The Martian by Andy Weir - Book Review

Andy Weir’s first breakthrough novel, The Martian, is about… well, a man who gets stuck on Mars.

The astronaut’s name is Mark Watney, and he gets abandoned on Mars after the rest of his team must evacuate during a sandstorm and think he’s dead.

The rest of the book is one giant montage. Using his skills as an astronaut (and sometimes as a botanist and engineer) Mark must survive in the single unit left standing.

He has to use all the resources at his disposal to eat, drink, breathe and set up communications with Earth to try and be rescued.

He uses comedy in his journal entries to entertain the reader, and the reader gets to watch Mark keep on living after each miscalculation – all the while having a view of what the people down on Earth are saying and how they’re trying to rescue him. The end is fantastic.

This book is genius. Andy Weir wrote a love letter to space missions and it took off for him in the right way. The entire book is hilarious.

The subtle wit of the main character’s constant jokes keeps you happy the whole way through, even when it looks bleak. And the main character’s mishaps and screw-ups keep you biting your nails.

It’s not only a smart book, but it’s funny, adventurous, dramatic, and often sad. I loved every minute of it. It only took me two days to read. Andy’s writing is flawless, which is surprising because he’s not a writer. He just sat down with an idea and did it.

The reader must appreciate the ghastly amount of research and knowhow that went into constructing Mark’s crazy adventure. By the end of the book, I was almost cheering out loud for the guy.

And in the final fifty pages or so as the climax drew near, I was almost screaming at the book as I read it. That’s how intense this book is. I give it a full 10/10. Creative and well-delivered.