If ever there was a book guaranteed to make you wish you’d paid attention in high school science classes, The Martian is it.
The story’s hero, Mark Watney, must have broken a mirror while walking under a ladder with a black cat on another Friday the 13th. When the story begins, he is stranded on Mars, thought dead by his crew and mission control. A fierce Martian windstorm has forced his exploration team to evacuate the surface, and an accident during the process destroyed the life support telemetry of his suit. Coming to and finding himself alone on the planet and discovering that he has no radio to contact the crew or NASA nearly crushes Mark. But a creative and indomitable spirit keeps him going as he reconfigures the living quarters, begins working out how he’ll survive until the next planned landing – which is 3000 kilometers away and a couple of years off – and looks for ways to communicate with Earth.
Most of the story is told in first person through the logs Watney keeps of his work and experiments in survival. These are not official or officious, but personal, wisecracking, and profane. Sometimes the audience is everyone off the planet Mars and sometimes it seems to be himself as he works out the details of his extraordinary plans. (If the space programs of the world would let their astronauts communicate in a voice like Watney’s, there would probably be more support for interplanetary exploration.)
However, Mark’s efforts to communicate with Earth turn the story’s focus back to our home planet, and to the committed, skillful, and highly individualistic people who will try to rescue Mark. How they deal with the enormous personal and engineering obstacles involved make for as compelling a story as Mark’s survival epic.
In one sense, I suppose the first person to be born or to die in a new place can be called its first citizen. (The terminology of European expansionism in human history aside.) In this case, we are rooting for Mark to not become the first Martian, but in the end of course he does. How he gets to that place is an intensely adventurous and gripping blend of hard science and science fiction. And it forces me to understand that I wouldn’t last ten minutes in Mark’s situation. I’ll take the desert island scenario any day.
Check the WRL catalogue for The Martian
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I’d second this, a superb read I absolutely loved it
Great review. I have actually bought this book but it has been sitting on my shelf because I have read such mixed thoughts on it.
Most people seem to say they could not enjoy it because there was too much science. So I suppose I should save it to when I am in the mood for something heavier. Just not sure when that will be…
Ana, I’m not much for the heavy-duty science that some speculative fiction titles use. Give me a good space opera with lasers and phasers and warp speed and I’m happy.
I can tell you that the book zooms by – Mark walks the reader (via his notes) through the applicable science but doesn’t get bogged down in tedious formulae or experiments. And if you do find yourself scratching your head, you can skip a couple of paragraphs and be right back into the story. Trust me, it ain’t heavy, and if people gave up because it had too much science, they missed a cracking good read.
Alright, thanks a bunch for clearing it up, I will get to it eventually!
“In one sense, I suppose the first person to be born or to die in a new place can be called its first citizen. […] In this case, we are rooting for Mark to not become the first Martian, but in the end of course he does.”
Oh, wow. Was that a spoiler for the end? Because I really hope it wasn’t. I was actually interested in reading this book until I saw that. My reading time is limited and there’s no bloody point in putting in all that effort if a review tells you the main character dies in the end. Half of the joy of reading is the surprise of finding out what happens next…
I have to agree. With the comment, and with the fact that it does seem like a spoiler. Why do people do that, anyway?
Truly, would any good reviewer give up a spoiler like that? :) Other people have other views on what makes a citizen or a colonist and part of the fun of the book is hearing *Mark’s* view.
Brilliant review! Will be sure to pick the book up soon :)
I really enjoyed this book. I would never survive on Mars! Looking forward to the movie.