Becca's Book Club: The Martian by Andy Weir

Picture from Google images at andyweirauthor.com

So I actually got around to reading this during the past winter break. A loooooooong time after even the movie came out. 

Everyone knows the plot: Man on Mars, stranded for a long time. So I'm going to write my opinions and thoughts on it.

I interned at an aerospace company during high school and naturally, had a big interest in space and what not. Even before the internship and before the Martian, I had read a really cool book: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I had initially read this book because it was on my school's reading list. However, I deemed it to be too long and complicated for me to write a report or do a project on and eventually read an entire new book: Fahrenheit 451.  But I'm going way off topic. 

I had been meaning to read this book for a while now. Right around the time that the movie came out, one of the Youtubers I follow, Jenn Im, added this book to her monthly favorites video. 

Now that it was winter break, I was sitting at home almost every day. Despite the cold weather, I was like a blob of melted candle wax. 

I finally got around to reading because my friend had lent the book to me. 

Immediately from the first page, I was taken aback by the amount of technical terms there were. If I hadn't had interest in aerospace and had a short internship surrounded by space words for a semester, I wouldn't have gotten the book at all. In fact, I probably would have given up in the beginning. But personally, this really grabbed me. The excitement that I felt from my internship and first reading Ender's Game came back to me. 

I am usually a fast reader because I'm also impatient. I can't stand knowing that there are things that I don't know, when all I have to do is read the next sentence and flip a page. In fact, I get so impatient sometimes that my hand reacts faster than my reading. Nevertheless, I finished this book within a couple of hours. This just shows how riveting the book is. I was up till 4 A.M. until my eyes couldn't stay open anymore. 

Throughout the entire book, I really thought about perspective. Here is this man, all by himself, on a desolated planet (P L A N E T) for over a year (Y E A R). Think about that. I love being by myself, but I don't think I could do that, EVER. Although a fictional character, it's really impressive how Weir realistically portrays Watney's positive and bright personality. 

I'm also very good at math (not to pat myself on the back), but very bad at mental math. I have to have pencil and paper. Watney's genius really got to me. Now, I've really met some geniuses, but even as a fictional character, I reveled in Watney's imaginative, creative, and fast paced solutions to all his problems. 

Aside from all of the intellectual awe I gained from the book, I was also emotionally touched. Specifically (maybe spoiler alert if you haven't read it?), when Watney is told to remotely write individual letters to his crew mates. This seriously almost made me cry. It personalized Watney even more. For me, this is the first time Watney shows emotional vulnerability. Before, even if he felt lonely, he was always focused on living. He kept his emotions second to his human instinct to stay alive. However, through these letters, there is a hint of sadness and just a little bit of hopelessness. Under his strength, sarcasm, and intelligence, there is a vulnerable and lonely person. 

Of course, at the end, I was super relieved and all, but I kind of wanted Watney to face more challenges and leave Mars in a more epic way. Maybe this is sadistic, but I really love when characters go through impossible challenges that physically and emotionally hurt them. It's really uplifting (wow this sounds so cruel), when characters overcome these challenges to become stronger. But I guess I should give Watney a break. He stayed at Mars a lot longer than I took reading the book. I also wish that Weir had focused a little bit more on the couple that stayed home watching the tv anxiously. I had hoped that there would be this super touching family reunion at the end, but I guess I had to settle with smelly Watney back with his endearing crew. :')

This became a lot longer than I expected because of all the ramble, so I guess I will write about the Movie for the Weekend post. :) That will probably be shorter. 

Thanks for reading!

Becca