Strand an asshole astronaut on Mars and you get a damned funny story. The Martian is a dark humorous autobiographical diary by a doomed man. Whether it be by accident or neglect, when you’ve been abandoned and are stranded on Mars, you are allowed to take a break from things like acting normal and being polite to people on other planets.
Astronaut Mark Watney has got a bit of an attitude. He manages to depict his struggles and victories on the red planet in a funny and engaging way. You want to get to know this asshole of a man. His reactions are totally relatable. They are what you would expect from yourself, given that you’d some serious engineering experience and were stranded on a far-off planet. He is simply a likable guy.
The daily routines of survival form a tedious existence. The only breaks from the monotony come from Mark’s own mind and when things go awry. Given the simple story, the book is surprisingly entertaining. The jokes are natural and help progress the story. The dark humor also resonated very well with me.
The Martian gets a very high position on my list of favorite books of all time. Even though the story progresses very slowly, you are never going to be bored in the company of Mark Watney. There are plenty of rumors about an upcoming film being in development. Don’t put off reading The Martian so you get to experience the book before seeing the film. Buy two copies right away. You will want to lend one to a friend before you finish the book yourself.