Title: The Martian by Andy Weir
Publication Year: 2011 (self published, 2014 by Crown Publishing)
Plot: After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone on Mars, with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
Miscellaneous: Initially, Weird published each chapter of the book for free on his website. He then moved it to Amazon Kindle for 99 cents. It rose to the top of Amazon’s best-selling science fiction titles, grabbing the attention of bigger publishers.
Fresh of the heels of Robinson Crusoe, we dove right into Andy Weir’s bestselling novel The Martian. So we’ll dive right in on this post.
The first thing we talked about is how relatable Mark Watney is as a character (not his specific circumstances). His approach to problem-solving (sitting down and thinking through things) is something we have all done. The readers really gravitated (no pun intended) towards his approach, his humor, and his determination. These all helped make him more human.
The next turn we took was a deep discussion about a situation that occurs approximately halfway through the novel. And that’s the relationship between China’s space program and NASA. The readers were interested in what China would actually do if they were faced with the choice of sacrificing their own space exploration to help possibly rescue a stranded American on Mars. How would the media cover this event? The more bureaucratic elements of the missions were of great interest to our group. And this led into a conversation about the value of a single human life, and the opportunity and costs associated with rescuing Mark Watney. Did they invest in his rescue to simply save his life? Were they thinking of his potential once he gets back to Earth?
When comparing The Martian to Robinson Crusoe, it’s evident that science in The Martian supplants the role that religion plays in Crusoe. In a way, they both explain God’s role in saving these stranded men. Granted, Watney never says he prays or things about God–he relies solely on science. A believer might say God uses science to make the universe work. And both use science to varying degrees in order to survive. As closing note, we talked about how Crusoe and Watney both cultivate their temporary homes, and the microeconomies that come as a result. Watney only had potatoes, where Crusoe had more options.
Mark Watney is his own hero. And what is essential to his character in this novel is his humor. He’s a fun character, the readers enjoy spending time with him, which makes the novel just that much more readable. He’s not overtly cynical or pessimistic. His self-reliance and “Macgyver-ness” make him appealing.
It was a pretty straight forward conversation, we didn’t get too deep in the weeds of the novel, but took it at face value, more or less. Tune in next week where we read one of my personal favorite novels The Big Sleep.
Please feel free to share your thoughts on Weir, his work, and anything else related in the comments!
I also try to provide some supplemental reading materials in the form of papers, essays, and Q&As. Here is a link to an essay from 2017 by Thomas Strychacz on potato farming in The Martian.
Until next time,
E.
You can purchase The Martian from these places: