Title: The Martian Author: Andy Weir
Source: Blogging for Books, Bought
Links: Bookshop (affiliate link) |Goodreads
Rating:
Summary: The narrator, the story, the humor – everything was fantastic!
If someone had to be stranded on Mars, Mark Watney was a great choice. Only someone with his mad botany and engineering skills could possibly stay alive, with no way to communicate with Earth and too few supplies to wait on a rescue mission. And only someone with his phenomenal sense of humor could survive the solitude without going insane. These two traits also made him a wonderful protagonist to read about. Being stranded on Mars could make for a depressing, hopeless story. Instead, I spent the whole book laughing or on the edge of my seat rooting for Mark to survive each new challenge.
Me being me, I have to comment on the science in this book, which I thought was very well done. The general principles seemed sound and I think you could learn some interesting basic science by reading this book. I’m not sure all the ways Mark applies the science could work and according to my aerospace engineer fiance there are a few small problems with them. Everything sounded reasonable enough that nothing bothered me though and I suspect this will be true for most readers. The biggest problem I had with the science bits was that they were a little hard to follow as an audiobook. Sometimes I just wanted to read them to make sure I understood what was going on! I would actually still recommend this as an audiobook though, especially if you don’t care too much about the details of the science. The narrator was perfect for this book. His delivery of Mark’s jokes was spot on, which was a big part of why reading this book was such a fun experience.
Jancee @ Jancee's Reading Journal
I didn’t understand all the science bits, but I loved this book. Every time he survived another day, I sighed with relief. It was very good.
DoingDewey
Me too! I wasn’t too worried that he was going to die, but I loved the creative ways he solved the many problems that came up.
Catherine
I just finished this last week and loved it so much but agree with you about the science bits. I can’t imagine how it would be in an audiobook because it was tough enough reading that stuff in print.
I heard that Matt Damon is going to play Mark in the movie which I think is perfect casting. It will be nice to see a sense of humor applied to the whole trapped-in-space theme. Gravity got way too depressing and existential for me!
DoingDewey
Although I loved the audiobook, I really would have loved to be able to read those bits!
I agree that Matt Damon is going to be awesome as Mark. I also found Gravity way too depressing and the science problems drove my fiance crazy, so hopefully the Martian will be a better movie in both respects 🙂
Becky LeJeune
I love, love, loved this book! I thought it was super approachable even for someone like me who is most definitely NOT a science wiz. I’m dying to see the movie now, too.
DoingDewey
I really loved it too! I expected it to be depressing and it was just the opposite.
Naomi
I was impressed with this book, and with how smart the guy was! Just when I thought he was doomed, he would think up a way to keep on living. I think it’s going to make a good movie!
DoingDewey
Me too! I loved the creative way he solved every problem that came up. I hope the movie is just as exciting 🙂
guiltless reading
So many great books and never enough time 🙂 I’ve had this one on the TBR for ages. I keep meaning to go through my TBR and reevaluating what I absolutely need to read, but it seems it’s just to hard to keep up.
DoingDewey
Too true! I can’t believe how many books there are that have gotten rave reviews but which I haven’t managed to get to yet.
Heather @ Book Addiction
I thought this book was awesome. I am super excited for the movie which has Matt Damon starring as Mark!
DoingDewey
Me too! I think Matt Damon was a great choice for this one..
Sarah's Book Shelves
I’m not a science person and had to re-rad a lot of the science passages…that would have been frustrating for me on audio. But, I would have loved to hear Mark Watney on audio – he was awesome and I loved the book overall!
DoingDewey
Even as a science person, it was a little frustrating on audio! Not too bad, but I think I would have gotten more out of it some of it had I been reading the book. The narration was really fantastic though! Definitely worth it 🙂
C.J. @ebookclassics
Oh, your blog looks beautiful! Very cool and calm. I’m hoping to read this book soon, so it would fun to read your thoughts. I’m still deliberating on whether to read it in print or get the audio book.
DoingDewey
Thanks C.J.! The new colors are one of my favorite parts of the design. Despite the science bits, I’d highly recommend the audio. It was very well done.
Trisha
Listening to this on audio was a highlight of my reading life. I absolutely adored it. Science bits and all.
DoingDewey
Heck yes! I like your enthusiasm and agree that it was fantastic 😀
Lindsey
I’ve heard such great things about this one! Maybe I will grab the audiobook for my commute…
DoingDewey
Do it! 🙂 It was fantastic.
Katie @ Words for Worms
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this one! We are totally on the same wavelength :).
DoingDewey
It’s true! It seems like we have very similar taste 🙂
Nikki
This one seems to pretty consistently get really great reviews from people who have similar tastes to me. I’m definitely going to have to pick this up eventually!
DoingDewey
I think I’ve only seen positive reviews of this one myself, so I was very excited that it lived up to the hype for me! I hope it does for you too 🙂
Liz @ Books I Think You Should Read
Found your review on Carole’s site. I checked this book out of the library and then it was due, and I didn’t have time to read it yet 🙁 so hopefully at one point I will read it. I’ve seen the trailer for the upcoming movie too and it looks great!
DoingDewey
Thanks for stopping by! I hate when I have to return a library book unread. I’m very excited for the movie and definitely recommend reading the book first. Even the trailer is a bit spoiler-y compared to the book and I think it might be more fun to read un-spoiled 🙂