The Martian

Note: This book was read in audiobook format. There will be a smaller separate review for just the audiobook at the end.

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There are certain books where I think to myself that I'm either going to love it or I'm going to hate it. The Martian by Andy Weir was one of those books.

I remember the surge of popularity it had when it first came out and when the movie was released a few years later. It felt like one of those books everyone was checking out and picking up to read. I tend to be late to the party when it comes to popular books like that, but Andy Weir is an author I've had on my wishlist for a while. He comes up frequently in most recommended science fiction books, and as a science fiction lover, that caught my interest. It was especially interesting because, as opposed to space operas filled with exotic locations, this was a fairly grounded speculative fiction set in the near future with probable technology and still in our Solar System.

Needless to say, I was intrigued. So, I finally bit the dust and decided to get the audiobook. I have to admit that I kind of took my sweet time starting it despite marking it as having begun reading it, in case anyone is wondering why it took me almost a month to finish an ~11 hour audiobook. But once I actually started listening to it, I was hooked.

And I'm happy to say that I found myself in the “love it” camp by the time I finished this book.

It's definitely a different kind of science fiction book that I really hadn't read before. It's a mixture of a lot of different formats; part epistolary, part narrative, jumping around multiple characters, and chat dialogues peppered within. Instead of being disorienting, I actually really enjoyed it. It's one of the books where I wanted to know everyone's point of view because I was invested in all sides of the story. The way I was hooked into the conflict and dying to know what happened was a joy to experience. It really did feel like I was there in the book's setting, riding along with Mark as he tried to find his way home, or in the conference room as the higher-ups discussed how to get him home. It was also interesting to see this conflict explored from all angles: on one side, it's a harrowing adventure of a man trapped in an alien landscape. And then on the other side, it's a stressful rescue mission to save a marooned person against all the odds. And yet, it's also a bureaucratic tangle of leaders, scientists, and news outlets scrambling amongst themselves. Seeing it from all angles was a fascinating exploration of all the different characters and methods, but all united towards one goal: bring Mark home.

There are a lot of scientific explanations and jargon included in the book, but I found it fascinating to hear about in the same way it was fascinating to hear about the psuedo-science in Jurassic Park. As someone who knows very little about these kinds of things, hearing a breakdown of them as explained through Mark's witty and dry commentary was pretty funny.

One of my favorite things about the book's plot is how organically it seemed to grow. It goes from Mark being trapped on Mars alone, to suddenly being discovered, to a rescue mission being planned, and keeps growing from there. Problems would pop up, new developments in the conflict would arise, and it kept me pulled in. I can't tell you how invested I was in Mark's predicament, and how invested I was in cheering on the people who were trying to save him. I distinctly remember thinking to myself at one point in the book, “God, please, please let Mark get home.” It was like he was a real person that I was rooting for and desperately hoping would make it home.

I'm honestly surprised at how much I was rooting for Mark and how much I related with him. Mark is almost detached from his situation through his wit and dry humor. There are hardly any parts where Mark wallows and becomes emotional at his predicament (though in all honesty, any person who did that in his situation, I would completely sympathize with). He handles everything with determination, joke cracking, and level-headedness. I was worried that it would prevent me from really sympathizing with Mark's plight. After all, why feel sorry for someone if they seem to be not at all perturbed at the situation they're in? But the way it was written, it really did feel like it was simply a part of who he was, and it made me cheer for him all the more.

There are some valid criticisms of the book I want to address. One is Mark's aforementioned nature in this book. There are no parts where Mark has a mental breakdown or gets emotional, at least not overly so. This might alienate some people who can't get invested in his conflict when he keeps making jokes. I've also read some criticisms where people pointed out that when you have a character who doesn't feel overly threatened by their situation, it feels like they're no stakes. I personally didn't feel any of this while I was reading the book, but this is the way that the book is written.

So, if I love the book so much...why only four stars? As much as I liked how the jumping perspectives and formats were handled in this book, there was a single flashback (no spoilers) that was included. It's the only one in the entire book, and nowhere else does the story take a step back from the current conflict to peek into the past. To me, it felt jarring and disrupted the flow of watching the conflict naturally progress throughout its different stages. I didn't feel it was necessary, either. So, that took off half a star for me.

The other half is because something I really love in real life was insulted in the book, and I couldn't let it slide.

Concluding this giant review, this is a new favorite of mine. I have a few other books of Weir's in my wishlist, and this makes me all the more excited to read them. And you know what? Sometimes we just need an uplifting book during these times, when it seems like we are divided by every imagined parameter and we couldn't hate each other more as a species. It's nice to read a book filled with hope and optimism. It's nice to journey through a story where, for once, it seems like humans are capable of coming together; a problem where we all band together, despite our differences in method and beliefs, to save one of our fellow humans, for the simple and good reason that we value each other and will risk everything to save someone if we have to. That's a nice feeling.

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Audiobook review: It's probably ironic that I've been listening to more audiobooks, considering how sensitive I am to ASMR-esque noises and how I can't stand them. I'm happy to say that this audiobook was pretty good. From what I understand, this audiobook was recorded with two narrators, and I listened to the version by R.C. Bray. He was pretty good, in my opinion! I thought his voice and expression matched the tone of the book; kind of dry with a smart, quick wit. Nothing felt over-acted and for the most part, things felt naturally narrated. There were only a few parts where his narration caused my immersion to be broken.

On that subject...I have to talk about his accents. For the most part in audiobooks (and maybe even animated media), I don't mind someone faking an accent as long as they're accurately done. For the most part, R.C. Bray wasn't too bad. Kapoor's Hindi accent seemed accurate enough to me as someone who is not familiar with the language. The other ones weren't too jarring to me. One had a slight Mexican accent, one had an American East coast accent (I want to say it was Bronx or Brooklyn), and there was someone who spoke in African American Vernacular. Bray performed these well enough, but I have to say...as someone familiar with the language and having grown up in East Asian communities, his Chinese/Mandarin accents left a lot to be desired.

I'm pretty sensitive towards Asian accents, just because I've lived in Asian communities in America for almost all of my life. His accents for the Chinese characters erred too much on the inaccurate-derived-from-stereotypes side. I swear at a few points, it slipped a bit into the Hindi accent he used for Kapoor. It's more than possible I'm being too sensitive. I can't imagine this being an issue that many people are affected by. But as someone who's had to deal with Asians being very obviously voice-acted by people who have no clue about the language, it's something I naturally tune into.

The only other thing that stuck out to me (and this isn't necessarily on Bray) is the way that certain scenes turn into a repetitive pattern of “(character) said” over and over again.

But these are all slight complaints. The audiobook was enjoyable to listen to for the most part!