Sign in with Facebook
Emily May's Reviews > The Martian
The Martian
by
by
First off, welcome to 2015!
Let's kick this year off with a review of a book about a guy who deserves to survive more than anyone I've ever known. This book has been lurking around in my Goodreads feed, gaining hype, and all the positive reviews from my friends eventually got too much for me - so I had to check this out for myself. I'm glad I gave in.
The Martian has so many good things going for it. First and foremost, it is a classic tale of survival against very huge odds. In this book, Mark Watney becomes one of the first people to walk on Mars but after an accident causes him to be believed dead and abandoned by his crew, it looks like he will be the first person to die there. Like Cast Away x a million, Mark must battle extremely foreign territory, the likelihood of starvation, and the possibility of technical failures.
It's pretty hard to see an outcome where he isn't totally screwed.
The best thing about this book is the juxtaposition between the very scientific nature of everything Mark must do to survive - gave me a renewed level of respect for how damn smart astronauts have to be - and his absolutely wonderful personality. Mark maintains his sense of humour throughout every hardship he faces - it's pretty much impossible to not be charmed by him.
Here are some quotes:
“The screen went black before I was out of the airlock. Turns out the “L” in “LCD” stands for “Liquid.” I guess it either froze or boiled off. Maybe I’ll post a consumer review. “Brought product to surface of Mars. It stopped working. 0/10.”
“As with most of life's problems, this one can be solved by a box of pure radiation.”
This book is part "serious" science-fiction, part an hilariously dark comedy that imagines a horrifying situation infused with humour and the overwhelming human desire to stay alive. It's hard to imagine that anyone who picks this up won't find themselves dragged into Mark's world, desperately needing to know what will happen to him.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
Let's kick this year off with a review of a book about a guy who deserves to survive more than anyone I've ever known. This book has been lurking around in my Goodreads feed, gaining hype, and all the positive reviews from my friends eventually got too much for me - so I had to check this out for myself. I'm glad I gave in.
The Martian has so many good things going for it. First and foremost, it is a classic tale of survival against very huge odds. In this book, Mark Watney becomes one of the first people to walk on Mars but after an accident causes him to be believed dead and abandoned by his crew, it looks like he will be the first person to die there. Like Cast Away x a million, Mark must battle extremely foreign territory, the likelihood of starvation, and the possibility of technical failures.
It's pretty hard to see an outcome where he isn't totally screwed.
The best thing about this book is the juxtaposition between the very scientific nature of everything Mark must do to survive - gave me a renewed level of respect for how damn smart astronauts have to be - and his absolutely wonderful personality. Mark maintains his sense of humour throughout every hardship he faces - it's pretty much impossible to not be charmed by him.
Here are some quotes:
“The screen went black before I was out of the airlock. Turns out the “L” in “LCD” stands for “Liquid.” I guess it either froze or boiled off. Maybe I’ll post a consumer review. “Brought product to surface of Mars. It stopped working. 0/10.”
“As with most of life's problems, this one can be solved by a box of pure radiation.”
This book is part "serious" science-fiction, part an hilariously dark comedy that imagines a horrifying situation infused with humour and the overwhelming human desire to stay alive. It's hard to imagine that anyone who picks this up won't find themselves dragged into Mark's world, desperately needing to know what will happen to him.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
The Martian.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
December 2, 2014
– Shelved
December 12, 2014
–
Started Reading
January 1, 2015
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-47 of 47 (47 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Vanessa
(new)
-
rated it 3 stars
Dec 13, 2014 02:37PM
Can't wait for your review! I've only read good references about this book :)
reply
|
flag
Can't wait for your review of this book!
Me too. I read yesterday the review of this book and I think to buy it before Christmas. It must be a great novel.
I will let you all know ;)
I've heard great things about this book and only recently added it to my tbr list. I hope it turns about to a great read for you Em! :)
It's so very SCIENCY.
Wendy Darling wrote: "It's so very SCIENCY."I see what you mean... in such a fascinating way O.O
Very interested to hear your thoughts on this one!
Just finished this and I identified with the protagonist, with all of his smartass, sarcastic and appropriately innappropriate comments (minus the science stuff that went over my head). I can also see why some readers might see him as annoying and irritating, because he's not a stereotypical whiny survivor type.
I so want to read this now.
I LOVE dark humor. Definitly picking this up :)
This book is the perfect way to start 2015. Great review, Emily (:
I've been interested in this one for awhile now but you've locked it in for me now (although I'll probably wait for a bargain sale). Fantastic review and a great way to kick off 2015!!
Great review! I loved this one too. =)
Great review. Keep em coming.
This book was my first review for 2015 too. Same pinch!
Thank you, everyone.
Loved this book. Glad you enjoyed it too.
Nice review, Emily. This was one of the best books I read in 2014. it's pretty much impossible to not be charmed by him.
Yes, I absolutely agree with this. :)
Great review. I just bought this one the other day since its been exploding on GR and my best friend- who hardly ever reads a book told me I had to read it!
