Review of Andy Weir’s THE MARTIAN

THE MARTIAN

As a reader it’s hard for me to conclusively measure my own attention span. I’m not sure what keeps me interested until I become very obviously uninterested. That’s when I sit back, look straight ahead with a blank stare, and think to myself, “Wait what did I just read?”

Before reading The Martian, a surprisingly realistic science fiction novel, and spoiling my authentic reaction to it by first reading the book reviews (much like what you are doing right now might I add), I was nervous that the lack of a love interest and the rather inactive plot may wear out my attention span.

Well, because I am only human, I was completely wrong. The Martian introduces us to Mark Watney, a brilliant botanist whose first walk on Mars may, inevitably be, his last living steps. We are thrown into a crew of astronauts who seem to have a typical banter-but-love relationship with one another. They are all experiencing the same life changing event at the same time, bringing them closer than we could imagine. As a reader, the relaxed and often sarcastic voice established early on very clearly mirrors Mark Watney's personality throughout the novel. Even with this life or death daily struggle, he seems remarkably "all there." The perspective change from first, being Mark, and third, being NASA, creates a story that doesn't need much plot change to take us on a journey.  

Like all good things, this honeymoon phase of space travel is rudely interrupted by a storm. Prior to the physical signs, technology did not detect the severity of the storm. It ends up uprooting their entire camp leaving, our beloved botanist Mark Watney, behind. The crew is heartbroken, feeling as if they have lost a family member they could have saved. To the rest of the world this American hero is pronounced dead; until he isn’t.

Mark survives the storm and for the rest of this novel we take on the journey with him, as if we are also pursuing this struggle of survival on the uninhabited planet of Mars. Watney tries to grow his own food, on a planet with no water or oxygen, ration said food, for close to 600 days, and then, hopefully somehow, someone, will come to his rescue.

Even with the odds against him, he seems to be sarcastically optimistic, stating, "If the oxygenator breaks down, I'll suffocate. If the water reclaimer breaks down, I'll die of thirst. If the hab breaches, I'll just kind of implode. If none of those things happen, I'll eventually run out of food and starve to death. So, yeah. I'm fucked." Even though Mark knows to the naked eye he is "fucked," he still prevails. Death is not an option, even though it seems to be the only conclusion.

This novel is polished and tight, giving us enough information to capture our interest, while also leaving enough mystery to peak it.

I won’t give everything away, but if you are looking for a novel that doesn’t need a love interest to succeed, The Martian is for you. Now that I'm thinking about it however, as a reader, falling in love with Mark seemed almost inevitable. So maybe there is a love interest after all.

(To the class: I was having trouble uploading and just now noticed this is the second Martian Review. Hopefully you like mine too! The other one was very well done!)

happiness

seeking what we once knew,
we know ultimately we will find

happiness; to-day shalt thou be 
with me in Paradise.

-HD, Trilogy

The Martian Review

Andy Weir's The Martian is a very simple idea for a story. An astronaut, Mark Watney, is stranded on Mars after a mission goes wrong. These are his adventures as he tries to survive/get rescued. Think Cast Away meets Apollo 13. Nothing super interesting that hasn't been done before. This being said, however, The Martian is, and I don't put this lightly, one of my favorite books that I've ever read.

I first heard of The Martian when the first trailer for the film adaptation hit the Internet early last summer. After surveying the comments section, I decided that this was a book I wanted to read in the near future. It wasn't until I spoke to a friend of mine, however, that I decided to actually read it. His recommendation was intense, requiring that I read the book as soon as possible.

The book starts out a little slow. With some memorable first lines, the reader is introduced to Watney, our hero. We get to know him over the first few chapters, as he explains that he has no way to get home or contact home, and that he is against all odds. The story is in first person, so Mark's voice is incredibly clear. This continues for about the first 60 or so pages. This may sound a little tough to get through, but it helps that Mark Watney is perhaps one of the most likable characters ever written.

The book switches perspective regularly following the first few chapters, going from Mark's log entries to a third person look at NASA's attempts to rescue him and to past tense recaps of the original mission. These switches keep the story fresh and moving, and always leave the reader wanting more. For example, when a chapter ends on a cliffhanger, you may have to get through another chapter to find out the resolution. But then THAT chapter also ends on a cliffhanger! It's almost criminal how much this book ropes the reader in.

