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4.36 AVERAGE
4.36 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Similar to Project Hail Mary but lacking the emotional depth and at times a bit boring.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
tense
adventurous
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Most accurate book-to-movie adaptation ever…
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The Martian is a strange experience. On one hand, the basic premise is as compelling an idea as any I've ever come across. Instant drama without a doubt. On the other hand, any ramification to the situation that doesn't have to do specifically with fixing the problem or problems at hand, don't really interest the author. The downside of that is that, despite all the curve balls author Andy Weir throws at Mark Watney(the astronaut in question), despite all the hairy situations that our stalwart hero finds himself in that he then has to get out of, the one x-factor that the author never approaches is the human psyche. When people say this book is a "testament to the resiliency of the human spirit" I don't buy it because the human spirit is never actually challenged. I understand that Watney's sense of humor is key to his survival but is that really enough? I don't care how stalwart a person is, how courageous, how well-adjusted, graceful under pressure, whatever, this guy is on another planet, all by himself. Earth is a freaking star in the sky. Death is literally one moment, a hair's breadth away, just on the other side of his space suit for a year and a half. It's almost impossible to comprehend living under those kind of desperate circumstances, that kind of relentless pressure every moment of every day. When, in the interview at the back of the book, Andy Weir says that Mark Watney shares his sense of humor, I believe it. I think that Watney's persona in the book is exactly that of a guy who sat home on Earth figuring out the solutions to these problems as he thinks them up.
BUT
I couldn't wait to get back to it. I read that book as fast as any book I've read in a long time. Right when the aforementioned flaws were getting to the point where they bothered me, something bad happened and I was hooked again. "Okay, I'll stop reading it after I find out how he gets out of this." When some other setback occurred that was so deflating I exclaimed outwardly and my girlfriend asked me if everything was okay, I knew I was enjoying the book. The type of book it is, and the type of story it is, there's no way he's not going to survive at the end (spoilers be damned) and yet, the ending was the most riveting part of the whole book. I mean, sometimes a work of art is more than the sum of its faults. Myself, I didn't get or understand the vast majority of the math and science and boy there is a lot of it. As long as it made sense to Watney, I kept going. And it wasn't work. The fact of the matter is, I was compelled to keep turning the pages. One night I was up until 2am on a work night just because I didn't want to stop reading and let's face it, that has to count for something.
Weir, in the back of the book, says he is a lover of science fiction in general. He expresses a desire to write something more along the lines of "traditional" science fiction, you know, dilithium crystals, daleks and millenium falcons and such. I wish him success but I'm dubious. Nothing in The Martian suggests he can write a character who's not an Andy Weir stand in, or that he'll be adept at anything that's not problem-solving.
But he's a master at presenting and then solving an insurmountable problem, and that act in and of itself, can be very, very compelling, and oftentimes, damned exciting.
Review Addendum: One thing that occurred to me during the course of the book and it is barely even nodded at -- is that how much money, time, effort, etc., it takes to save this one guy...would that have been put to better use saving a LOT of people here on Earth? Or even if we go ahead and save this one guy, can we decide to then spend that much time, energy and ingenuity to save people who need saving here on Earth? Lord knows, we have them.
BUT
I couldn't wait to get back to it. I read that book as fast as any book I've read in a long time. Right when the aforementioned flaws were getting to the point where they bothered me, something bad happened and I was hooked again. "Okay, I'll stop reading it after I find out how he gets out of this." When some other setback occurred that was so deflating I exclaimed outwardly and my girlfriend asked me if everything was okay, I knew I was enjoying the book. The type of book it is, and the type of story it is, there's no way he's not going to survive at the end (spoilers be damned) and yet, the ending was the most riveting part of the whole book. I mean, sometimes a work of art is more than the sum of its faults. Myself, I didn't get or understand the vast majority of the math and science and boy there is a lot of it. As long as it made sense to Watney, I kept going. And it wasn't work. The fact of the matter is, I was compelled to keep turning the pages. One night I was up until 2am on a work night just because I didn't want to stop reading and let's face it, that has to count for something.
Weir, in the back of the book, says he is a lover of science fiction in general. He expresses a desire to write something more along the lines of "traditional" science fiction, you know, dilithium crystals, daleks and millenium falcons and such. I wish him success but I'm dubious. Nothing in The Martian suggests he can write a character who's not an Andy Weir stand in, or that he'll be adept at anything that's not problem-solving.
But he's a master at presenting and then solving an insurmountable problem, and that act in and of itself, can be very, very compelling, and oftentimes, damned exciting.
Review Addendum: One thing that occurred to me during the course of the book and it is barely even nodded at -- is that how much money, time, effort, etc., it takes to save this one guy...would that have been put to better use saving a LOT of people here on Earth? Or even if we go ahead and save this one guy, can we decide to then spend that much time, energy and ingenuity to save people who need saving here on Earth? Lord knows, we have them.
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix