
Book review: “The Martian” - smacktoward
http://jasonlefkowitz.net/2015/10/book-review-the-martian/
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hugh4
I've seen this criticism in a few places, that Watney is a terrible character
because he doesn't sit around writing about his feelings, he just gets on with
the job of surviving on Mars. It seems to miss the point that this _is_ his
character, the kind of guy who wouldn't spend his time wallowing in his fear
and loneliness, but would get on with the job. And that's the kind of person
you'd choose for a Mars mission-- indeed, that's the kind of person who has
been filling up the astronaut corps for decades.

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nether
lol. I couldn't finish the book, it was so annoying. Nothing draws you in (the
calculations were fine but that's not a plot) and the blog style was really
offputting. I loved the movie though.

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CamTin
Spare me.

/The Martian/ is certainly not literary fiction -- it's pure genre fantasy,
hard sci-fi. Of course Watney isn't going to bloviate on the nature of being
human. We have plenty of masturbatory novelists doing that to death. Weir
doesn't have to be one of them.

The inspiring thing about Mark's story is that he doesn't despair. He doesn't
need to because he thinks about the problem and realizes that there is a way
out. He works instead of weeping. This is hugely inspiring, especially as
someone who struggles with depression. Watney even mentions suicide, but only
as something he'll do in preference to starving to death. In other words, one
needn't give up just because things seem hopeless, but go ahead and give up if
they actually are. Don't assume -- do the math and figure it out. If Mark
Watney can find a way out of his situation, you can probably find a way out of
yours.

Most of all, remember that there are others pulling for you, and that they'll
probably do anything in their power to help. Maybe they're not NASA, but
they're there. They can't violate the laws of physics, but they can do a
tremendous amount, and there's no shame in asking them for help.

~~~
teh_klev
Dunno why your post was tagged as [dead], I vouched for it to un-[dead] it.
You make some reasonable points. Indeed the book isn't going to win the Man
Booker Prize or a Nobel Prize for literature, but it's a fun fast read. At
least that was the case for me and that was back when the story was available
free on Weir's website and as a 99p download for the Kindle in early 2013.

[https://web.archive.org/web/20130115160130/http://www.galact...](https://web.archive.org/web/20130115160130/http://www.galactanet.com/writing.html)

I was very pleased for Andy when he got picked up by a publisher, it's nice to
see an amateur author get some recognition for their writing passion, and even
more pleased when I found out Ridley Scott was going to make a movie.

I've read a lot of SciFi over the years (including many 600-1000 page tomes by
popular authors where I wished I could get the time back) and whilst Andy Weir
isn't quite in the same league as Iain Banks or Alastair Reynolds (who
incidentally have a a few duffers in print), there's space for The Martian,
even if the character of Mark Watney is a wee bit two dimensional. Not
everyone might like the diary/blog style of the writing, but I think it works
fine, and is a good enough way of writing up Watney's challenges and
solutions.

The Martian is an ok fun read and I don't think reviewers really need to come
over all "literary critic" because it is what it is, a "Boy's Own" adventure
on Mars solving problems with sticky tape, human poo, potatoes and other odds
and ends.

