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Comment by mkramlich | Hacker News Reader

This is on my list to read after being recommended to me directly twice.

As a fellow writer of fiction (The Dread Space Pirate Richard, a sci-fi comedy adventure faerie tale for adults) I was also encouraged to learn that this was another case of an "overnight success" that was years in the making. In an interview with Weir he said that before he started posting his orig blog serialization of The Martian, he already had been writing publically for 10 years and had built up a fanbase of about 1500 subscribers or regular visitors to his blog. So, he had had a big channel of eyeballs ready to go on day one. Even then the serialization didn't explode over night, was a slow grow thing. But a good case can be made that he might never have reached the necessary critical mass of attention for The Martian if he didn't start with that built-in fan channel. Or, it probably would have taken much longer.

Note to self: "I have N years to go. I have N years to go..."

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Just to offer a counter-point: I got about halfway through the book and lost interest.

I'm really happy for the author's success, and I don't at all think it's a bad book. But I found it to be basically pure "survival porn". I like MacGyver too, but I don't think I could watch a four hour episode of it, and that's what the book felt like to me.

The characters and writing are solid, but the constant peril and clever solutions just got tedious after a while.

If you "How is he going to get himself out of this?" is enough to keep you going for an entire book, you'll probably love it. But if you need a bit more than that, it may lose your interest.

I had a similar reaction. Maybe because I've been reading for 35+ years and read stuff which is prob much better than The Martian. I see its attractions and his skill, no doubt, but felt lately there's a bit of a hype train going on where the actual material is nowhere near as good as the hype.

Its not as bad as the hype-to-reality gap for Fifty Shades though: that's a book where I couldn't go more than a page or so, every time I've sampled it (partly out of curiousity, partly to study its secrets), without groaning or laughing aloud at how bad it is.

The Martian is much much better than that, but his formula shows its bones quickly.

Granted it's rather simplistic story, spoiled by the fact that you know that there is a happy end (otherwise book wouldn't have a point), but it's still solid and entertaining. It's like Gravity done well and right.

Importantly, it's distinct from other kind of entertaining books - I still read Da Vinci Code, but while it was entertaining, it's both terrible writing and story. Martian is different - yes, you know what's going to happen, but journey is the point.

OTOH, if you're TOTALLY into a four-hour MacGyver movie, you may be interested in this book by Raymond Malewitz where he breaks down a recurring theme of "object misuse" in contemporary literature that he calls "Rugged Consumerism." The book looks at things like Apollo 13, MacGuyver, Fight Club, the Whole Earth Catalog, Sam Shepard, etc.

http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=22814

Here's an article just about No Country for Old Men:

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/cli/summary/v050/50.4.malewitz....

Well, true enough, it is pretty much MacGyver on Mars.

But I found it riveting. A neighbor gifted me a copy and forced my first book all-nighter in quite awhile.

Part of its variance in reader appeal may have to do with reader empathy, or perhaps susceptibility having one's mind rooted by an author. On first pass, I simply could not read page by sequential page. I had to skip ahead to make sure he made it through the crisis of the moment, then I'd go back to read how he did it. Too stressful to not find the answer by looking in the back of the book.

I think this happened for me because Weir's portrayal of the engineering and science underlying the plot was so realistic and accurate. I could (and in fact, was forced to) imagine myself in Watney's predicament - WTF would I do? And Weir dragged me into the story that way.

I recommend it. If it's not to your taste, pass it on. It's likely we all know someone who would enjoy it.

(Edit for spelling)

I can't remember exactly where halfway through the book was, but the book certainly broadens its scope throughout, although it does certainly focus on the title character trying to survive. I thought the book was a roller coaster ride, and easily short enough to not get worn out.

> If you "How is he going to get himself out of this?" is enough to keep you going for an entire book, you'll probably love it. But if you need a bit more than that, it may lose your interest.

Yep. there's little or no character development. Mark Watney is basically the same person at the end as he is at the start. He's an engaging person, and he refuses to dwell on philosophical matters. But if you're interested in character development, there's almost nothing there for you.

I'd like to be the third person to recommend it to you. My second favourite book of 2014 :) Do it!

Oh and hey good luck with your writing :)

thanks!

What was your first favorite book of 2014?

Embassytown by China Mieville! :)

It also must have helped putting the Kindle edition on sale for 99 cents around last April. I saw it recommended here on HN, went to look and yeah, 99 cents? No-brainer! And it lived up to all the recommendations too.

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