The Martian: A Novel by Andy Weir

Amazon (Kindle Edition)/ Barnes and Nobles (Nook Edition)/Kobo
Book Published by Random House
Review Written by: Dani Hoots

The Martian: A Novel by Andy Weir follows a man by the name of Mark Watney who has been abandoned on Mars and tries all that he can to survive until the next mission NASA sends out to the red planet. I couldn’t believe how technical yet comical Andy Weir got into his story. I have some background in physics and could follow his reasoning for everything, and things that I didn’t quite have a grasp on I found to be quite clearly explained in this novel. I give it 5/5 stars!

I was very impressed with the type of information Andy Weir gave to the reader. Not only was he technical, but he also made great references that almost anyone can recognize. My favorite was his comment about Three’s Company and how Watney left off on the episode where Mr. Roper took something the wrong way.

Those who have seen Three’s Company know that Mr. Roper takes EVERYTHING the wrong way. I was laughing so hard I think people around me were giving me funny looks. A lot of comments that the main character, Mark Watney, makes throughout the novel made me laugh out loud, which not many books can do. I found having such a comical yet serious and intelligent character let me read this novel with ease. I didn’t get bored at any point of the story, and if I even felt the slightest hint of the pace slowing down, Andy Weir threw in something that I least expected. I was on the edge of my seat throughout the novel and can’t wait to get one of my former astrophysics professors to read it. The science and engineering explanation didn’t feel as if it was an information dump, but actually kept me interested. Every time he gave some data, all I could think was physics. Physics physics physics physics…..

I also loved how Mark Watney grew a potato farm in his hab (living area on Mars). It is crazy that this author came up with growing potatoes on Mars. Potatoes are my favorite food, even though I’m not supposed to eat them, I couldn’t stop drooling over the thought of potatoes. Although Watney began to hate potatoes near the end of the novel, all I can say is:

The characters are all believable, both the crew of the Mars team and those at NASA (by the way, all the NASA comments are so, so very true…). At first I didn’t like the change in perspective. I felt it came out of no where, but once I got used to it and realized it was really needed to push the story forward, I felt it added to the effectiveness of the telling of the story. The theme throughout the novel was at what lengths will we go to save one single human being? Just one human got stranded on Mars yet so many people were willing to dedicate their time to help save him, even some their lives. I won’t give away the ending, but let’s just say this is how I felt:

Signing off,

Dani Hoots

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