With the recent release of its major motion picture counterpart, The Martian written by Andy Weir (starring Matt Damon in the movie adaptation directed by Ridley Scott), people are wondering how it compares to the book and vice versa.
Both the book and the film have received their share of awards and acclamation. The book version found its spot at first place on the New York Times Best Sellers list and received Best Science Fiction from the Goodreads Choice Awards. The movie on the other hand received Film of the Year and its producer Ridley Scott, was awarded Producer of the year.
For anyone that has no idea what the story is about; the story encompasses Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded on mars, left by his team after he was presumed to be dead following the attack of a catastrophic storm. With a scarce amount of supplies, the deserted survivor must utilize his wits and resources to find a way to survive on the hostile planet. Meanwhile, back on Earth, members of NASA and a team of international scientists work to bring him home, while his crew concocts a plan of their own for a risky rescue mission.
Without including any spoilers, I can say that the story has a way of keeping you at ease and relaxed in your seat while it can change very quickly to its more action packed sequences where you will unknowing find yourself moved up to the edge of your seat waiting to find out what happens next.
At a length of 369 pages, The Martian will keep you tuned in for quite some time but have no worry because luckily the vocabulary isn’t overly advanced so it should be an easy read. As for the age range, the movie was rated at PG-13 so readers picking up this book should most likely be from 13 and up which proves to be a good thing as that makes the book more accessible to a larger amount of age groups.
Most people first find a book they want to read by the type of book it is. For example, like a biography or memoir to mystery & suspense or in this case a science fiction book. Personally, as long as the book keeps me interested or has a plot summary that draws me in when I look at the back of the book, I will most definitely read that book. From then on as I delve into the story it’s the writer’s job to keep my interest peaked.
Although I have not yet seen the movie, in my opinion the book lives up to its popularity and expectations. Usually I’m not an avid reader but honestly I don’t regret picking up this book because it was worth the read and all of its 369 pages. It’s safe to say that Andy Weir did a great job with this piece of literature. I enjoyed reading The Martian and I believe you will too.
