Author: Andy Weir
Published: 2014
Target Audience: Adults (appropriate ages 16+)
LOG ENTRY: SOL 6
I'm pretty much fucked.
That's my considered opinion.
Fucked.
Six days into what should have been the greatest two months of my life, and it's turned into a nightmare.
Mark Watney is screwed. Six days into a two month NASA mission on Mars, the crew of astronauts are hit by a dangerous sandstorm, and are forced to evacuate the planet. However, the crew's engineer and botanist, Watney, doesn't make it. During their hurried departure from the planet's surface, an antenna breaks free and impales Watney, knocking him out, and disabling his spacesuit radio and signs of life. Believing him to be dead, the rest of the crew are forced to leave without him, and Watney is stranded, all alone on Mars.
With no way to contact Earth, and no one knowing he's alive, Watney has to find some way to survive. If the Habitat is breached, he'll die in minutes. If the Oxygenator breaks down, he'll suffocate. If the Water Reclaimer breaks down, he'll die of thirst. And if none of those things happen, he'll eventually run out of food and starve. In the face of looming death, maddening loneliness, and too much goddamn-awful disco music, Watney must draw on all his skills, wit, and a packet of potatoes to find a way to get home.
Excerpt:
I don't even know who will read this. I guess someone will find it eventually. Maybe 100 years from now.
For the record… I didn't die on Sol 6. Certainly the rest of the crew thought I did, and I can't blame them. Maybe there'll be a national day of morning for me, and my Wikipedia page will say, "Mark Watney is the only human being to have died on Mars."
And it'll be right, probably. 'Cause I'll surely die here. Just not on Sol 6 when everyone thinks I did.
Let's see . . . where do I begin?
The Ares Program. Mankind reaching out to Mars to send people to another planet for the very first time and expand the horizons of humanity blah, blah, blah. The Ares 1 crew did their thing and came back heroes. They got the parades and fame and love of the world.
Ares 2 did the same thing, in a different location on Mars. They got a firm handshake and a hot cup of coffee when they got home.
Ares 3. Well, that was my mission. Okay, not mine per se. Commander Lewis was in charge. I was just one of her crew. Actually, I was the very lowest ranked member of the crew. I would only be "in command" of the mission if I were the only remaining person.
What do you know? I'm in command.
I wonder if this log will be recovered before the rest of the crew die of old age. I presume they got back to Earth all right. Guys, if you're reading this: It wasn't your fault. You did what you had to do. In your position I would have done the same thing. I don't blame you, and I'm glad you survived.
'The Martian' is a science fiction novel first self-published in 2011 by American author Andy Weir, and then later traditionally published in 2014. It is a humourous and suspenseful story of one man's fight to survive in the face of impossible odds.
A large part of what makes this novel so engaging is the epistolary format of the book, being written primarily as Mark Watney's log entries and transcripts. This style of storytelling is highly effective in conveying the character's personality, wit, and irreverent voice to create an empathetic, relatable protagonist. It also allows what would otherwise be vast amounts of tedious exposition to be told in a personal, engaging manner, and enables the threats and potential solutions encountered by Watney to feel believable and deserved. The problems Watney faces, as well as his capabilities and limitations, are introduced to readers early in the story through Watney's colloquial log entries and descriptions of his NASA training alongside his further specialties as a botanist and mechanical engineer. Therefore, when danger arises, his subsequent success or failures feel realistic in context and, more importantly, they feel earned.
'The Martian' is a distinctly plot-driven story as opposed to a character-driven one, with the few insights into the emotional states of characters predominately reserved for Watney, with these being expressed through either what he chooses to directly share in his log entries, or what he lets slip under his facade of using humour and sarcasm to cope with his situation. This plot-driven focus allows the story to maintain a fast pace and episodic quality to effectively deliver the highs, lows, and challenges of each new obstacle that makes this book so compelling. The lack of character development can make many of the secondary characters and side characters - of which there are many - feel flat, forgettable, and occasionally interchangeable. Ultimately however, this does not detract from the story, and the end result is an excellent balance of tension, drama, and determined perseverance in the face of impossible odds.
Andy Weir's 'The Martian' is an undeniably fun book that combines a gripping premise, real world science, and a relatable, charismatic protagonist to create an addictive page-turner of an adventure. I can't recommend it enough!