One barren planet, one fierce storm, and one stranded astronaut with a hilarious sense of humor and resourcefulness. Mix these three together and say hello to your next must read science fiction novel—Andy Weir’s The Martian.
In the not-so-distant year 2035, NASA’s Ares III mission lands on Mars’ Acidalia Planitia. However, six days into their month-long intended stay, disaster strikes, leaving botanist and engineer Mark Watney stranded while the rest of his crewmates narrowly escape the red planet. Armed with a disarmingly chipper attitude and boundless creativity, Watney finds himself faced with the reality that he might very well be the first to die on this lonely planet, millions of miles away from earth where NASA has already written him off as a space casualty. Despite these daunting realizations, Watney works to survive in what is quite literally no-man’s land.
While The Martian has also been adapted to film successfully, Weir’s novel brings the trials and tribulations of both Watney and the Ares III crew alive in a book that will have you laughing out loud at parts and in others closing the book quietly in fear you might accidentally throw it across the room. Weir’s The Martian is a gripping tale of how far one man would go to survive and how far one planet would go to save him.
Book of the Week is an Opinion culture column written and created by Keenan Yates ‘24 used to give weekly book recommendations in the form of short blurbs and reviews.
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