Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Project Hail Mary

This book was absolutely fantastic. I read it in tandem with the audiobook in a book club setting alongside my husband and it was such a great time. As far as the book itself is concerned, I truly adored the whole story and was glued to it the entire time. As a note: I have not read The Martian (yet) and have only seen the movie, so I can't speak to any comparisons between the two books. I did see in previous reviews that some people felt like Grace was pretty much the same character as Mark Watney just rebranded as a

quirky school teacher

, and while I do agree with this point I don't feel like it detracted from the story at all. If anything I felt like blending that personality with someone who's

a teacher

was incredibly fitting and made it extremely relatable as someone who

works in education

.

I loved all of the directions the story took and the details; every time I felt like I had a handle on where the story was going it would throw a slight curveball and I'd be glued to my chair trying to figure out what in the world was going to happen. I adored

Rocky

so so much as a character; my husband and I both loved that

he wasn't a stereotypical humanoid alien

as well and the details describing him were incredibly well done. The relationship between the two characters was hilarious and heartfelt and left my husband and I crying in the car on multiple occasions. I strongly agreed with this one comment on a Tiktok video about the book by someone named Amanda that said:

"
The way Grace went from being forced to sacrifice himself for humanity to voluntarily doing it for Rocky [...]
"

This book truly left such a wonderful impression and is easily getting categorized into the books I wish I could read again with no memory and will easily be a reread-er for me.

As an additional review for the audiobook: I 100% recommend that everyone try out the audiobook either in tandem with the book or on its own. It's easily one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to and was so masterfully done. The way that they did

Rocky's dialogue

was phenomenal and blew my husband and I's minds. And we were blown away by the level of emotion that the narrator put into Grace's parts. It was truly an amazing part of the whole experience for us!

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Suicide, Confinement, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Minor: Excrement, Blood, Cancer, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Sexism, Cannibalism, Cursing, War, Animal cruelty, and Sexual content

Confinement

(Grace is technically confined on a pretty small spaceship throughout most of the book and is also forcefully confined in a cell in a later part of the book)

| Death

(death is an extremely large part of this book since it's focused on a suicide mission)

| Grief

(Grace experiences detailed grief over the loss of his crewmates and his own impending death)

| Medical Content

(there are various bits of described medical situations including blood draws, the use of the Nannybot, catheters, etc)

| Suicidal Thoughts & Suicide

(one of the primary plot points of the book is that the Hail Mary mission is a suicide mission; the main character regularly thinks about this and it comes up in detail in a number of flashbacks)

| Alcohol

(recreational drinking is described on a few different occasions, including for celebrations)

| Drug Use

(one of the astronauts on the Hail Mary mission requests a recreational drug to use up until committing suicide upon completion of the mission)

| Fire/Fire Injury

(Grace experiences chemical burns from ammonia and fire is depicted in a few situations)

| Gun Violence

(one of the astronauts on the Hail Mary mission requests a gun for his preferred method of suicide upon the completion of the mission)

| Injury/Injury Detail

(there are a number of injuries experienced and sustained throughout the book)

| Kidnapping

(Grace is revealed to have been forced onto the Hail Mary mission and is essentially kidnapped and confined for this)

| Animal Cruelty

(the Nannybot arms on the Hail Mary are revealed later on to have been perfected through animal experimentation)

| Blood

(there are minor depictions of blood through blood draws and at the beginning of the book with the removal of the catheter)

| Cancer

(there are minor references to cancer in relation to radiation and exposure)

| Cannibalism

(it is revealed in the very last chapter that for Grace to survive on Erid the Eridians eventually learned how to clone his muscle cells and produce meat for him so he is essentially experiencing self-cannibalism)

| Cursing

(Grace pretty much never curses due to his habits as a teacher, but other characters curse a bit)

| Excrement

(there is the usual understanding of where drinking water comes from on the Hail Mary ship [recycled and treated urine] and later on there is mention of "poop" related to the waste coming from the Taumoeba cells)

| Murder

(it's revealed later in the book that Stratt forced Grace to go on the Hail Mary mission to which he accuses her of murdering him since he doesn't want to go)

| Panic Attacks/Disorders

(Grace experiences a panic attack when first exposed to zero g's on the Hail Mary)

| Sexism

(Stratt reveals during the Hail Mary astronaut selection process that she specifically put the call out for heterosexual men because she didn't want to deal with potential sexual tension on the mission, this is called out and results in a bit of back-and-forth)

| Sexual Content

(some of the astronauts that volunteered for the Hail Mary mission openly discuss their sexual escapades in relation to enjoying their finals days alive on Earth)

| Vomit

(periodically there are small bits of depicted vomit like when Grace enters zero g for the first time or experiences painfully high g's)

| War

(there is passing speculation throughout the book about the potentials for widespread war on Earth while Grace is in space trying to save the planet, but we never see any of it as the reader)

brynalexa's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I waited on this book because I don’t usually read books by white men. I gave in and got it on Libby and was immediately hooked. How can a book so serious be so funny and adorable?! There’s almost nothing I can say about setting or characters that make isn’t a spoiler but both are phenomenal. I could barely put this down.

Just a couple notes, one chapter used “stupid” more than a dozen times which is completely unnecessary (cloudy, tired, drugged, distracted, not 100% were all perfectly fine options) I also disagree with the author’s choice

on using he/him when gendering Rocky. The author even mentioned it being a choice and then when he got more information decided to stick with He/him. What a wonderful opportunity it could have been to be more inclusive.

Content Warnings

bheller77's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Content Warnings

sarah_amy's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This was so very close to being a DNF for me as there is a LOT of maths and science involved, particular in the beginnings that were going over my head. However, I was encouraged to persist and I'm glad I did. The journey and humanity of the tale that comes strongly into the second half made it worth it - you can let the technical stuff go over your head & still get the gist. Audiobook as opposed to text almost feels like a MUST, due to a very specific element in the story. I'm sure I wouldn't have had the same experience had I read it in text. Narrator was fantastic.

Content Warnings

raitherabbit's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I started out reading this book so slowly… as in, barely getting in 10 pages a day (for 3 days across 2 weeks). After consulting a local reading facebook group, strangers on the internet convinced me to tough it out and read it fully.

I am so glad I did. Thank you, kind strangers.

Trust me when I say this book starts quite slowly but picks up VERY quickly. As soon as I reached a certain point in the plot, I literally could not put it down.

The characters are lovable, and while I don’t agree with All of them, I see where their decisions come from. As a science nerd, I was also fascinated by the lengthy explanations throughout the book (even if I didn’t understand them 100%).

I absolutely love this book. I’m glad I’m ending the year with it.

Content Warnings