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#28: Andy Weir, The Martian
Sep. 17th, 2015 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareilaWhen I finished this book just now, I immediately flipped back to the beginning and started it again. I don't think I've ever done that before.
This isn't necessarily an indication of how much I enjoyed the book (although I did, immensely), but more a desire to revisit the beginning of Watney's journey after having seen how it all played out. Because I found this book to be a bit of a slow start. On second reading, the first chapter's alienating acronyms and jargon (MDV, MAV, Hab) are now long familiar and less distracting.
The other difficulty I had with the start of the book was Watney's colloquial voice. His constant wisecracking and self deprecation seemed unrealistic for an astronaut of any stripe. But once we finally start to see what is happening back on Earth, with a much more believable set of NASA employees, Watney's attitude provides a more welcome contrast. I suspect the author intends us to believe that Watney's maverick approach to life did as much as his technical know-how and creative thinking to enable him to survive being stranded and left for dead on Mars.
Turning this story into a movie was a no-brainer - so much of it already reads like a screenplay. Of course, knowing the casting inevitably colored my perception of the characters. When my husband was reading it, I kept asking him teasingly, "Have they saved Matt Damon yet?" And of course, I'm hoping that the soundtrack will be as fantastic as the one for Guardians of the Galaxy. In fact, I think all space-themed movies from now on should feature seventies music.
This isn't necessarily an indication of how much I enjoyed the book (although I did, immensely), but more a desire to revisit the beginning of Watney's journey after having seen how it all played out. Because I found this book to be a bit of a slow start. On second reading, the first chapter's alienating acronyms and jargon (MDV, MAV, Hab) are now long familiar and less distracting.
The other difficulty I had with the start of the book was Watney's colloquial voice. His constant wisecracking and self deprecation seemed unrealistic for an astronaut of any stripe. But once we finally start to see what is happening back on Earth, with a much more believable set of NASA employees, Watney's attitude provides a more welcome contrast. I suspect the author intends us to believe that Watney's maverick approach to life did as much as his technical know-how and creative thinking to enable him to survive being stranded and left for dead on Mars.
Turning this story into a movie was a no-brainer - so much of it already reads like a screenplay. Of course, knowing the casting inevitably colored my perception of the characters. When my husband was reading it, I kept asking him teasingly, "Have they saved Matt Damon yet?" And of course, I'm hoping that the soundtrack will be as fantastic as the one for Guardians of the Galaxy. In fact, I think all space-themed movies from now on should feature seventies music.
