Sarcasm in Space
Hello, everyone, from a post-Cursed Child world! I have been reading a lot lately, but it's mostly been rereads of Harry Potter and then my first reading of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. (I didn't do a review of it because I'm not a spoiler-y monster.) But now I'm back in the real world, so I took a trip to space in the form of The Martian by Andy Weir. I loved it!
On humanity's third manned trip to Mars, Mark Watney is the crew's botanist and fix-it man. All is going smoothly, until an emergency evacuation leads to disaster- Mark is accidentally left on Mars while the rest of the crew rockets back to Earth. Completely alone, he is thrown into a battle for survival on the barren Red Planet. With his botanical background, mechanical know-how, and razor wit, Mark becomes the hero the human race never expected. His every move is captured by NASA, sent to Earth, and analyzed by every news station. He becomes an intergalactic MacGyver on a survival mission. And with the best tools NASA can buy, what could go wrong? (Answer: pretty much everything.)
I'm not your stereotypical science-fiction reader. I do enjoy things like Star Trek and Doctor Who, but I've never really been into reading similar stories. But I totally loved The Martian. It was extremely technical at times, but the jargon and particularities made it seem more realistic. As I read, I felt like I was in the head of an actual astronaut. Somehow, Weir perfectly balanced the realism and the emotional component. I want to be best friends with Mark Watney. He's hilarious. His biting remarks and jokes made the book for me. There were several times that I laughed out loud. And the laughs were helpful- there were also points in the book when I was so worried about Watney that I was actually stressed out. I was extremely emotionally invested in getting this guy back to Earth! My one drawback would be that sometimes the science got a little bit overwhelming and I had to take a break to let my brain recover. I can take a lot of science, but 369 pages of it non-stop is hard.
Overall, The Martian was a fun, science-filled romp on another planet. Weir created the perfect balance of human interest and technical fact and made an excellent modern survival story. I can't wait to watch the movie!
Plot: A
Characters: A-
Book Overall: A-
P.S. - The picture below is actually my own! I started an Instagram for this blog if you want to check it out! You can find it at nerdybirdbooknook. I usually post pictures of my current reads, and it'll give you a heads-up as to when to expect a new post! (Also- Yay, no more stealing pictures from the internet!)
On humanity's third manned trip to Mars, Mark Watney is the crew's botanist and fix-it man. All is going smoothly, until an emergency evacuation leads to disaster- Mark is accidentally left on Mars while the rest of the crew rockets back to Earth. Completely alone, he is thrown into a battle for survival on the barren Red Planet. With his botanical background, mechanical know-how, and razor wit, Mark becomes the hero the human race never expected. His every move is captured by NASA, sent to Earth, and analyzed by every news station. He becomes an intergalactic MacGyver on a survival mission. And with the best tools NASA can buy, what could go wrong? (Answer: pretty much everything.)
I'm not your stereotypical science-fiction reader. I do enjoy things like Star Trek and Doctor Who, but I've never really been into reading similar stories. But I totally loved The Martian. It was extremely technical at times, but the jargon and particularities made it seem more realistic. As I read, I felt like I was in the head of an actual astronaut. Somehow, Weir perfectly balanced the realism and the emotional component. I want to be best friends with Mark Watney. He's hilarious. His biting remarks and jokes made the book for me. There were several times that I laughed out loud. And the laughs were helpful- there were also points in the book when I was so worried about Watney that I was actually stressed out. I was extremely emotionally invested in getting this guy back to Earth! My one drawback would be that sometimes the science got a little bit overwhelming and I had to take a break to let my brain recover. I can take a lot of science, but 369 pages of it non-stop is hard.
Overall, The Martian was a fun, science-filled romp on another planet. Weir created the perfect balance of human interest and technical fact and made an excellent modern survival story. I can't wait to watch the movie!
Plot: A
Characters: A-
Book Overall: A-
P.S. - The picture below is actually my own! I started an Instagram for this blog if you want to check it out! You can find it at nerdybirdbooknook. I usually post pictures of my current reads, and it'll give you a heads-up as to when to expect a new post! (Also- Yay, no more stealing pictures from the internet!)
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