Book Reviews

A great story. I actually started this an audiobook for killing time on the freeway, so a lot of the story was heard while driving along dark freeways at night. It complemented the situation well.

I enjoyed following mark’s adventure on “Mars.” I had seen the movie previews months ago, and then overheard someone talking about the novel at work. That was enough for me. I bought it. Funny thing: a friend had read the book and said she liked it, but skimmed over a few parts. When I had listened to the first few chapters, I went back and asked her: “All the parts about the science. Was the what you glossed over?” “Yup,” she returned. Ah, very well.

I didn’t mind the science. It was enlightening to learn (and soon forget?) about all those equations and mixing of elements. But yeah, I suppose it wasn’t exactly necessary for the story.

Bottom line: I really didn’t find anything wrong with the book. The bonus was a nice amount of humor. And it comes across as plausible, although NASA does maintain that the massive dust storms don’t happen anywhere close to that level.

Side note: I did finally see the movie. It’s well done, though Hollywood damaged the ending somewhat. Nothing too catastrophic, but still. Maybe readers and viewers (when considered as separate groups) just expect different things. The movie did have to omit many sections—and it seemed like some parts were just done, but without the reasoning and demonstrations of how exactly the problems were resolved.

Maybe that would have required too much science.

The book is recommended though; however, if you did already see the movie, it may not be as enjoyable. Hard to spend a lot of time in a story when you already know what takes place. My advice: do the book first (if it’s not too late).