Book Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

“He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?”

Andy Weir, The Martian

Review:

I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf for years. In that time I built high expectations that grew larger whenever I heard people talk about it. Maybe I wasn’t in the right headspace or something, but it was disappointingly only an okay read for me. 

Left behind on Mars, astronaut Mark Watney keeps a log of his survival efforts. The book follows his attempts to contact his crew so he can be rescued. 

I love the plot of this so much. Everything about it. What I didn’t like was the narration style. It’s not even the writing style itself as it works perfectly for this situation, rather, the overall voice. I guess I had imagined something more sophisticated sounding. A lot of it was comedic, which is great, I just don’t think I was in the mood for it. 

I’ve heard many good things about the audiobook which I also own. I think I will revisit the book sometime that way and see if my opinion changes. 

Likes & Dislikes:

What I liked:

• The log entries.
• The plot!!!
• The Mars setting.

What I didn’t like:

• I wasn’t prepared for this to be a comedy for some reason.
• Too much cursing.

Afterthoughts:

I really hope I’ll have a better experience next time I try reading/listening to this now that I know what to expect. I really think the realization that I’d built up a different image of the book in my mind was why I struggled so much with it.

Where to buy the book: