One of the main reasons I like the book so well is the personality of the main character. When I first considered picking up this book, I thought, there's no way I can read a book about one guy stuck on Mars. How boring! Mark Watney is the astronaut stuck on Mars by himself, and the book is written in journal entries (logs) to whomever might someday read them, so essentially, it's like first person. Watney is sarcastic, witty, and, I'll be honest, uses a lot of language that might be offensive to some readers. For someone who is stuck on a large planet all by himself, he manages to stay fairly optimistic and hasn't yet stopped trying to stay alive.
Something that I thought might be a deterrent for me while reading is all the numbers. I am an English teacher and am much better with words than numbers (unless I am calculating a percent off sale at a clothing store), and I do find myself getting a bit overwhelmed at times by all the numbers. Here's a sample passage to show you what I mean:
"I hope you like drilling.
The drill bit is 1 cm wide, the holes will be about .5 cm apart, and the
length of the total cut is 11.4 m. That’s
760 holes. And each one takes 160
seconds to drill.
Problem: The drills
weren’t designed for construction projects.
They were intended for quick rock samples. The batteries only last 240 seconds. You do have two drills, but you’d still only
get 3 holes done before needing to recharge.
And recharging takes 41 minutes." (Weir 58%)
Makes my head spin a little, but like I said before, I'm still really enjoying the book and Mark Watney's fight for survival. I'm also excited that there is a movie coming out on October 2! Matt Damon stars as Mark Watney, and I think he's a terrific actor, so it will be fun to see how he brings the character to life. One thing I noticed while watching the commercial and trailer is that they have given him a wife and a child which, I guess, makes his situation even more dire (he didn't have either in the book). Here is the commercial for the movie:
Have you ever read a book that's way out of your comfort zone? If so, how was it? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Or have you read The Martian? Opinions? Happy reading!
I like how you are reading outside your comfort zone to experiment a new genre that you do not typically read. Also, I liked how you added some humor in between while describing the main character Mark Whatney and also gave examples of his personality.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I read this because I also don't usually read science fiction for similar reasons. But, since you are so happy with it, I might give it a try!
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ReplyDeleteIt's really nice to see you read books that are out of your comfort zone. Since you liked this book, you can also give the book 'Turnabout' by Margaret Peterson Haddix a try. Hopefully, you might like it. Also, thank you for adding the commercial as it really gives me an insight about the book and makes me want to read it.
ReplyDeleteIt's so cool to see everyone gradually reading Andy Weir's work. I loved him ever since his short story The Egg became greatly acclaimed, and The Martian was a book only a few had read. I haven't gotten the chance to read this book, but I have it waiting for me on my ever-growing bookshelf. Ugh, it feels to bad to see all those lonely books waiting for me. Definitely gonna be one of my next reads- hopefully I can get it in before the film leaves theaters!
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