Pages: 369
Received: Received a copy from Random House of Canada in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: February 11, 2014
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Goodreads Synopsis:
Apollo 13 meets Cast Away in this grippingly detailed, brilliantly ingenious man-vs-nature survival thriller, set on the surface of Mars.
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first men to walk on the surface of Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first man to die there.
It started with the dust storm that holed his suit and nearly killed him, and that forced his crew to leave him behind, sure he was already dead. Now he's stranded millions of miles from the nearest human being, with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his food would be gone years before a rescue mission could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to get him first.
But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit--he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
My Review:
I feel like I am on such a great roll with books lately, so many of the stories are ones that really stick out and that readers will remember for awhile. This book is one that was an intense read, and I could not stop, I needed to see what Mark would do next to save himself and what more could actually go wrong for him. This book is such an inspiration to everyone in the world to work hard and do whatever possible to survive the worst of any situation.
After a bad storm on Mars unexpectedly arrives, it leaves one crew member injured and the rest of them in a rush to leave, end up leaving him there, thinking him to be dead. When Mark comes to, he realizes that he has lost contact with Earth and has no way to let people know that he is alive, even more scary is that Mark does not know how he will survive before a rescue team could get to him.
I absolutely love Mark in this novel, Andy Weir has really created a brilliant character that works hard to survive. Mark struggles but overcomes a lot, he runs into problems and he learns from his mistakes. When something goes wrong he spends time reviewing the problems and works hard to fix them, it is easy to see his scientific mind at work figuring out where to fix things to keep himself alive longer and longer. What really had me falling in love with Mark in this book was the way he could find humor in the worst situations, he is the type of person that deals with stress by making jokes, and it came across so well.
The one thing that kept my attention through this was the way Andy Weir interspersed the scientific facts of what Mark was doing to survive this unknown place, with all the drama and problems. The way the story is written is very interesting, readers get Mark's perspective through a journal he writes everyday detailing what he is doing. In between there is also the story of those back home dealing with the aftermath of a failed mission, and what they can do to help Mark.
This book really brings out the best in people, showing how the most unlikely people will come together to help someone in need. Everything that happens in this book really affected me, it was like I was reading about someone I knew and I just kept hoping things would work out for the best. This is a difficult book to talk about without giving up some spoilers, so I will say go and read it. It is an amazing story that I definitely want to re-read ASAP.
Release Date: February 11, 2014
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca /
Buy From BookDepository.com
Goodreads Synopsis:
Apollo 13 meets Cast Away in this grippingly detailed, brilliantly ingenious man-vs-nature survival thriller, set on the surface of Mars.
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first men to walk on the surface of Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first man to die there.
It started with the dust storm that holed his suit and nearly killed him, and that forced his crew to leave him behind, sure he was already dead. Now he's stranded millions of miles from the nearest human being, with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his food would be gone years before a rescue mission could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to get him first.
But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit--he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
My Review:
I feel like I am on such a great roll with books lately, so many of the stories are ones that really stick out and that readers will remember for awhile. This book is one that was an intense read, and I could not stop, I needed to see what Mark would do next to save himself and what more could actually go wrong for him. This book is such an inspiration to everyone in the world to work hard and do whatever possible to survive the worst of any situation.
After a bad storm on Mars unexpectedly arrives, it leaves one crew member injured and the rest of them in a rush to leave, end up leaving him there, thinking him to be dead. When Mark comes to, he realizes that he has lost contact with Earth and has no way to let people know that he is alive, even more scary is that Mark does not know how he will survive before a rescue team could get to him.
I absolutely love Mark in this novel, Andy Weir has really created a brilliant character that works hard to survive. Mark struggles but overcomes a lot, he runs into problems and he learns from his mistakes. When something goes wrong he spends time reviewing the problems and works hard to fix them, it is easy to see his scientific mind at work figuring out where to fix things to keep himself alive longer and longer. What really had me falling in love with Mark in this book was the way he could find humor in the worst situations, he is the type of person that deals with stress by making jokes, and it came across so well.
The one thing that kept my attention through this was the way Andy Weir interspersed the scientific facts of what Mark was doing to survive this unknown place, with all the drama and problems. The way the story is written is very interesting, readers get Mark's perspective through a journal he writes everyday detailing what he is doing. In between there is also the story of those back home dealing with the aftermath of a failed mission, and what they can do to help Mark.
This book really brings out the best in people, showing how the most unlikely people will come together to help someone in need. Everything that happens in this book really affected me, it was like I was reading about someone I knew and I just kept hoping things would work out for the best. This is a difficult book to talk about without giving up some spoilers, so I will say go and read it. It is an amazing story that I definitely want to re-read ASAP.
