The Martian - Weir

Recently Hollywood has produced a few epic movies about space, two in particular were Gravity, with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, and Interstellar, with Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway.  After reading, the underground sensation, turned Best Seller, “The Martian”, by Andy Weir, it’s hopeful to believe that it’s big screen debut will crush both these movies in terms of action, adventure, and of course, what’s more important, realism.   Andy Weir did his homework.  It is no small feat to go to Mars and survive, on your own, for a year and a half.  It is logistically and technologically an impossibility, or let’s say, a very very low probability.  Add in a rescue, and it’s even more in the realm of science fiction.  Of course, that is exactly what “The Martian” is, science fiction.  But it’s not that far into the future to be complete fiction.  And it’s not that far in the future that we will visit Mars...with most of the technology that Weir refers to, functioning exactly as he describes in this book. The movie will debut in November 2015, so we don’t have to wait much longer, and, with Matt Damon playing the leading role, with Ridley Scott, directing the action, it’s clear, they pulled out all the stops.  But the novel, is the subject of this review, we will worry about the movie in a few months.

As I write this review, the book already has over 10,000 reviews posted on Amazon.  That’s formidable for any book, including the classics.  I cannot add much to what’s already been said, so I will not try.  Instead, I’ll point out what works and what doesn’t work.  It’s a page turner...but perhaps for geeks?  Weir is so down in the weeds with his descriptions of the technology for anyone who lacks the background, or the interest, most of this science would seem like magic.  And although NASA does seem to spend significant time and thought on building systems and components that could be maintained and accessible by astronauts, cooking rocket fuel is perhaps not one of them.  The survival action is nonstop but it’s not like a Xenomorph (1979 Creature from the movie Alien)  is chasing the hero around on the surface of Mars, rather it’s simply the seriously bad conditions on the surface of Mars that makes survival rather impossible.  No air to breath, no water to drink, no shelter, no food, no nothing...it’s worse than nothing.  The something that remains on the planet, when the hero, Mark Watney is marooned, is the margin remaining from the five astronauts that departed without him...extra water, space suits, vitamins, and a whole lot of vicodin…  Once Watney attends to his basic survival needs, the story turns into a overland journey, make it to a vehicle that can boost him from the planet, to an awaiting rescue spacecraft. All of this takes time.  He is on the surface for a lot of days or Martian sols...a year and a half’s worth, in Earth time.  While the book can be read in a day or two of focused reading, the time that moves by, and the sheer boredom of that kind of time, does not ring true...not for him, or the astronauts that make the rescue attempt.  Watney fills that time with music and TV shows from the 70’s...that didn’t not fill the time for me.

Perhaps that’s because Weir didn’t actually live through the 70’s his knowledge of 70’s references are not that comprehensive or realistic…  His best quote, comes toward the end and is true call out to the movie Alien, “In space, no one can hear...you scream”.  Even better, Ridley Scott, who directed that classic, get’s a shot here to change the public perception of Mars, and perhaps, get the world behind mankind's journey to that planet, in the next decade or two.  How fabulous is that!  Five stars for Weir’s first novel, and the future of mankind in space. Deduct 1 star for “Three’s Company” references that simply don’t work...