this four stars is because for the latter fifth of the book, I felt like the tone shifted and Mark stopped telling me what he was doing and the author started informing me of what must be done in this type of situation. It's minor - I really would have given it 4.5 if I had the option. I highly recommend!
Like many before me, I also rated this book with 4 stars.I started this book on the 16th and saw the movie a few days later. I hadn't finished the book yet so at first I was rather reluctant to watch the film (cause spoilers obviously), but I watched it anyway and finished the book as well. I still enjoyed the book very much and was quite surprised to see how the ending of the book is done in a different way than in the movie.
(don't worry it's a minor detail, and very hilarious that they went with that move in the movie as it is also mentioned in the book but never executed).
I can't bring myself to give this book 5 stars, and I don't know if that has anything to do with the fact that I sa the movie halfway through the book or if it was because of all of the detailed scientific explanation in the book, not that it wasn't understandable because it was very well explained (well done Andy Weir) it was simply too much.
The book overall was a quick read and highly enjoyable. I loved Watney's sense of humor and his overall positive attitude regarding the situation ('Astronauts are weird people' as is said in the book) and just the right amount of shit moods he goes through because even Watney can't be positive all the time (ugh, Disco).
Great story, great characters, good laughs. Give it a go :)
I'm not a science fiction fan, so I read The Martian only because a few friends strongly recommended it. To my amazement, it really pulled me in -- partly because Mark (who gets left behind on Mars because the rest of the crew thinks he's dead) is so clever at figuring out how to survive, but mainly because he's such a relentlessly upbeat and likable guy that I was willing to stick with him through his incredible adventure. I gave it 4 stars.
Science fiction was never my genre of choosing, but yet again because this book was a group read i chose to pick it up and give it a try. and I have enjoyed this book more than i have expected to.The book starts a little bit slow with a lot of complicated mathematical calculations. I stopped sweating the details to get a move on and progress with the story.
I love how the first part of the book was only Mark's narrative, and just in the right time they otehr characters are introduced.
I got emotionally invested in the story, that in th final chapter when Capitan Lewis is commanding the MAV launch and Mark says Ready and the world hears his voice for the first time after 2 plus years i gave a little cry and cheer with the rest of the world.
This is a book that is entertaining, comedic at times, and gets you to reflect on our existance in this galaxy and how small yet so grandious we are.
Four stars for Mark Watney's impicable comical timing. I will miss this fella.
Valerie wrote: "I agree with Karen. Though some of the science was over my head, I could not put the book down. Read it in one night. I have nerds in my family, so I am use to talk above my head, so none of that..."
I only saw the movie - I'm bummed I didn't get the book finished first but really enjoyed the movie. It seemed "smart" and I think seems consistent with the book in that there was comedy sprinkled throughout.
KayleeStansbery wrote: "Currently entering a book hangover after finishing this one.I love science, and I love books so this was an absolute perfect book for me to read. If you do not enjoy in depth descriptions on scien..."
I thought the movie was great - would love to know what you thought in comparison to the book since sadly, I didn't read the book first!
I read the book first and didn't love the film. All the bits that I thought would be boring (the daily grind, the science-y details) were somehow not boring in the book, but were in the film. Despite how much they skipped and changed, I still found it slow and meh. And it's not that the film wasn't true to the book—it was, mostly—but I think the story just doesn't work super well as a film.I do realise that I'm in the minority; people raved about the film. =)
I absolutely loved this novel! I was hooked from the beginning and I recommended it to anyone who asked. The only thing that I didn't like was how technical some of the science was. Seriously. I really don't need a multi-page chemical explanation of how he created water. Trust me, I'm not gonna fact check it. My last novel involved an invisible dome that magically appeared over a town. If you say he mixed a bunch of stuff and created water, I'm more than happy to roll with it. I couldn't put it down! It definitely earned a place on my bookshelf.
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