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Loading... The Martianby Andy Weir
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Listened to the audio version of this book through Audible. Amazing story. The movie was good, but the book is infinitely better. ( ) This was a very readable book. The idea seemed original and following Mark Watney's long struggle for survival proved to be very entertaining. The style was old school SF, with not much attention paid to character development, but it's OK because it is not really needed here. The story is about an astronaut trying to survive in Mars after being stranded because of an accident that leaves everyone on Earth believing he is dead, and the plot is not needlessly bloated with other stuff. It is narrated in first person and some people may be put off by Mark's upbeat attitude and bad puns, but it worked for me. This BOOK! Oh, my gosh, people! My son kept nagging me to read it, and I kept on not reading it - and then I saw the movie. Yes, to my shame, I saw the movie before I read the book. Then I immediately read the book twice through and told everybody how good it is. It's desperation, and adventure, and regret, and hope all wrapped up together with humor topping it off. Listen to my son - and now me - and read it first chance you get. I thought watching the movie first might have spoiled the book. It didn't. Edit reread 2020: For those who didn't like the smart-ass comments throughout the book, I say thank goodness for the comic relief! Otherwise it would have been (a) often boring when too technical and (b) unrelievedly stressful when tense. I laughed and loved it. 1st read: January 2020 2nd read: August 2021 3rd read: August 2022 4th read: November 2023 Original review: This is one of my all-time favorite books. I really like survival stories and The Martian is a good one. I like that this is set on another planet, but it feels believable and almost realistic. The main character is strange sometimes but it makes sense given his situation, and I appreciate his determination, ingenuity, and attitude.
The Martian is technically a “hard science fiction” book – a subgenre of science fiction so firmly rooted in science that the story wouldn’t work without it. And certainly, Weir’s first work is science-heavy; he even mentioned in an interview that the book was an exercise in whether he could make a fictional narrative out of the scientific premise of the novel. The answer, obviously, is “yes,” and The Martian is an intriguing exercise in the way that science itself can create plot. Belongs to SeriesMark Watney (1) Belongs to Publisher SeriesEbook [Newton] (793) Heyne Allgemeine Reihe (31691) Science Fiction Book Club (1385230) Is contained inHas the adaptationAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
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 while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he 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 isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit--he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him? No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumAndy Weir's book The Martian was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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