A review by peppypenguin
The Martian by Andy Weir

3.0

Definitely a really interesting book. The science was fascinating and Mark is a funny, light-hearted narrator. My problem was I felt every single character was very two-dimensional, and despite the fact that it's a suspenseful, epic story of survival, I didn't feel tired along with the character by the end of it, and sometimes the science just got tedious because I felt it replaced a lot of possibly interesting psychological depth. Like Mark as narrator did not change his tone at all the entire time he was trapped, and given that it was over a year I find it impossible that it wouldn't have changed even in the slightest. The last bit of the optimistic view of humanity was nice, but to be honest, it felt very slapped on at the end, and I would venture to say it was almost childish. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this, but I think it was lacking some depth.