Tag Archive | The Martian

REVIEW: The Martian by Andy Weir

 

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m finding it hard to believe 2017 is less than a week away!
How the hell did that happen???

I’m a couple books behind on my Goodreads reading challenge. That’s not to say I didn’t read enough books, I just haven’t written the reviews for them yet! It’s going to be a scramble these last few days getting these posted!

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas (or, if you don’t celebrate – a fabulous weekend!) I know I did. I spent plenty of time with family. The kids had a blast opening gifts and playing with cousins. Food was bountiful and delicious. And I got a new Kindle Fire HD 8! Woohoo! The screen on my 2012 Kindle Fire HD was starting to fade at the edges and was quite sluggish. I’m so stoked for my new beauty. I’ve just ordered a case and can’t wait until it arrives!

By new years, watch for my BEST OF 2016 post! I’ve got a list going of my favorite reads for the year. I can’t wait to share them with you all!


The Martian by Andy Weir

Read: December 17 – 25, 2016

Format: Paperback

My Book Rating: 4.5 Stars

Publisher: Random House

Release Date: February 11, 2014

Genre: Sci-Fi

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

A mission to Mars.
A freak accident.
One man’s struggle to survive.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars’ surface, completely alone, with no way to signal Earth that he’s alive. And even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, Mark won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark’s not ready to quit. Armed with nothing but his ingenuity and his engineering skills—and a gallows sense of humor that proves to be his greatest source of strength–he embarks on a dogged quest to stay alive, using his botany expertise to grow food and even hatching a mad plan to contact NASA back on Earth.

As he overcomes one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next, Mark begins to let himself believe he might make it off the planet alive.

But Mars has plenty of surprises in store for him yet.


REVIEW

I’m late to the game on this one. I heard about this book when I heard about the movie. I have yet to see the movie, but I’m glad I waited until I read the book first. (Fun fact – I found the book in my neighborhood Free Little Library! Now that I’m done it’s making the rounds to my dad next.)

You wouldn’t think a book about a man stranded alone on Mars would be funny, but this book is HILARIOUS. The hero, Mark, is probably the best person to be placed in this situation because he’s got the personality and humor to see the bright side. He’s also a mechanical engineer / botanist. Strange combo, but it worked out well for him!

Though this book is full of techno mumbo-jumbo, Mark’s humor makes it easy to follow what’s going on, even when the details went over my head. It was just the details that made it feel real, and because I’m not a science nerd*, I’ll have to just believe the author knew what he was talking about. Even if it’s all BS, I’d never know.

Despite being an absolute page turner, I can’t give 5 stars to this book. The dialogue was downright comical in it’s ridiculousness. It read like bad fan fiction. I would rather the book have remained 100% Mark’s log of his time on Mars. But, because I was engaged in the rest of the story, it still gets a solid 4.5 stars from me.

I can’t wait to see the movie next. I’m trying to imagine how they pulled this off.

(*NOTE: I wish I was a science nerd.)



Get the The Martian here:

Amazon | Nook | iBooks | Kobo

~ Add to Goodreads ~


QUOTES

 

Log Entry: Sol 6
I’m pretty much fucked.
That’s my considered opinion.
Fucked.

 

Remember those old math questions you had in algebra class? Where water is entering a container at a certain rate and leaving at a different rate and you need to figure out when it’ll be empty? Well, that concept is critical to the “Mark Watney doesn’t die” project I’m working on.

 

Godspeed, little taters. My life depends on you.

 

In high school, I played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons. (You may not have guessed this botanist/mechanical engineer was a bit of a nerd in high school, but indeed I was.)

 

If ruining the only religious icon I have leaves me vulnerable to Martian vampires, I’ll have to risk it.

 

I’ the first person to be alone on an entire planet.

 

Maybe I’ll post a consumer review. “Brought product to surface of Mars. It stopped working. 0/10.”

 

I don’t want to come off as arrogant here, but I’m the best botanist on the planet.

 

I can’t wait to have grandchildren. “When I was younger, I had to walk to