Welcome back my Lovely Readers! Today's adventure takes us off planet Earth for a rescue mission unlike any ever seen before.
Mark
Watney is the botanist on NASA's Ares 3 mission to Mars. He is joined
on the Red Planet by Beth Johanson (computers and tech, the youngest),
Alex Vogel (Astrochemist), Dr. Chris Beck (mission surgeon and EVA
specialist), Rick Martinez (pilot), and Commander Melissa Lewis (has a
disco obsession). The team is a mere 6 sols (a martian solar day≈ 25hrs)
into their 30 sol mission when a severe storm on the Martian surface
comes barreling at them. NASA scrubs the mission due to wind speeds.
During
a hurried evacuation in extremely turbulent conditions, Watney gets
hit by flying debris and is lost to his team. To their credit, they
make a search for Mark in what time they have. If they don't leave
soon, the rocket that is supposed to return them all to their ship may
tip too much to allow them to take off. Commander Lewis is the last one
aboard.
When the remaining crew reach the Hermes (the
interplanetary craft) Mark Watney is reported as deceased. There is no
reason for the team to stay in Mars orbit, so they high-tail it home.
This leg of their mission will take approximately seven months.
Meanwhile, back on Mars....
Watney
wakes up with an antenna sticking out of him and his suit screaming its
"low oxygen" warnings. The storm is over and he starts walking toward
the Hab he hopes is still standing.
It is, so he goes inside
and staples himself back together. Once the pain subsides a little bit,
Watney takes stock. To say he is in a little bit of a pickle is a
tragic underselling of the situation. Two hundred ninety-nine thousand
miles from home , he has a limited amount of food, and no way to
communicate with Earth. (Antenna through his suit, remember?)
Watney
is the only person on the whole planet, and the only living thing until
he gets a brainwave to grow potatoes in Martian soil inside his Hab.
That sorts his food situation. Or at least it isn't quite as desperate
as it might have otherwise been. So Mark turns his thoughts toward a new
problem: finding a way to call home.
Through trials and
triumphs, we stand in awe as Mark Watney conquers the unforgiving,
unrelenting Martian environment with humor and a tenacious will to
survive. His soundtrack becomes Commander Lewis' disco collection. His
entertainment consists largely of 70s sitcoms like Happy Days and
Three's Company.
Meanwhile, back on Earth....
NASA has
just had a lovely memorial service for Mark when Mindy Park in the
satellite imagery department notices movement of a rover and clean solar
panels. In her mind that can mean only one thing.
She drops
her bomb on Ares project manager Vinkat Kapoor. "Mark Watney is alive.
He is alive and stranded on Mars and will starve to death before we can
go get him". No one in Washington wants to contemplate the reality of
having left a living astronaut stranded. The crew of the Hermes isn't
told about these findings. They need to concentrate on their mission.
This
isn't just the story of Mark's survival, this is also the story of the
people who risked everything they had to make sure he got home again.
There
is so very much that I love about this novel. I like that every
character is multi-faceted. The entire cast is very well thought out and
well-rounded.
I love Commander Lewis. I love that we get to
see the impact leaving Watney behind had on her. I love her disco
collection, too.
I love Mindy Parks for her attention to
detail. I love Vinkat Kapoor for his determination to see Mark Watney
get home no matter the cost or challenge.
I love Bruce Ng head of the
JPLA team who work around the clock pulling out every stop in the race
against time. He is absolutely paramount.
I love Rich Parnell, who saves the day.
I love Mark for his indomitable spirit. His creativity and problem solving skills are absolutely inspiring.
The
realism and spectrum of people in this story rings true. Like Star
Trek, the Martian can give you hope for that kind of future.
As for what I didn't like...
As
someone who worked with a drill every day, all day long for the better
part of a year, Watney could have just run his drill in reverse,
instead of chipping out his starting groove.
And... yeah. I
think that's it. I think there's something in the Martian for
everyone. The film adaptation starring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain
is an excellent representation of the book and totally worth the rent if
you haven't seen it yet.
Thanks so much for joining me and i hope you'll enjoy reading Andy Weir's The Martian.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️5/5
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