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Wendy Darling's Reviews > The Martian
The Martian
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Wendy Darling's review
bookshelves: sci-fi-or-futuristic, adult, survival, action-packed, 2014-favorites, read-2014, hilarious
Jul 04, 2014
bookshelves: sci-fi-or-futuristic, adult, survival, action-packed, 2014-favorites, read-2014, hilarious
4.5 stars This book is nothing short of spectacular. It is insanely well-researched, and it's impossible not to be charmed by Mark Watney's hilarious sense of humor, or jeez-MY-brain-is-filled-with-absolutely-useless-information-impressed by his smarts, ingenuity, and spirit.
I will say that after a few chapters, I started skimming some of the more technical parts of what he was doing to survive. I normally love this stuff, and certainly I absolutely DID enjoy much of what was here and sincerely appreciated the amount of research and experimentation that went into his Mark's scientific calculations. But there is a lot of it, hah, and I started feeling a little antsy, even with the irrepressibly funny narrative. SO MUCH MATH.
Fortunately, the POV then switches and we start seeing what's happening on the ground and other places. The action-packed plot is streamlined and exciting, the characters are memorable, and overall, the writing is immensely engaging and entertaining.
Highly recommended if the summary intrigues you at all, and obviously a must read if you're a fan of science fiction or survival stories. And the ebook's only $2.99 right now! That's a fucking bargain for the amount of awesome crammed into these pages.
So impressed this was a debut--I hope we get many more books by this author in the future. And this is going to make one hell of a movie.
I will say that after a few chapters, I started skimming some of the more technical parts of what he was doing to survive. I normally love this stuff, and certainly I absolutely DID enjoy much of what was here and sincerely appreciated the amount of research and experimentation that went into his Mark's scientific calculations. But there is a lot of it, hah, and I started feeling a little antsy, even with the irrepressibly funny narrative. SO MUCH MATH.
Fortunately, the POV then switches and we start seeing what's happening on the ground and other places. The action-packed plot is streamlined and exciting, the characters are memorable, and overall, the writing is immensely engaging and entertaining.
Highly recommended if the summary intrigues you at all, and obviously a must read if you're a fan of science fiction or survival stories. And the ebook's only $2.99 right now! That's a fucking bargain for the amount of awesome crammed into these pages.
So impressed this was a debut--I hope we get many more books by this author in the future. And this is going to make one hell of a movie.
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Reading Progress
July 4, 2014
– Shelved
November 24, 2014
–
Started Reading
November 24, 2014
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Finished Reading
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by
Jessie
(new)
Nov 14, 2014 01:48PM
Give it a try! (Disclaimer: my cousin wrote it. ;) )
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Loved this book, review please :D
Denisse--no time to write a real review, but I wrote a quick reaction! I loved it, too.Jessie--hey, your cousin is pretty brilliant. Pass on best wishes to him! And tell him to write more books. ;) Btw, I hang out with some space-types, and every single one of them has enjoyed his book, too.
Matt Damon as the lead. Should be good!
So great you liked it Wendy :DThe movie is just going to be so AMAZING! Plus, I love Matt Damon!
Yeah, that's a perfect piece of casting. Looking forward to it!
I totally skimmed the gobbledy gook science stuff after a while as well. It DID NOT detract from my enjoyment at all! Looking forward to the movie but kinda wish Matt Damon wasn't in EVERYTHING. :)
Hah, nope--didn't affect my enjoyment, either, Liz Mr. Darling is a big space geek and loves this stuff, though, and I think any of the scientists/engineers/etc in the know would applaud what the author did here. I'm pretty impressed he was able to combine such a readable narrative and engrossing story with the technical know how.I am also VERY FOND of Matt Damon. ;) He has done a lot of space movies lately, though.
TL--hah, thanks! My quickie reaction ended up being a bit longer than expected.
Wendy Darling wrote: TL--hah, thanks! My quickie reaction ended up being a bit longer than expected. your welcome:) i'm hoping to read this soon
I'm going to pick this up from the library today. So excited to start it.
He can keep doing Bourne (along with Jeremy Renner, pls) and that's it! :) honestly though, I think he'll be pretty perfect in the role..
This should be an interesting movie...I will most definitely see it.After I finish reading the book. :P
I heard this was going to be a movie with Matt Damon as the main character. Because of that, I promptly bought the book. Sounds sooo good!
Finished this last night it's filled with so much awesome. I can't stop thinking about it.
Watch the movie!! I saw it last week and (even though it wasn't finalized) it has quite a bit of dialogue straight from the book. Kudos to Matt Damon.
Oooh, you've seen the movie already Brenda? Did it really get the book right? The trailer isn't working for me, but man, I really want the movie to be good. Also, I'm super jealous. How did you get to see the movie early? :-)
It was a focus group, we had to fill out little information sheets afterwards about what we thought of the movie. It was funny at the end because they weren't done with the graphics so it looked cartoony anytime they showed Mars for the last twenty minutes or so.Some things are changed--like the tv interviews aren't shown, for example--but for the most part it stuck really consistently to the novel, I was surprised how many quotes were almost direct pulls
Awesome review! I really enjoyed this book too!
