I can't believe it has taken me a month to get to writing this review. I was telling everyone about it when I finished it, but just didn't get it written down. I had managed not to hear much about this book beforehand. I can't even remember where it was recommended so that I put it on my library hold list...and then waited months for it to come up since it was so popular. I will start with what a lot of other people say because it is so obvious - this feels a lot like the movie Apollo 13, but with one person. Some people say it is like Cast Away, but it doesn't have that crazy edge. While reading it, I kept thinking that it would make a good movie and when I looked, they were in fact already making the movie. It is scheduled to be out in November 2015.
The "Martian" is astronaut, Mark Watney, from Earth who accidentally gets abandoned on Mars after a failed mission. A little food and a lot of equipment is left there with him. But can he figure out how to survive all alone for the years it will take until the next mission arrives?
It moves from one problem-solving, crisis moment to the next. I did not want to put this book down! I also don't want to write spoilers. I really didn't know what was going to happen from one minute to the next.