The Martian deals with a few different topics, namely isolation and perseverance. It's difficult to go into too much detail here without giving too much away, but the book really is an optimistic look at human nature. It's a tale of man vs. nature., where it very easily could also be man vs. self but doesn't fall into the cliche/stereotype.

Andy Weir is the son of a particle physicist, and has a bit of a background in computer science. He is something of a genius, as part one of the most entertaining/fascinating aspects to the novel is the math. What's incredible about it is that it is all plausible and accurate. It makes the story that much interesting. He originally released the book chapter by chapter on his website, but eventually got it published. It is his first novel published.

Something different that I did reading this that I hadn't done before was listening to the audiobook of it while reading along. The recording of this is very well done and well paced. I strongly recommend both the book and, if interested, the audiobook. The whole experience is just a load of fun.

Life.

"So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be."

— Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Opening Time

Hey all,
Here's the link that I chose, found just by doing some Google searching, much like everyone else.

This blog, called "The Open Bar" is actually produced by Tin House, a quarterly magazine, and from what I've read about it, a lot of people enjoy it because the publication prints infrequently.

The blog does "Flash Fiction Fridays," where they publish pieces of fiction less than 1000 words. My personal favorite so far has been "The Adjunct." People can also submit to be featured on the blog.

It's a pretty cool blog because nothing seems to have a common theme or really go together, which I appreciate. Let me know what you think!

http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/

"Sometimes, when you are not getting the love you want, giving makes you think you will."

The Timekeeper-Mitch Albom

New Page Name

Hey, everyone, I know it's weird to post things back to back, but I just remembered that Madeline wanted us to come together and think of a new name for the blog because, let's face it, the Literary Location isn't very creative and I want to see what you guys come up with! Think of something if you want, and by the send of the semester, whatever new name has the most votes wins and it'll be changed in time for our blog to go live.

Have a wonderful evening!

-Kylie

Electric Lit Link

Happy Tuesday, all! My apologies for being late posting this, but I found this neat blog last night and forgot to post it! I googled literary blogs because I don't regularly read them myself and came across an article about blogs geared towards people in their 20s- our class, essentially. I liked this blog over the others because it has a more relaxed feel and I like how they structured most of their reviews. In each review that I looked at, there's a little information about the author and enough about the plot to pull you into wanting to read it, but not giving away too much. I hope you all find it as interesting as I did!

http://electricliterature.com/category/books-3/

-Kylie

A Review of "Drown" by Junot Diaz

     The fact that I

         am writing to you

         in English

         already falsifies what I        

         wanted to tell you.

         My subject:

         how to explain to you that I

         don’t belong to English

         though I belong nowhere else.

         Junot Diaz opens his book, Drown, by quoting Gustavo Perez Firmat. Drown is a compilation of short stories written by Junot Diaz over a period of many years.  Some of the short stories were previously published separately, however, Penguin Group first published it as a compilation in 1996. The general theme of the texts is the male experience of Dominican Republic immigrants living in the United States. Diaz uses blended language, a mix of English with some Spanish, as a tangible expression of the blend of culture that the characters experience.

         A main character that appears throughout many of the stories is named Yunior. We see him at different points in his childhood—when he’s eight and his father is gone working in another country, when he’s eleven and trying to keep his dad’s mistress a secret from his mother, when he’s learning about sexual interactions from his older brother. The texts are laced with strong imagery and character, showing the struggle that is realistic in being an immigrant, as well as trying to obtain this idea of the American Dream, despite having no upper hand. Themes of poverty, trying to make ends meet, and most importantly, in my opinion, the reality that the circumstances of the characters are unchanging is what struck me the most throughout these stories.

         I find Diaz refreshing for many reasons. The stories follow his characters experiencing things in their everyday lives. Nothing that he is written here is something out of the ordinary to them. It is in Diaz’s subtleties, in what his characters experience as normal, that speak volumes in his stories. He speaks about Dominican Republic immigrants specifically because he shares that experience. This is a group of immigrants that are not often heard of, even in the fictional realm, so it is a nice window to the plausible experience and frustration that someone would face in those circumstances. But even more than that, his stories bring the reader in to these lives with vivid detail and realistic dialogue. The reader is not an outsider, but is thrown right in to the middle of the narrative.

