Week 09 - The Martian

I was excited to read “The Martian” after already watching the film adaptation. Being a fan of sci-fi, I found it interesting to read a novel that places a character in a “realistic” situation. 

While other sci-fi novels include more fantastical elements such as aliens, inhabitable planets beyond our solar system, and other things we haven’t discovered yet to be true, Andy Weir’s “The Martian” strands a NASA astronaut on Mars with little to no chance of survival. There is no magical way to get home, no inhuman creatures lecturing him, and no Star Trek transporters. Mark Watney is forced to find a way to survive alone, going through many trials and errors to do so. 

The novel leaves the audience in suspense the longer he lasts. We are left unsure of whether or not he’ll survive, or if he’ll even make it back to Earth. “The Martian” could almost parody a documentary as well, with the main character describing his adventure through log entries, which also adds to the novel’s realistic-sounding tone. I loved reading through this book, and hope to read more of Andy Weir’s writings.