The Martian

ugh

I hate it

I love it

I hate it

I love it

That was my journey with this.

I originally started reading this a couple of years ago and DNF at about 20%. It's one of only two books I've ever not finished.

But it kept popping up as recommended and I had now seen the movie (loved!) and I though, "Give it another go".

15% in I was ready to drop it again for exactly the same reasons.

Mark Watney comes across as a know it all, condescending douchebag with terrible Dad humour.

I'm a Dad.. I know what bad Dad humour sounds like.

And I was forced to listen to him rabbit on for quarter of the book - which essentially amounted to a math's lesson. I swear there were more numbers in this book at this stage than words;

"I'm screwed. However, the body needs 2 litres of water every day to survive, which I can get if I split the atom of 376 oxygens and combine with 800 hydrogens, while parsing them over 65 potatoes under 200psi of pressure at a temperature of 100 kelvin. But I must do this over 56 hours under a strict light intensity of 100 lumens. The advantage of this is that it will also generate 25 pirate-ninjas of power".

ugh

UGH

UUUUGGGHHHHH!!

I feel like Mark Watney was just a vessel for Andy Weir to show the world how bloody smart he thinks he is.

But I'm a tougher reader now so I persevered.

And then something wonderful happened. Mission control. NASA. Other characters. People who were just people solving a problem and with a real personality and a PLOT.

I LOVED these parts of the book.

Unfortunately they kept being in interrupted by Mark F*cking Watney.

Seriously, just let the dude die on that cold red planet. It would have been more interesting just to follow NASA's attempt at retrieving his body for a memorial service.

5 stars for NASA. 1 for Watney.