         My only issue with this compilation was finding a way to tie the stories together. Diaz does not make it clear what exactly the stories contain. When I as a reader saw Yunior come back time and time again, but not in all the stories, I wondered if the unnamed narrators were also him. I actually had to do some research to double-check that all of the stories were indeed not about the same person. However, by taking each story, as it’s own separate entity, it was easy to be encompassed and moved by Diaz’s simple but beautiful language. I highly recommend this book.

Gone are the days of traditional fiction

A woman goes missing and her husband is the prime suspect. This storyline may seem played out, but in Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl," the twists are numerous and wild, exposing a whole new take on the seemingly cliched plot.

I will admit, I have an inherent suspicion about books that become popular only after a feature film based on the literary work is announced, but I found pleasant surprise in "Gone Girl," which was published in 2012 and turned into a feature film starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike in 2014. 

"Gone Girl" was published by Crown Publishing Group and is a semi-daunting 555 pages long. It was a New York Times hard cover fiction bestseller for eight weeks. In less than one year, the novel sold over two million copies in both its print and online editions. 

The novel deals with a myriad of topics, but at its core, is a critique of today's media. Flynn was formerly a reporter with Entertainment Weekly and; therefore, is well-versed in the intricacies of media practices, particularly, both the media's and the consumers' craving for stories that expose others. She was laid off from the publication and seems to have used the two main characters, Nick and Amy, as a therapy of sorts since they are both writers who are not currently working. 

One of the things that worked the most for me was the narrative of the novel which switches back and forth between the points of view of Nick and Amy. This also allowed for unreliable narrating, which plays a huge role in the novel, as the husband and wife duo only allow the reader to know certain aspects of their lives. I haven't read anything quite like it and the greatest thing about it was that it didn't feel forced.

Something I didn't like in the novel was that by the end of the novel, so much had changed that it was a tad confusing and I found myself having to flip back to the beginning and re-read whole sections to understand why something mattered or why I should care that it changed. 

The book is available to order on Amazon for $8.43. 

  

Bennington Girls Are Easy

Bennington Girls Are Easy by Charlotte Silver

With a title like that how could I not have been interested to give this book a try? I went into reading this thinking I would be getting a trashy, girly fun read. Like a chick flick but in book form. As I started reading it, though, I found that I was getting a lot more than that.

Bennington Girls Are Easy follows two young girls, Syvlie and Cassandra, who have just graduated from college – Bennington College – and are trying to figure how to now be adults in New York City. Which unlike girls from Bennington is anything but easy.

Bennington College is known for having free-spirited students and as the book portrays, a lot of rich, artsy, “hipster” kids. Sylvie and Cassandra definitely fit in that world. If you are hoping to read a book about likable, mature, self-aware characters then this is not the book for you. That doesn’t sound like a very good selling point, but for me I think it works for this book. It reminds me of the HBO series Girls, in its following of self-absorbed, flawed young women. It is the honesty of these depictions that I find enjoyable and compelling.

Bennington Girls Are Easy seems to me to have two major themes. The first theme explores life after college. The struggle of finding a job, dating mistakes, and figuring out what the rest of your life is going to look like without the comfort of academic structure. Life isn’t as glamorous as these women hoped it would be.

The second theme I see from this book is that of friendship. I feel it is a very accurate depiction of friendships between girls. What happens to you and your BFF when you’re both failing and making mistakes to try to make it in life? The difference of where these girls were at the beginning of the book and the end of the book is utterly fascinating.

It is blunt. It is dark. It is funny. It is honest and unapologetic. I definitely recommend.   

Rob Around Books

While roaming the internet this weekend looking for interesting literary blogs, I happened upon one in a list from another blogger called Rob Around Books which has a section specifically dedicated to Short Stories. I found this particularly interesting because our class is focusing on writing short stories to be work shopped.

http://robaroundbooks.com/

I also found it particularly interesting because I enjoy reading short fiction stories once in awhile online - they're a nice change of pace from getting sucked into a long story, but can be equally as enjoyable. So hopefully some or all of us can find something from this blog that we would like to read some time!

There are also pages that focus on nonfiction and general fiction stories, for those who are interested in that as well.