WOW. Gripping review.... Feel like, I need to get my hands on this book right now!
glad you enjoyed this:)
I'm reading this right now Emily, and have the same thoughts as you. :) The humor and the science in this had the potential to make or break the book, but it was surprising how well it ended up working. Lovely review!
it seems as if this review has captured the attention of many readers. so lets find out the truth. thanks Emily for waking us up.
I'm reading this now. Pretty good read, though some of the humor is wearing a bit thin.
I've been on the shelf about this (no pun intended), but it does sound very intriguing. Was it very depressing, or more hopeful?Thanks for the great review, and happy New Year!
I agree with Scott, so far so good, but sometimes I think he tries too hard with the jokes. I'm still very glad that I am reading it.
Malia wrote: "I've been on the shelf about this (no pun intended), but it does sound very intriguing. Was it very depressing, or more hopeful?Thanks for the great review, and happy New Year!"
Thank you! Happy new year :) (view spoiler)
@Scott and Mark, I can see that. I find humour to be one of the most subjective things in all books so I guess it depends on how much you like Mark's jokes. Glad to hear you're still enjoying it, though!
Emily May wrote: "@Scott and Mark, I can see that. I find humour to be one of the most subjective things in all books so I guess it depends on how much you like Mark's jokes. Glad to hear you're still enjoying it, t..."I powered through and finished it last night. Very enjoyable read! There were quite a few laugh out loud moments, but also some where I thought we were getting a bit too adolescent. But, I don't finish books I don't like, so this one's a winner. Enough that I've recommended it to my wife to read.
Thanks to you, I read this fantastic book. I generally have trouble getting into sci-fi of any kind, so had stayed away from it, but this was just the right fit! The sense of humor was really the best part. I finally have an ereader where highlighting is easy, and I highlighted the Aquaman line, as well as the bit above it (trying not to spoil anything, though this was early in the book).
I have to admit I did skim a little of the pure science explanations, but was continually impressed at the amount of work and research the author put into this great book.
Thanks, Emily! Another book that I found because of you. :)
I wouldn't say it was crap but even the heaps of specific technical details couldn't cover the lack of pshychological depth. I could hardly connect to the character as he was such a flat figure saying "fuck" or "yay" a lot. Also, notice the missed chance of bringing in some dirty politics and international perspective with including China...
Just picked this book up today, and after reading your review I'm glad I did! Excellent review by the way :D
Evan wrote: "Just picked this book up today, and after reading your review I'm glad I did! Excellent review by the way :D"Thank you, Evan :) Hope you enjoy it too!
I loved this book! It was deliciously funny, scary and adventurous.
I love your reviews and agree on many things, so let me ask you this: would your rating/opinion stand if you knew that this book was full of factual errors and easily avoidable calculation mistakes? Because it is.
Kaisa wrote: "I love your reviews and agree on many things, so let me ask you this: would your rating/opinion stand if you knew that this book was full of factual errors and easily avoidable calculation mistakes..."Thank you, but it doesn't personally change things for me. I already read the articles criticising the scientific aspect, but it didn't bug me so much here. Maybe it would bother me more if it was a field I studied/worked in and felt attached to, but I went into this novel willing to suspend disbelief so it was easy to do that.
In reality, there would have been no surviving this situation because Mark would have died of cancer due to the radiation. But it was fun to imagine the possibility of a man surviving the impossible :)
I know exactly what you mean! You need to suspend disbelief to enjoy most sci-fi books. If there is no chance for Mark to survive Mars radiation, you either don’t write this book or just ignore the fact (or come up with a new concept/idea to justify his survival, which might or might not require additional suspension of disbelief). But I was talking about unnecessary errors in calculations that could have been easily avoided without altering the plot. For example, if you have 115,500 total calories and your metabolism is 1,500 cal/day, you can easily calculate that you have enough calories to last exactly 77 days, not 76 like the Martian/Mark tells us. Also a high school student knows or should know that, if one molecule of a liquid substance has enough atoms to produce 2 molecules of water, it doesn't mean that one liter of that substance will produce 2 liters of water. The conversion between molecules and liters are not this straightforward and an engineer/botanist would know that as a technical writer should. There is absolutely no need for these errors, they don’t advance the plot and they're not required to justify anything. Maybe it's my background talking but although I have no problems with sci-fi books based on unbelievable, far-stretched concepts, I have huge problems with sloppy calculations.
Awesome review Emily! I loved this book too!
Terrific review of a terrific book. Thank you!
Such a great review. I 100% felt and agree upon everything you've just stated
great book! (lmao this is late)
Lol imagine being in 2021 finally reading this book.
Paul wrote: "Great review, Emily!"Thank you, Paul :)
Exactly, dark humor. Someone else reviewed that marks sense of humor was inappropriate for a trauma. Actually, real trauma survivors have 1 thing in common, inappropriate, dark humor, actual real psychology fact.
Dovetail wrote: "Exactly, dark humor. Someone else reviewed that marks sense of humor was inappropriate for a trauma. Actually, real trauma survivors have 1 thing in common, inappropriate, dark humor, actual real p..."Yes, exactly. I am the kind of person who copes in exactly that way. When I'm struggling most, I always turn to humour.
